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Americans Abroad: Midweek Rewind

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                                                                             Photo by ISIphotos.com

It took 10 months, but Frank Simek finally made his way back onto the field for Sheffield Wednesday.

The U.S. national team defender saw his lengthy recovery from torn ankle ligaments reach its conclusion when he played 33 minutes in Sheffield Wednesday’s 1-0 loss to Plymouth. The appearance is good news for a player whose career was just really starting to blossom before the injury.

Simek was one of many American players to see action in mid-week play in Europe. Maurice Edu got off the bench and earned a start for Rangers while Jozy Altidore earned a start for Villarreal in Copa Del Rey action.

Here is a rundown of how all the Americans Abroad did in mid-week action (not that not all Americans Abroads play in leagues that had games in mid-week):

ENGLAND

PREMIER LEAGUE

  • Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes, made eight saves and recorded his first league shutout of the season in Everton’s 1-0 win vs. Bolton on Wednesday.
  • Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made two saves in Aston Villa’s 3-2 win vs. Blackburn on Wednesday.
  • Brad Guzan dressed but did not play for Aston Villa.
  • Clint Dempsey came off the bench and played 17 minutes in Fulham’s 2-0 vs. Wigan on Wednesday.
  • Jonathan Spector did not dress in West Ham’s 2-0 loss to Manchester United on Wednesday.

COCA COLA CHAMPIONSHIP

  • Marcus Hahnemann started, played 90 minutes and made eight saves in Reading’s 1-0 loss to Burnley on Wednesday.
  • BobbycConvey did not dress for Reading.
  • Jay DeMerit started and played 90 minutes in Watford’s 2-0 loss to Preston on Wednesday.
  • Frank Simek came off the bench and played 33 minutes in Sheffield Wednesday’s 1-0 loss to Plymouth on Wednesday.
  • Eddie!Johnson came off the bench and played 11 minutes in Cardiff City’s 2-0 win vs. Blackpool on Wednesday.

SCOTLAND

  • Maurice Edu started and played 90 minutes in Rangers’ 2-0 win vs. Hamilton Academic on Wednesday.
  • DaMarcus Beasley did not dress for Rangers.
  • Mike Videira did not dress for Hamilton Academic.

GERMANY

BUNDESLIGA

  • Michael Bradley started and played 57 minutes in BorussiaIMoenchengladbach’s 3-0 loss to VfL Wolfsburg on Tuesday.
  • Neven Subotic started and played 90 minutes in Borussia Dortmund’s 1-0 win vs. FC Koln on Wednesday.
  • Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96’s 3-0 loss to Hertha Berlin on Wednesday.
  • Sal Zizzo did not dress for Hannover 96.
  • Brian Arguez did not dress for Hertha Berlin.

BUNDESLIGA 2

  • Gregg Berhalter started and played 90 minutes in 1860 Munich’s 1-0 win vs TUS Koblenz on Wednesday.
  • David Yelldell started, played 90 minutes and made four saves for TUS Koblenz.
  • Matt Taylor came off the bench and played 18 minutes for TUS Koblenz.
  • Luis Robles came off the bench and played 45 minutes in Kaiserslautern’s 2-0 win vs. VfL Osnabruck on Wednesday.
  • Heath Pearce dressed but did not play in Hansa Rostock’s 2-1 loss to SpVgg Greuther Fuerth on Tuesday.
  • Grover Gibson did not dress in Ahlen’s 2-0 win vs. Alemania Aachen on Tuesday.

SPAIN

  • Jozy Altidore started and played 90 minutes in Villarreal’s 5-0 loss to Polideportivo Ejido in Copa Del Rey action on Wednesday.

ITALY

SERIE B

  • Danny Szetela did not dress in Brescia’s 1-0 win vs. Salernitana on Tuesday.

FRANCE

Ligue 1

  • Carlos Bocanegra started and played 90 minutes in Rennes’ 0-0 tie vs. Valenciennes on Wednesday.
  • Freddy Adu dressed but did not play in Monaco’s 3-1 win vs. AS Nancy Lorraine on Wednesday.

SWEDEN

  • Charlie Davies came off the bench and played 29 minutes in Hammarby’s 2-1 win vs. Halmstad on Wednesday.
  • Ryan Raybould did not dress in Gefle IF’s 3-1 loss to Kalmar FF on Wednesday.
  • Etche Tabe started, played 90 minutes and drew a yellow card in Ljunskile’s 3-1 loss to Malmo on Tuesday.
  • Colin Burns started and played 90 minutes for Ljunskile.

American-born Players Playing for Other Countries

  • Giuseppe Rossi (Italy) started and played 61 minutes in Villarreal’s 5-0 loss to Polideportivo Ejido in Copa Del Rey action on Wednesday.
  • Brede Hangeland (Norway) started and played 90 minutes in Fulham’s 2-0 win vs. Wigan on Wednesday.
  • Boaz Myhill (Wales) started, played 90 minutes and made three savesin Hull City’ 3-0 loss to Chelsea on Wednesday.

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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.

What do you think of the mid-week performances? Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. i wish someone with access to awesome soccer TV networks AND a job writing about soccer would write about the games our boys play in overseas.

    Reply
  2. ives. just so you know, i didn’t find out anything new today performance wise. I heard about bradley not being wonderful last night. nothing on edu or altidore’s actual performances. if you find a link, please let me know!

    Reply
  3. Good news, depending on how long Franco is out, now Jozy is 3rd or 4th striker option-could get some more time coming off the bench in La Liga.

