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Americans Abroad: A Look Ahead

Bocanegra

By TRAVIS CLARK

It’s Davies vs. Bocanegra this afternoon as FC Sochaux-Montbeliard takes on Rennes in the Third Round of the Coupe de la Ligue. No word if both will start, but it’s likely as the competition carries some weight, with the winner getting a spot in the Europa League.

Rennes is the heavy favorite, as they host this afternoon’s match and have enjoyed a decent start to their Ligue 1 campaign. The club is undefeated with three wins and three ties and sits in fifth place.

Sochaux has struggled early on in the campaign and sit in 14th place after winning just two of their first six. It’ll be a tough time for Davies’ new club today if they hope to advance past Bocanegra’s Rennes club. The Bocanegra-Davies match isn’t the only Americans in action today. Here’s a look at other Americans in action today:

Germany (DFB-Pokal)

  • Kenny Cooper and 1860 Munich face Hertha Berlin
  • Luis Robles and Kaiserslautern face Bayer Leverkusen

England (Carling Cup)

  • Brad Guzan, Brad Friedel and Aston Villa face Cardiff City
  • Jozy Altidore and Hull City take on Tim Howard and Everton
  • Clint Dempsey, Eddie Johnson and Fulham take on Manchester City
  • Marcus Hahnemann and Wolverhampton take on Manchester United

Italy

  • Oguchi Onyewu and AC Milan face Udinese

Scotland (Scottish Cup)

  • DaMarcus Beasley, Maurice Edu and Rangers face Queen of the South

Portugal (League Cup)

  • Freddy Adu and Belenenses visit Rio Ave FC

Sweden

  • Alejandro Bedoya and Orebro SK face IFK Goteborg

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What do you think of today’s matches? Excited to see Bocanegra and Davies go up against each other? Will Adu, Beasley or Onyewu see any playing time today? Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Charlie Davies on Twitter: “Good luck to my teammates tonight vs Rennes in the cup. I will have to wait until Dec 23rd to play against Los & Rennes in the league” and “I needed a rest and the coach gave me one, so I can be feeling good for our important match vs Nancy Saturday. Allez Sochaux”. Looks like he won’t be suiting up tonight.

    Reply
  2. IIRC, this is Freddy’s first club game of 09, and his only action at all other than a few national team games this year. (I believe he did not see the field at all for Monaco in the 2nd half of the 08-09 season).

    I also think this is his first appearance in a game in Portugal since 07, bc Benfica benched him for the 2nd half of the 07-08 season and sent him out on loan in 08-09.

    So since his great showing at the 07 Youth World Cup, the sum total of his performances has included:

    * A few sub appearances for Benfica in the fall of 07, in which I thought he did fairly well and scored a few goals.

    * The Olympic qualifiers, where he played great in the spring of 08, and the 08 Beijing games, where he did some very good things.

    * Garbage time in a few games for Monaco in the fall of 08 — he never scored there for a pretty crappy team, although he did impress in a friendly vs Juventus, drawing a penalty with a sick move.

    * A few performances with the full national team in low-profile games, including a nice free kick goal in a WC qualifier vs Guatemala (after USA had already qualified for the next round) and the two Gold Cup appearances.

    This is crazy. He needs to play. That’s all. I really hope Belenenses is his chance to prove himself.

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  3. freddy looked sharp, dangerous in attack, confident on the ball. Not sure how good a team Rio Ave is, but for a man who hasn’t played competitively in months, it was impressive

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  4. Freddy Adu just posted this on Twitter.

    “Game over. Sad that we lost but coach said i did a great job so im very happy with that. Hopefully leads to more opportunities.”

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  5. andy……

    sorry, me and my friends go to my friends house and watched it on his around 25 computer monitor…..i had no clue what the site was, something like watch football live but you could search that and millions would show up….stream was prettty good too, he said it was pretty expensive

    i feel sorry 4 EJ though, he looks done

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  6. Freddy Adu was on fire today, his teammates wasted 3 or 4 crosses as Adu kept firing them in from the left side. The best Belenenses player when he was on the field.

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  7. Not the whole mortgage…but it did hurt to lose… Man City with 25 shots… 1 goal in the 90 and 2 in the game…

    Hardly the wrong bet… ended up going over 2.5 but no in the 90…rats

    Been betting footie for years and do quite well for myself actually…

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  8. Hey Guys,

    FYI…

    Villareal lost to Real Madrid and now is in the relegation zone. Villareal has not won one game. I know it’s too early but what can I say? 🙂

    Reply
  9. Would love to know…there is no TV tonight according GJ of Fulham as he is not getting replays even in the box….

    Can you send me the link…would have loved to have watched instead of listened…

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  10. Austin…you aint watching…how could you possibly know from radio commentary? He is playing by himself basically as Seol Ki Hyun is up top with him… They are drawing with a 300 million team…. I would say that is pretty decent… Fulham commentator GJ did say Eddie was not strong enough but he surely is being covered up by Toure and Lescott…

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  11. i have bad news everybody….EJ has been nonexistant and hasnt impressed

    he had like 4 touches in first half and touch looks worse than it was when he was playing with KC…..he took a bad touch earlier and nigel de jong cleaned him out…..dissapointin

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  12. yea, haha no hunt doesnt suck

    he is one of there best players according to phil brown and he is resting a few of his player

    P.S…..i didnt want gera to score god I SAID EJ AND THEN CITY ANSWERS BACK WITH a few bellamy goals

    WHY!?!?!?

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  13. Leonardo will eventually see that Gooch is a better option, but for now, he’s sticking with what he is familiar with. Gooch will be regularly starting by the middle of next month when Milan is sitting 8th in the table with a -2 GD.

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  14. hoping that kaladze breaks leg and onyewu come on to break udinese legs……im getttin tired of leonardo at AC

    wish city were on TV….would love to see how EJ does against my team

    this is a decent day if adu and EJ get time ives….i expect highlights, lol

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  15. wouldn’t worry too much about Jozy or Davies not playing, a midweek break before league games this weekend is nothing unusual. Would like to see Gooch come on but I’m not too optimistic, even though Kaldzhe truly brings very little. too much to ask for Freddy to see some green?

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  16. I think the Hull situation comes down to:
    Jozy and VoH didn’t work.
    VoH and Ghilas did work.
    Jozy and Ghilas did work.
    So today it is VoH and Ghilas and Sat. it will be Jozy and Ghilas.

    Reply
  17. Yeah eddie!

    Josmer will be fully rested for this weekend’s tie against Liverpool. That would be slick if he could get it done against them.

    Reply

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