You know all those games with Americans failing to see much playing time? Well, the mid-week Carling Cup action was supposed to provide the opportunity for the likes of Clint Dempsey and Eddie Johnson to start and show what they can do. They got their chances, but there won’t be any more Carling Cup opportunities for either of them.
Dempsey’s Fulham lost to Burnley, 1-0, while Johnson’s Cardiff City dropped a 1-0 decision to Swansea. Those were some of the lowlights. Highlights? Johnson did earn his first start (and was pulled at halftime), while Bobby Convey also got into the starting lineup for Reading, which lost to Stoke on penalties.
Then there is Danny Szetela. His club, Brescia, lost to Ancona, but Szetela recorded a start and 90 minutes played for the fourth straight game.
There was even a goal, well, sort of. Gregg Berhalter converted one of 1860 Munich’s penalty kicks in its win against MSV Duisburg in DFB Pokal action.
Here is how Americans did in Europe on Tuesday in what was a surprisingly busy schedule:
ENGLAND (Carling Cup)
- Clint Dempsey started and played 90 minutes in Fulham’s 1-0 loss to Burnley.
- Jay DeMerit started and played 90 minutes in Watford’s 1-0 win vs. West Ham United.
- Jonathan Spector did not dress for
ReadingWest Ham. - Eddie Johnson started and played 45 minutes in Cardiff’s 1-0 loss to Swansea.
- Bobby Convey started and played 106 minutes in Reading’s vs. Stoke.
- Marcus Hahnemann did not dress for Reading.
ITALY
- Danny Szetela started and played 90 minutes in Brescia’s 2-0 loss to Ancona.
GERMANY (DFB Pokal)
- Gregg Berhalter started, played 120 minutes and converted a penalty kick in 1860 Munich’s 5-4 penalty shootout victory against MSV Duisburg.
- Michael Bradley did not dress in Borussia Moenchengladbach’s 3-0 loss to Energie Cottbus.
- Heath Pearce started and played 60 minutes in Hansa Rostock’s 2-1 win vs. Eintracht Frankfurt.
- Sal Zizzo came off the bench and played 18 minutes in Hannover 96’s 2-0 loss to Schalke 04.
- Steve Cherundolo did not play for Hannover 96.
EJ is FINALLY RECEIVING THE BRUTAL CRITISM HE DESERVES, we have been so nice with oh he shouldn’t play for nats until he improves his club performance, or EJ’s confidence problem is wasting a team slot… the Cardiff fans know how to be heard. I hope EJ (and his therapist boo hoo hoo) are listening.
To Dyl @ 12:01 AM:
Cardiff was SUPPOSED to be the good situation where EJ could get his confidence back. He’s just useless right now.
On a different topic, Jozy left off the Villareal roster for today’s game vs. Racing Santander. Nihat and Rossi expected to feature and the continued health of those two don’t bode well for Jozy’s playing time.
“Yeah, seven goals in 50 games. He’s a real powerhouse.”
That says more about Fulham’s lack of quality than it does Dempsey’s lack of ability. Not only did he lead them in scoring but he scored crucial goals which were directly responsible for keeping Fulham in the Premiership. But it’s obvious you have some sort of asinine vendetta against him so please, don’t let my facts and logical, reasoned arguments get in the way of your immature and uninformed ranting.
Regarding Dempsey…
As a forward he doesn’t score enough…
As a central attacking midfielder, he doesn’t distribute well enough…
As a winger, he can’t serve an accurate ball…
Until he is under the right coach, he won’t consistently see time. Let me give you a comparison, Seedorf, and by no means am I trying to say they’re equals.
Seedorf wouldn’t be as successful in the EPL for the same reasons as Dempsey. But have Clint move to La Liga or Serie A, where he’ll be given a chance to combine and come in field, then I think he’ll see more success.
He’s certainly talented enough to be a regular for Fulham but he’s just not what that manager wants..too bad really