You can call Deportivo La Coruna Team CONCACAF.
Led by Canadian captain Julian De Guzman (above, left) and featuring Mexican winger Andres Guardado and striker Omar Bravo, Deportivo boasts a wealth of talent from the CONCACAF region. That group helped Deportivo pull off one of the upsets of the weekend, a 2-1 victory against Real Madrid.
It was the first full weekend in Europe, meaning most of CONCACAF’s top stars were on display. Some were not due to transfers (such as David Suazo and Nery Castillo) but most were in action and several enjoyed quality performances.
Here is a rundown of how CONCACAF players did in Europe last weekend:
CANADA
- Julian DeGuzman started and played 90 minutes in Deportivo La Coruna’s 2-1 win against Real Madrid on Sunday.
- David Edgar came off the bench and played two minutes in Newcastle’s 3-0 loss to Arsenal on Saturday.
- Michael D’Agostino did not dress in Blackpool’s 1-0 win vs. Southampton on Saturday.
- Rob Friend started, played 90 minutes and scored a goal in Borussia Monchengladbach’s 3-2 win vs. Werder Bremen on Sunday.
- Daniel Imhof started and played 77 minutes in VFL Bochum’s 1-0 loss to Schalke 04 on Saturday.
- Iain Hume started, played 90 minutes and scored a goal in Barnsley’s 2-0 win vs. Derby on Saturday.
- Patrice Bernier started and played 90 minutes in FC Nordsjaelland’s 3-0 win against AGF Aarhus on Sunday.
- Issey Nakajima-Farran did not dress for Nordsjaelland. (Injury)
- Josh Simpson did not dress in Kaiserslautern’s 3-1 win vs. FC Ingolstadt on Friday.
- Kevin McKenna came off the bench and played 61 minutes in FC Cologne’s 2-0 win vs. Karlsruhe on Friday.
- Atiba Hutchinson started and played 90 minutes in FC Copenhagen’s 1-0 loss to Brondby on Sunday.
- Tam Nsaliwa did not dress in AEK Athens’ 2-1 win vs. Panathanaikos on Sunday.
- Marcel De Jong did not dress in Roda JC’s 1-1 tie vs. Twente Enschede on Saturday.
- Richard Hastings started and played 90 minutes in Inverness’ 2-1 win vs. Falkirk on Saturday.
COSTA RICA
- Bryan Ruiz started and played 90 minutes in KAA Gent’s 2-0 win vs. Royal Charleroi on Sunday.
- Alvaro Saborio did not dress in FC Sion Sitten’s 1-1 tie vs. Lucerne on Saturday.
GRENADA
- Jason Roberts started, played 90 minutes, scored a goal and missed a penalty kick in Blackburn’s 4-1 loss to West Ham on Saturday.
HONDURAS
- David Suazo did not play in Benfica’s tie vs. FC Porto.
- Edgar Alvarez did not play in Pisa’s 2-1 loss to Grosseto on Saturday..
- Julio Cesar Leon started and played 90 minutes in Parma’s 1-1 tie vs. Rimini on Friday.
- Maynor Figueroa started and played 90 minutes in Wigan’s 5-0 win vs. Hull on Saturday.
- Wilson Palacios started and played 90 minutes for Wigan.
JAMAICA
- Ricardo Fuller started, played 75 minutes and drew a yellow card in Stoke’s 2-1 loss to Middlesbrough on Saturday.
- Nyron Nosworthy started and played 90 minutes in Sunderland’s 3-0 loss to Manchester City on Sunday.
- Marlon King did not dress in Hull’s 5-0 loss to Wigan on Saturday.
- Ricardo Gardner started and played 90 minutes in Bolton’s 0-0 tie vs. West Brom on Saturday.
- Claude Davis dress but did not play in in Derby County’s
- Deon Burton started and played 68 minutes an and drew a yellow card in Sheffield Wednesday’s 1-1 tie vs. Swansea.
- Jason Euell did not dress in Southampton’s 1-0 loss to Blackpool on Saturday.
- Damion Stewart started and played 90 minutes in Queens Park Rangers’ 1-1 tie vs. Bristol City.
- Luton Shelton started and played 63 minutes in Valarenga’s 2-1 loss to Rosenborg on Sunday.
MEXICO
- Giovani Dos Santos started and played 59 minutes in Tottenham’s 1-1 tie vs. Chelsea on Sunday.
- Carlos Vela came off the bench and played 28 minutes in Arsenal’s 3-0 win vs. Newcastle on Sunday.
- Rafael Marquez started and played 90 minutes in Barcelona’s 1-0 loss to Numancia on Sunday.
- Guillermo Franco started and played 66 minutes in Villarreal’s 1-1 tie vs. Osasuna on Sunday.
- Andres Guardado started, played 90 minutes and set up a goal in Deportivo La Coruna’s 2-1 win against Real Madrid on Sunday.
- Omar Bravo came off the bench and played 18 minutes for Deportivo La Coruna.
