One team with American players moved a step closer to safety while the European club with the most Americans continued its nightmare season.
Reading’s 1-0 win vs. Middlesbrough pulled the Royals into a tie for the final spot outside the relegation zone with 25 points. Marcus Hahnemann and Bobby Convey may yet be saved this season. Fulham? Not so much.
Eddie Johnson made his first EPL start, but his forward partnership with Brian McBride did little in Fulham’s 3-0 loss to Manchester United. Fulham now sits six points from safety at the bottom of the table and the five Americans on the team are in real trouble of going down to the Coca Cola Championship.
There were some other bright spots. You had Tim Howard winning again, Sal Zizzo and Bryan Arguez dressing again and Heath Pearce playing for the first time in 2008 after starting the year in the Hansa Rostock doghouse.
Here is how the Americans in Europe’s top flight did last weekend:
ENGLAND
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Tim Howard and Everton started, played 90 minutes and made one save in Everton’s 3-1 win vs. Portsmouth on Sunday.
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Marcus Hahnemann started, played 90 minutes and made four saves in Reading’s 1-0 win vs. Middlesbrough on Sunday.
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Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made 12 saves in Blackburn’s 1-0 win against Newcastle on Saturday.
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Eddie Johnson started and played 90 minutes in Fulham’s 3-0 loss to Manchester United on Saturday.
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Brian McBride started and played 90 minutes for Fulham.
- Carlos Bocanegra dressed but did not play for Fulham.
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Kasey Keller dressed but did not play for Fulham.
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Clint Dempsey did not dress for Fulham.
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Jonathan Spector dressed but did not play in West Ham United’s 4-0 loss to Chelsea on Saturday.
- Eddie Lewis started and played 90 minutes in Derby County’s 0-0 tie vs. Sunderland on Saturday.
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Benny Feilhaber dressed but did not play for Derby County.
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Jay DeMerit came off the bench and played 29 minutes in Watford’s 2-2 tie vs. Burnley on Saturday.
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Matt Pickens dressed but did not play in Queens Park Rangers’ 3-0 win vs. Stoke on Sunday.
GERMANY
- Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes Hannover 96’s 2-1 win against Nurnberg on Saturday.
- Sal Zizzo dressed but did not play for Hannover 96.
- Heath Pearce came off the bench and played 45 minutes in Hansa Rostock’s 1-1 tie vs. Arminia Bielefeld on Saturday.
- Bryan Arguez dressed but did not play in Hertha Berlin’s 2-0 win vs. Duisberg on Saturday.
- Gregg Berhalter started and played 90 minutes in 1860 Munich’s 0-0 tie vs. Alemania Aachen on Sunday.
- Josh Wolff dressed but did not play for 1860 Munich.
- Neven Subotic started and played 90 minutes in Mainz 05’s 1-1 tie vs. SC Freiburg.
- Luis Robles dressed but did not play in Kaiserslautern’s 0-0 tie vs. SC Paderborn 07 on Sunday.
- Josh Grenier dressed but did not play in TUS Koblenz’s 2-0 win vs. Carl Zeiss Jena on Sunday.
HOLLAND
- Michael Bradley started and played 90 minutes in Heerenveen’s 1-0 loss to Twente Enschede on Saturday.
ITALY
- Danny Szetela dressed but did not play in Brescia’s 0-0 tie vs. Ravenna on Saturday.
SPAIN
- Giuseppe Rossi missed Villarreal’s 0-0 tie vs. Osasuna on Sunday with an ankle injury.
FRANCE
- Andrew Jacobson did not dress in Lorient’s 0-0 tie with AS Nancy Lorraine on Saturday.
- Quentin Westberg dressed but did not play in FC Troyes 4-1 win against Le Havre AC.
PORTUGAL
- Freddy Adu missed Benfica’s 1-1 tie against Sporting Lisbon on Sunday, He is with the U.S. Under-23 national team.
BELGIUM
- Oguchi Onyewu started and played 90 minutes in Standard Liege’s 3-1 win vs. KVC Westerlo on Saturday.
GREECE
- Clint Mathis came off the bench and played three minutes in Ergotelis’ 2-0 win vs. Paok Salonikia on Saturday.
Giuseppe Rossi missed Villarreal’s 0-0 tie vs. Osasuna on Sunday with an ankle injury
In Italy he’s reported as Italian Aboard…
lol
Heads up: Cory Gibbs is back playing reserve football for Charlton Athletic. Knee injuries wiped out last season for him, and then he broke several metatarsals, I think, early in the fall of ’07. Seems weird, but he’s only like 27 years old still.
LEAVE GIUSEPPE ROSSI ALONE!!! I mean it. Anyone that has a problem with him, you deal with ME, because he is not well right now…
Hey look, some anti-Rossi comments. Didn’t see that coming.
Let it go guys. This is Ives’ blog and he already explained his policy on that one. Go grind your axe elsewhere.
I think szetela isss 21.
Isn’t Szetela just 18 too?
Have any of our younger players gone into their clubs and started right away at 18?
The boy has it, he just has to earn it like anyone else.
Has anyone seen that French show on the Academy players in France? I believe Deschamps was interviewed and said that only 2 out of his class got professional contracts.
