Photo by ISIphotos.com
It is that time of year again. Time for European leagues to kick off and time for American players to ply their trade throughout Europe (and Mexico).
This week marked the first week for the English Premier League and German Bundesliga, meaning several names joined the list of Americans playing abroad. With Italy and Spain set to begin soon, the list should reach full capacity soon enough.
For now, let’s focus on this week, as U.S. national team prospect Neven Subotic scored the game-winner for Borussia Dortmund, whild Matt Taylor scored a goal in his Bundesliga 2 debut for TUS Koblenz.
You also had Brad Friedel making a successful debut for Aston Villa in their win against Manchester City and Friedel’s former manager, Mark Hughes.
Those are just three of the Americans to stand out this weekend. Here is a look back at how Americans did this past weekend:
ENGLAND
Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes, and made four saves in Everton’s 3-2 loss to Blackburn on Saturday.
Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes, and made six saves in Aston Villa’s 4-2 win against Manchester City on Sunday.
Clint Dempsey came off the bench and played nine minutes in Fulham’s 2-1 loss to Hull City on Saturday.
Eddie Johnson did not dress for Fulham.
Marcus Hahnemann started, played 90 minutes and made six saves in Reading’s 2-0 win vs. Plymouth on Saturday.
Bobby Convey started and played 86 minutes for Reading.
Jay DeMerit started and played 90 minutes in Watford’s 1-0 win vs. Charlton on Saturday.
SCOTLAND
DaMarcus Beasley came off the bench and played 28 minutes in Rangers’ 2-0 win against Hearts on Saturday.
GERMANY
Neven Subotic started, played 90 minutes, drew a yellow card and scored the game-winning goal in Borussia Dortmund’s 3-2 win vs. Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96’s 3-0 loss to Schalke 04 on Saturday.
Sal Zizzo did not dress for Hannover 96.
Brian Arguez did not dress in Hertha Berlin’s 2-0 win vs. Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
Matt Taylor started, played 62 minutes, scored a goal and drew a yellow card in TUS Koblenz’s 3-0 win against RW Oberhausen on Sunday.
Grover Gibson started, played 80 minutes, drew a yellow card and scored a goal in Ahlen’s 2-1 win vs. FSV Frankfurt on Sunday.
Gregg Berhalter dressed but did not play in 1860 Munich’s 2-1 loss to SC Freiburg on Sunday.
FRANCE
Carlos Bocanegra started and played 90 minutes in Rennes’ 1-0 loss to Grenoble on Sunday.
Quentin Westberg dressed but did not play in FC Troyes 1-0 win vs. Brest on Friday.
BELGIUM
Oguchi Onyewu started and played 90 minutes in Standard Liege’s 3-1 win vs. Dender on Saturday.
DENMARK
Danny Califf started and played 90 minutes in FC Midtjylland’s 2-1 loss to FC Copenhagen on Sunday.
Jeremiah White started and played 81 minutes in AGF Aarhus’ 2-1 win against Brondby on Sunday.
Lee Nguyen did not dress in Randers’ 1-1 tie vs. Ejsberg on Saturday.
NORWAY
Clarence Goodson started and played 90 minutes in IK Start’s 1-0 win vs. Sarpsborg on Sunday.
Jay Needham started and played 90 minutes in Alta’s 5-4 loss to Haugesund on Sunday.
Cam Weaver started and played 90 minutes for Haugesund.
MEXICO
Daniel Hernandez started and played 90 minutes in Chiapas’ 1-1 tie vs. Atlante on Saturday.
Jose Francisco Torres came off the bench and played 28 minutes in Pachuca’s 1-1 tie vs. Club America on Saturday.
Jesus Padilla came off the bench, played 41 minutes and drew a red card in Chivas de Guadalajara’s 2-2 tie vs. Necaxa on Sunday.
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If there are players I forgot to list feel free to list them below. Please remember that I’m trying to focus on first divisions and, in some cases, second divisions, so keep that in mind when suggesting players for the list.
Share your thoughts on how these Americans did last weekend in the comments section below.