- Pavel Pardo started, played 90 minutes and scored on a penalty kick in Stuttgart’s 2-0 win vs. Hannover 96 on Sunday.
- Ricardo Osorio started and played 64 minutes for Stuttgart.
- Carlos Salcido started and played 90 minutes in PSV Eindhoven’s 5-1 win vs. FC Utrecht on Saturday.
- Aaron Galindo started and played 90 minutes in Eintracht Frankfurt’s 2-2 vs. VFL Wolfsburg.
- Hector Moreno started and played 75 minutes in AZ Alkmaar’s 2-1 loss to NEC Breda on Sunday.
- Antonio DeNigris started played 72 minutes in Ankaraspor’s 2-0 loss to Gaziantepspor on Saturday.
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
- Dwight Yorke dressed but did not play in Sunderland’s 3-0 loss to Manchester City on Sunday.
- Kenwyne Jones did not dress for Sunderland and is still recovering from knee surgery.
- Darryl Roberts started, played 89 minutes and scored two goals in Denizlispor’s 3-2 win vs. Antalyaspor on Sunday.
- Stern John came off the bench and played 24 minutes in Southampton’s 1-0 loss to Blackpool on Saturday.
- Jason Scotland started and played 55 minutes Swansea City’s 1-1 tie vs. Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
- Russell Latapy did not dress in Falkirk’s 2-1 loss to Inverness CT on Saturday.
If there are any players who you think should be included in the list please feel free to pass on their information and I will include them. Keep in mind that I will focus on top first divisions in Europe with the second divisions in England and Germany also being included (I will also look to add Serie B as well as the Spanish second division if possible). There may be players in very small leagues (like say Moldova or Poland) but my inclusion of players in those leagues is contingent on being able to find a reliable source of information on those leagues.
Feel free to share your thoughts on these performances in the comments section below.
Dejan Jakovic from Canada is starting for Red Star Belgrade. He just finished playing at UAB last year. Great player!
How good was De Guz this week eh? Makelele, Vieira etc. would have been proud!
Hey Darryl Roberts scored two goal. He played his college soccer at Liberty University in Virginia. I saw in action; he’s great player.
yeah Rafa has had some moments he’d wish he could forget with the Mexican national team but his quality and class is undeniable.
Maybe Landon should employ the same mentality he uses against Mexico when he faces other teams because so far I’ve only seen him show up against Mexico.
He’s right! Until Landon proves otherwise in Europe.
What a totally awesome fro!
don’t worry Metrostar 4 life — for some reason, every time Euro star Rafa Marquez plays us, he turns into Titus Bramble. He loves to talk about how Landon “doesn’t exist” in the footballing Olympus where he thinks he is a god. In a soccer country with cojones, he would never play again after throwing his captain’s armband onto the pitch in a World Cup game. Hard to believe he is still with Barca.
Gio is partying too hard. Cost him his Barca career, and we’ll see if he straightens up.
The one who scares me is Guardado. Best player I’ve ever seen with a perm, all due respect to Memo Ochoa.
Thanks again Ives I love reading this and seeing the Mexicans get big time minutes in Europe. That’s not good for USMNT at all =(
Gord, Stalteri wasn’t on the list because everything I’ve heard is that he was due to be released by Tottenham, thus leaving him club-less. I’ll include Jaime Peters for next week.
And Satan, this segment is for CONCACAF players in Europe’s top leagues. And I will address the Toronto FC thing this week.
Paul Stalteri (CAN) didn’t dress for Tottenham, but should probably be reported.
Also Jaime Peters of Ipswich Town didn’t dress for a game televised in North America.
satan,
This is CONCACAF *Abroad*, not CONCACAF in CONCACAF, so Julius James doesn’t qualify.
Of course they were going to play Franco — they were familiar with him and he was playing well for them last year.
Jozy is new and young — you can’t expect too much from him immediately.
i suppose Rossi could go in this feature, if he had to go anywhere.
Ives,
Andres Guardado set up both of Depor’s goals against Real Madrid.
Mike Ruze,
Don’t worry, if Jozy is active and mobile when he gets mins, I’m sure he can take some mins from Guille Franco but it’ll be tough because Guille was on fire at the end of last season. Give it some time, Jozy will break through.
Villareal played Fanco but benched Jozy?????
What are they stupid?
Julius James of TFC was called up by T/T.. so you can now start including him.
BTW, how about writing a story on how TFC loses about 10 players this weekend thanks to WCQ.
WoW alot of the mexican players start and play a alot of minutes…. that should scare US players…… They need to earn some minutes for their team….
Right now is not looking good for the American players in Europe……
As (I assume) the only fan on this list of SK Brann, I appreciated your coverage of Deportivo La Coruna, which will face Brann in the first round of the UEFA Cup. (Brann were knocked out of Champions League play by Olympique Marseille.) Also, CONCACAF Abroad has gained another member in Jamaican midfielder Rudi Austin, who has joined Brann on a one-year loan from Portmore United.