Szetela is getting playing time at Brescia that he did not get at Racing. He is only 18. If in a couple of years he is back in MLS, then he was not what he was cracked up to be.
The reality is a Soccer player does not reach his full potential until age 21.
For these young kids, that is what we want to see out of them. How are they at 21?
I wish we could stop counting Giuseppe Rossi among the “Americans” playing in Europe. I don’t care where he was born or what passport(s) he carries. He’s chosen to play for Italy and that makes him an Italian player.
I know we’ve been over this before, but I just wanted to reiterate my opinion. I’d like to look through this list and see who’s doing well in advance of USMNT matches, and who might be eligible for a call-up. Rossi is not, and I’d just as soon not read about him.
Thanks for a great blog 🙂
This section of SBI should be devoted to only American players. Please stop reporting on Giuseppe Rossi. Thank you.
“Danny Szetela dressed but did not play in Brescia’s 0-0 tie vs. Ravenna on Saturday”
Does anybody know what is the real deal on this guy? All I really know of him is the WC 20’s when he looked really good but between Columbus, Racing and now Brescia I am starting to think that must have been the best he has ever played and he fooled more then me.
Anyone- Ives?- know what is the real deal?
Saw a replay of the Fulham game. EJ looked like he does vs. most high end competition- that is to say lost and afraid. He needs to learn to use his speed to create space & shoot and not play the role of the slow, tall target man.
I never understand what is going on in his head when on the pitch because the mental part of the game lags way behind talent.
sky sports has EJ at a 6 and the users have him equal with most other fulham players. He was off at first and they were usually playing up the other side in order to minimize his role. When he was involved once he settled in he showed some good stuff. He played it safe one too many times, but maintaining possession is not the worse thing to do when you are a new guy and being played largely out of position.
The Reading reserve match is on the Reading home page. Here is the link:
http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10306~1255977,00.html
Looks like a lot of great service to the forwards and a couple of shots of his own.
Just read an article on the Fulham-Man. U. match. EJ was rated a 2. That is the lowest rating I have ever seen for a player. Too bad.
Freddy was at the Benfica game. he was seen on the bench. He was NOT with the U23s.
Neven did get the GTG in the 91st minute.
Also, Gooch assisted on the first for Standard with a LONG throw-in that was headed in.
Andrew Jacobson broke a metatarsal in his foot and is out for the rest of the season, according to the Lorient website on Feb 28 in a note at http://www.fclweb.fr/flash/?id=2154:
“Victime d’une fracture de fatigue au métatarse gauche, sa saison est dors et déjà terminée”
“Victim of a stress fracture in his left metatarsal, his season is now finished.”
@Joamiq
Hey was pretty much invisible the 1st half, but seems more comfortable in the 2nd. Did ok for his first start, but very timid and took himself out of the play a lot. He just doesn’t seem to want the ball at times. I know only his 1st start, but sometimes you don’t get more then 1. Just my 2 cents…
How did EJ do? I’m guessing not particularly well.
Sorry, tying goal for Neven Subotic.
I believe Neven Subotic scored the game winner. Does anybody know if he will be playing for the US National team in the future?
Also, I’d be interested in hearing more about Convey’s reserve match. Was there a writeup on it somewhere? He didn’t look good against Mexico but it sounds like he may still have problems with the knee.
So, Hodgson plays a defense-oriented 4-5-1 against Bolton, ‘Borough, Villa, and West Ham, then rolls out the 4-4-2 for Manchester United. He decides to play Eddie Johnson over Clint Dempsey. He plays McBride and Johnson – two target forwards – together. He played Johnson at sort of a right mid/winger thing the week before. He brings Volz off the bench for the first time in more than a month, then plays him out of position for 90 minutes. In most games, he has at least two of his four January acquisitions (Andreason, Staltieri, Johnson, Hangeland) riding the bench. Simply put: the man is an idiot.
Hodson and Sanchez have thrown Al-Fayed’s money away. Instead of buying a few quality players, they’ve bought several players who weren’t any better than the guys they already had. They’ve maintained a Liverpool-esque rotation in spite of the fact that the Premiership is the only competition that Fulham are in; I think this is partly responsible for their lack of cohesion and their apparent fitness problems. If Fulham go down, Sanchez and Hodgson will deserve most of the blame.
Gabe Ferrari,….I am told is still with Samdoria but getting reserve action only. I have asked his uncle if he was interested in coming back to the States and hooking up with an MLS team,….he said he didn’t know. Gabe still has a couple of years on his contract with Samp.
Ives,
Still interested in what Gabe Ferrari is doing. Not even sure what team he is with.
Ives, why don’t you ever mention that Bobby Convey doesn’t dress? Speaking of him, apparently, he was nothing short of brilliant in last night’s reserve game (and win) against Chelsea. He might be starting to turn around.
Stupid question, sorry… he’s gearing up for qualifier.
Anybody know why Freddy didn’t dress?
Boca’s not playing because the Hodgsen has clearly preferred other other defenders since he took over, Clint was prolly just getting a rest. I’m pretty sure this was the first EPL game he didn’t play in all season and the manager figure United was a good match as any to give him a rest……..
1. why is bocanegra not playing?
2. why didn’t dempsey dress for this last match?