Photo by ISIphotos.com
by GIANFRANCO PANIZO
With more European leagues getting their seasons underway this past weekend, it was no surprise to see impressive performances from the Americans Abroad.
Kenny Cooper began his 1860 Munich career in impressive fashion as he opened his German scoring tab against TUS Koblenz. Cooper, who joined 1860 Munich just last week, headed home the game-winner in the 17th minute of the 2-0 victory.
Charlie Davies also made his new team debut, coming off the bench for Sochaux. Davies played 19 minutes in the 1-0 win over Auxerre.
Here is how the rest of the Americans Abroad contingent fared this weekend:
England
COCA COLA CHAMPIONSIP
- Jay DeMerit started and played 90 minutes in Watford's 1-1 draw vs. Doncaster on Saturday.
- Frank Simek dressed but did not play in Sheffield Wednesday's 2-2 draw vs. Burnsley on Saturday.
LEAGUE ONE
- Ian Joyce dressed but did not play in Southend's 2-2 draw vs. Huddersfield on Saturday.
- Zak Whitbread did not dress in Millwall's 1-1 draw vs. Southampton on Saturday.
- Mike Grella dressed but did not play in Leeds United's 2-1 win vs. Exeter City on Saturday.
- Jemal Johnson started and played 90 minutes in Milton Keynes Dons' 0-0 draw vs. Hartlepool United on Saturday.
Germany
BUNDESLIGA
- Michael Bradley started, played 70 minutes and received a yellow card in Borussia Moenchengladbach's 3-3 draw vs. VfL Bochum on Sunday.
- Steve Cherundolo started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Hannover 96's 1-0 loss vs. Hertha Berlin on Saturday.
BUNDESLIGA 2
- Kenny Cooper started, played 72 minutes and scored a GOAL in 1860 Munich's 2-0 win vs. TUS Koblenz on Sunday.
- Luis Robles dressed but did not play in Kaiserslautern's 2-1 win vs. Furth on Saturday.
- Matt Taylor came off the bench and played 19 minutes in FSV Frankfurt's 2-1 loss vs. Duisburg on Sunday.
- David Yeldell started and played 90 minutes in TUS Koblenz's 2-0 loss vs. 1860 Munich on Sunday.
France
- Carlos Bocanegra started and played 90 minutes in Rennes' 3-0 win vs. Boulogne on Saturday.
- Charlie Davies came off the bench and played 19 minutes in Sochaux's 1-0 win vs. Auxerre on Saturday.
Denmark
- Benny Feilhaber started and played 90 minutes in AGF Aarhus' 2-1 win vs. Koge on Sunday.
- Jeremiah White came off the bench and played 19 minutes in AGF Aarhus' 2-1 win vs. Koge on Sunday.
- Dan Califf did not play in FC Midtjylland's 4-1 loss vs. Randers FC on Sunday.
- Michael Parkhurst started and played 90 minutes in FC Nordsjaelland's 3-0 win vs. Silkeborg IF on Saturday.
Norway
- Troy Perkins started in Valerenga's 4-3 win vs. Tromso IL (Norwegian Cup).
- Mikkel Diskerud started in Stabaek's 3-1 loss to Aalesund (Norwegian Cup).
Sweden
- Alejandro Bedoya started and played 90 minutes in Orebro SK's 1-0 win vs. Helsingborg on Sunday.
Mexico
- Jose Francisco Torres came off the bench and played 37 minutes in Pachuca's 2-0 win vs. Atlante on Saturday.
- Michael Orozco started and played 90 minutes in San Luis' 2-1 loss vs. Morelia on Sunday.
- Edgar Castillo started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in UANL's 1-0 loss vs. Chiapas on Saturday.
- Marco Vidal started and played 90 minutes in Indios de Ciudad Juarez's 1-0 loss vs. America on Saturday.
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What do you think of these performances? Happy to see Cooper score in his season debut? Is Bocanegra and Rennes' 3-0 win a sign of things to come for them this season? Happy to see Davies make his French debut? Which players did we forget to include this week?
Share your thoughts below.
Great news about Cooper. Keep it up, make Bradley’s decision hard to make!
“Diego was king of Bundesliga last year, ahead of players like Ribery. I hardly think Cooper can compare with those two. He’s a very limited player. I’m starting to like Conor Casey though, I always thought of him as a bumbling idiot.-Josh.2 ”
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Mr. 2,
I’m curious as to what you mean by a limited player.
You mentioned Diego and Ribery. Those two are creative midfielders who are asked to develop the attacks for their teams. They usually get to put on display the whole range of their skills, passing, shooting , tackling, offense, defense.
Strikers and defenders usually have a more limited mission so their all around abilities are not so obvious. One of my favourite players,Paolo Maldini,was never properly appreciated for his all around excellence because he was a defender.
As far as I can tell,Cooper is asked to score as much as possible and he does an excellent job of this, 40 or so in 90 some odd games for Dallas and 4 in 9 games for the US.
Other forwards, Bobby Zamora for one, are asked to set up other players, the target man as it were. In 39 games for Fulham he has only 2 goals so I guess he must be doing a great job of setting the other forwards up, since he is still with the team.
Can Cooper play center midfield, left back or winger? Maybe not left back or winger but he may well be able to do center mid as he has excellent ball skills and he shoots well.
Part of Cooper’s problem with bloggers is not his production, which is good, but rather the fact that he doesn’t look like what they expect.
He is big and tall but doesn’t push people around. Have you ever played against big tall center forwards like Crouch or Cooper? Not that I was any good but at the amateur level I’ve played against guys like that and by and large they are a huge pain for a defender. If they have any skill, and Crouch and Cooper do, they can take the ball and because they are so long and huge, it can be very difficult to take it away from them. There is usually a lot of body in the way. Cooper must be quick to score so many goals and I’m not convinced he is as slow as everyone seems to think. Long guys like him can be deceptive because they cover more ground in one step than the average 5′ 9″ soccer player.
The other probem people have with Cooper is that he scores a lot of “garbage” goals, tap ins from a few feet away, deflections etc. Well, they all count don’t they. This is not Olympic figure skating where you have style points.
If Mexico and the US tie 1-1 and Mexico’s goal comes from Dos Santos beating three men down the middle and stranding Howard, while the US’ goal comes from an own goal where the keeper punts the ball into Salcido’s butt and it bounces into the goal, will there be a committee that awards the game to Mexico on the basis of style points? There would be on this blog.
Cooper is unstylish and ugly like a MAC 10 but both of them are effective at what they are asked to do.
The leading scorer in Budesliga 2 last year had 16 goals (3 were tied). I think Cooper could top those numbers. Interested to see if a yank can lead a league in scoring.