    Reply
  4. Troy Perkins in Norway, for Valarenga.

    Use google to translate the page…. anyway, he’s doing well. I’m assuming he’s not keeping his 2nd job as a financial forms processor.

    Reply
  5. The bad news about the Villareal game is that they are now facing likely elimination from the Copa del Rey…meaning Jozy might have 90 more minutes of Copa action.

    Reply
  6. re: Boca as a LB, I remember seeing that experiment a couple times under Bruce Arena. Boca could hang with below average teams, but his lack of speed was exposed when placed outside against better attacking teams. It wasn’t that pretty. Peirce is probably still the best option.

    Reply
  7. From the Villareal website (http://www.villarrealcf.es/):

    With a performance that Club President, Fernando Roig would later describe as “embarrassing”, Villarreal crashed to a 5-0 defeat against Polideportivo Ejido at the Santo Domingo municipal stadium in the first leg of its match in the last 32 of the Copa del Rey. Molina helped himself to a hat-trick (9`, 37` and 51`) while Gregory hit a brace (79` and 89`) to give the Almería outfit a thumping victory against a hugely disappointing Yellow side that now has a mountain to climb if it is to progress any further in this season’s Spanish Cup.

    Poli Ejido set about its task right from the start eager to mix it with its illustrious rivals, two divisions above it and in fourth spot in the elite Primera Liga. Over-confident, clueless in attack, and without direction or concentration, the visitors relied on the efforts of individuals, with Rossi the most incisive, albeit ineffective in the final few yards.

    Both first half goals came from the left wing with the same two players involved. In the 9th minute, Juli, one of the players of the match, crossed to the near post for Molina to open his account. In the 37th minute Juli found himself in front of Viera, and when his shot came of the post, Molina was on hand to strike home the rebound for his and Poli Ejido’s second.

    It was more of the same after the break with Lucas Cazorla’s men taking full advantage of an inattentive, uncoordinated Villarreal defence, with Molina winning the race against Fuentes and Cygan before hitting past Viera for his hat-trick goal just six minutes into the second half.

    And just when it looked like the Yellows might get at least something from the game after Altidore had two great chances to reduce the arrears Gregory was on hand to head home in the 79th minute. The same player completed the humiliation in the 89th minute, scoring his second goal, and his side’s fifth, with the last move of the game.

    The defeat was Villarreal’s first in a competitive match for seven months. The last time the Yellows tasted defeat was 17 matches ago on April 13, ironically also in Almería.

    To make matters worse, Guille Franco, who travelled to Ejido with the squad was forced to pull out before the match with an injury to his left leg.

    Reply
  8. A.S. — I agree with Beckster that Simek is not a CB. If Boca moves out to LB, DeMerit or (fingers crossed) Subotic paired with Goocj in the middle. Simek can back up and eventually take over for Dolo on the right.

    Reply
  9. Could we list players conceived in the United States that play for another country?

    We all know the dirty secret that Peter Crouch’s dad is Bill Walton.

    Reply
  10. Jeremiah White came off the bench and played 27 minutes in 1-0 cup loss to Odense.

    U.S.-born Israeli international Roni Gafni played in (can’t tell how many minutes) Maccabi Haifa’s 4-1 cup win against Maccabi Netanya

    Reply
  11. dont worry bout the 5-0 loss…. the team rested quite a few of their starters… while 5-0 is awful, my guess is the attack wasnt great… by that i mean the progress up to the front line….

    im sure this has nothing to do with the front’s performance but rather the GK and defense… and probably the midfield not being able to control it…

    Reply
  12. Zach, the players left out did not play in mid-week. As for finding out how each of these players played, good luck with that one, though I’m sure if you look long enough you could probably find some grades on Bradley and a report on Edu’s performance somewhere on Thursday.

    Reply
  13. don’t worry about altidore, well as far as i can tell (by not watching the game or hearing about his form anywhere). He should be fine by this stat, Jozy and Giuseppe both started for Villareal. Villareal is losing terribly. The coach takes out Giuseppe in the 61 minute and lets Jozy finish the game. He must have showed enough promise of a goal that he was left in for the full game. Also speaks well for his full match fitness.

    Reply
  14. gooch?

    you left out a lot of players this time it seems. Also I wish we could get some commentary on the form of edu and altidore, and Bradley. I can’t find anything on the net except that they played. I can’t watch the games, and no one seems to write about how the American players look, just whether or not they played. Its such a hollow feeling. Arrrrgghh!

    Reply
  15. Oh, and Pearce didn’t get off the bench. If Simek comes back strong and Pearce continues not to play, Bradley will really have to consider moving Bocanegra to left back for the National Team and pairing Simek with Gooch in the central defense.

    Reply
  16. Carlos Bocanegra played all 90 minutes in Rennes’ 0-0 draw with Valenciennes.

    Freddy didn’t get off the bench in Monaco’s 3-1 win over Nancy.

    Reply
  17. As to Beasley not playing this was a Cup match and several fringe players were in the lineup. Smith is good about spreading minutes to those who might not see many during the season hence Edu’s 90 minutes.

    Reply
  18. Luis Robles did in fact play today. FCK’s #1 keeper, Tobias Sipple, came off at halftime due to a suspected broken arm. Robles made a few saves, didn’t have much to do, but did preserve a 2-0 victory for Kaiserslautern. If the injury to Sipple is in fact a broken arm, Robles will slide into the goal for a month or so.

    Reply

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