With one timely goal, Brian McBride helped revive Fulham’s chances of avoiding relegation. Okay, so the chances are still pretty grim, but it was a refreshing moment in an otherwise disappointing season for America’s adopted EPL team.
McBride’s goal highlighted an otherwise glum weekend for Americans Abroad. You had the likes of Freddy Adu, Eddie Johnson, Bobby Convey and Sal Zizzo not dressing in their team’s matches while Michael Bradley saw his Heerenveen squad suffer a tough loss in its chase for a European place (though to be fair, Bradley isn’t going to be around next season anyway.
It wasn’t all bad news. You had Clint Dempsey finally getting off the bench to start a match for Fulham, Bryan Arguez dressing for Hertha Berlin, Heath Pearce seeing time off the bench for Hansa Rostock and Lee Nguyen starting and playing 90 minutes for Randers.
This week’s edition of American’s Abroad: Weekend Rewind is brought to you by ASA: FC Barcelona, the summer residency program that allows teenage soccer players to be Americans Abroad, training at fabled FC Barcelona this summer.
Here is how the rest of the Americans Abroad did this weekend in Europe:
ENGLAND
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Brian McBride started, played 90 minutes and scored a goal in Fulham’s 2-0 win against Reading on Saturday.
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Kasey Keller started, played 90 minutes and made two saves for Fulham.
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Clint Dempsey started and played 85 minutes for Fulham.
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Carlos Bocanegra came off the bench and played five minutes for Fulham.
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Eddie Johnson did not dress for Fulham.
- Marcus Hahnemann started, played 90 minutes and made two saves for Reading.
- Bobby Convey did not dress for Reading.
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made 11 saves in Everton’s 1-1 tie vs. Birmingham on Saturday.
- Eddie Lewis started and played 90 minutes in Derby County’s 6-0 loss to Aston Villa on Saturda.
- Benny Feilhaber dressed but did not play for Derby County.
- Jonathan Spector started and played 90 minutes in West Ham United’s 1-0 loss to Bolton on Saturday.
- Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made six saves in Blackburn’s 3-1 loss to Liverpool on Sunday.
- Jay DeMerit did not dress in Watford’s 1-1 tie vs. West Brom on Saturday.
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Matt Pickens dressed but did not play in Queens Park Rangers’ 1-1 tie vs. Hull on Saturday.
GERMANY
- Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96’s 2-1 win vs. Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
- Sal Zizzo did not dress for Hannover 96.
- Heath Pearce came off the bench and played 16 minutes in Hansa Rostock’s 2-1 win vs. Karlsruhe on Saturday.
- Bryan Arguez dressed but did not play in Hertha Berlin’s 1-1 tie vs. VFL Bochum on Saturday.
- Gregg Berhalter started, played 90 minutes and drew a yellow card in 1860 Munich’s 2-0 loss to Kickers Offenbach on Sunday..
- Josh Wolff dressed but did not play for 1860 Munich.
- Josh Grenier did not dress in TUS Koblenz’s 2-0 loss to VFL Osnabruck.
- Neven Subotic started and played 90 minutes in Mainz 05’s 2-1 loss to FC Augbsurg on Friday.
HOLLAND
- Michael Bradley started and played 90 minutes in Heerenveen’s 4-2 loss to Sparta Rotterdam on Sunday.
ITALY
- Gabriel Ferrari did not dress in Sampdoria’s 1-0 loss to Reggina on Sunday.
- Danny Szetela did not play in Brescia’s 3-2 win vs. Albinoleffe on Saturday.
SPAIN
- Giuseppe Rossi started, but played just 18 minutes in Villarreal’s 1-0 loss to Almeria on Sunday. Rossi was substituted for back-up goalkeeper Juan Carlos after starting goalkeeper Diego Lopez was red carded.
FRANCE
- Quentin Westberg dressed but did not play in FC Troyes 2-2 tie vs. FC Gueugnon on Friday.
PORTUGAL
- Freddy Adu did not dress in Benfica’s 3-0 loss to Academica Coimbra on Friday.
BELGIUM
- Oguchi Onyewu started and played 90 minutes in Standard Liege’s 0-0 tie vs. KSC Lokeren on Friday.
GREECE
- Clint Mathis did not play in Ergotelis’ 3-2 loss to Larissa on Sunday.
DENMARK
- Danny Califf started and played 90 minutes in AaB’s 2-0 loss to FC Midtjylland on Sunday.
- Jeremiah White came off the bench, played 19 minutes and scored a goal in AGF Aarhus’ 3-2 loss to Nordsjaelland on Sunday.
- Lee Nguyen started and played 90 minutes in Randers FC’s 0-0 tie vs. Lyngby on Sunday.
MEXICO
- Michael Orozco started and played 90 minutes in San Luis’ 0-0 tie vs. Tecos on Saturday.
AUSTRIA
- Nate Jaqua started and played 90 minutes in SC Rheindorf Altach’s 4-0 loss to Austria Vienna on Sunday.
Feel free to add any other performances I may have not included in the comments section below.
Folks: Was unaware of the presence of US-??? (born, naturalized, other citizenship status) players in MEX 1st. Just curious about Torres, has he been a part of the Pachuca machine over the last 18 months or is he just emerging? Guys like this will hopefully be captured at a younger age by MLS teams’ academies b/c I’m the snobs at (to mock Landon) THE whatever it is in Bradenton sure ain’t looking for talent in the places where these MEX 1st players emerged.
Tom’s post about copying and pasting “Johnson didn’t dress” for the rest of the season wins the award for the funniest post!
I read on the reading world site that Johnson was recovering from an illness and that is why he didn’t dress. Could be BS though
can’t people just let go of the Rossi thing?
It’s not who the american public SHOULD care about. It’s who they DO care about. There are plenty of American fans who will always have an attachment to Clint Mathis and want to know how he’s doing.
What ties do American fans have to some obscure young players playing in the FMF (or even Daniel Hernandez, who I know personally and really like)? Orozco is obviously in the national team mix so he has more interest, but I don’t see it for the other players.
Now, if you are talking about a site like Sideline Views, which caters to California and the West Coast, I can see where some West Coast-raised players will get coverage (and I’m pretty sure Sideline Views keeps tabs on those players). I’m not saying I’ll never include the Americans in Mexico other than Orozco. I’m saying that right now I don’t hear a clamoring for them.
I’m just playing devils advocate with you Ives…I see you’re point of not including every foreign american player, but really, shouldn’t the American public care more about the other 3 in the FMF, rather then someone like Clint Mathis? I mean, at least you can watch those guys on TV.