by GIANFRANCO PANIZO
As the European seasons get underway so too does the Europa League, and some of America's top players began the qualification for the group stages of the tournament on a strong foot.
Clint Dempsey's 51st minute goal proved to be the game-winner in Fulham's 3-1 victory over Russian club Amkar Perm. Dempsey's strike made the score 2-0 at the time, but Amkar Perm would get on the scoreboard late, making his goal the decisive one.
Tim Howard also enjoyed some Europa League success as he and Everton bounced back from their opening day nightmare with a 4-0 triumph over Sigma Olomouc (Czech Republic). Howard had to make only one save in the lopsided affair.
Here is how the rest of the Americans Abroad performed in the Europea League:
- Clint Dempsey started, played 90 minutes and scored a GOAL in Fulham's 3-1 win vs. Amkar Perm.
- Eddie Johnson dressed but did not play in Fulham's 3-1 win vs. Amkar Perm.
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made one save in Everton's 4-0 win vs. Sigma Olomouc.
- Brad Guzan started, played 90 minutes and made three saves in Aston Villa's 1-0 loss vs. Rapid Vienna.
- Brad Friedel dressed but did not play in Aston Villa's 1-0 loss vs. Rapid Vienna.
- Eric Lichaj did not dress in Aston Villa's 1-0 loss vs. Rapid Vienna.
- Mikkel Diskeruud came off the bench and played 21 minutes in Stabaek IF's 3-0 loss vs. Valencia.
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What do you think of the Americans' performances in the Europa League? Is Dempsey primed for a huge season? Think Howard and Everton are ready for a deep run? Will Eddie Johnson ever see the field for Fulham?
Share your thoughts below.
mwc- Okay, how would he do better?
For a National Team coach, style of play and tactics and formations are dictated by the availability and condition of the players. The most important games are in tournaments, so unlike club coaches, most decisions have to be short term as their margin for error is much smaller than a club coach.
The US team has far more depth than it did even under Arena but that doesn’t mean our player pool is the equivalent of top flight teams such as any of the World Cup contenders. We only have one player, Gooch(and who knows about his playing time?), currently at a top flight European club,while our competition has plenty of players at that level. At the Confederations Cup MBradley was unavailable due to a shaky red card. This meant we lost our top sub, Benny, who had to start. Benny was clearly not in game shape which is why he wasn’t starting in the first place. So we lose our best sub and weaken a starting position. When Brazil brings on a sub they bring on Alves (Barcelona)and Elano( Man. City) who together probaby make more money than the entire US team combined. They are paid that much for a reason.
And the US has who to counter with? A badly out of form Sacha, a worse DMB, and even worse Adu,Bornstein, who has one fan (maybe) on this list, an out of sorts Casey, and a player few people have seen play and know little about, Torres. I’ve seen Torres in his limited play for the USMNT and for all of you who say you are sure that with more time he would be far better than Ronaldinho, I say I have a some foreclosure property to sell you. He may be good but you don’t give a newbie his first significant minutes in a competitive final against Brazil,of all teams.
Bradley has done a good job with limited resources. I seriously doubt that the average fan (including you) has any idea of what goes into “which ones give him the best chance of winning, and then pick formations and substitutions accordingly”.
What Bradley lacks is the benefit of your hindsight. All he can do is go with what he sees in front of him at the time. Obviously you can do it better.
I agree with the second paragraph of The Gentleman Masher’s post at 12:37. However, this is exactly my complaint with Bradley. In my opinion, he is not doing this part well enough.