The resumption of the Europa League after a short hiatus meant another important round of games for Everton and Fulham. With those clubs in action, both Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard were in action Thursday afternoon.
Dempsey's Fulham traveled to Rome, and after getting out to a 1-0 lead, were reduced to 10 men early in the second half. The lead didn't last much longer, and Roma equalized in the 69th minute, before adding another just seven minutes to grab a 2-1 victory. Dempsey went the full 90, spending some time at forward.
Everton was out for revenge, after a 5-0 humiliation at the hands of Benfica in Portugal two weeks ago. Tim Howard was in good form, however, going 90 minutes and coming up with some key saves to keep the match level. Benfica finally broke through in the second half, defeating the Toffees 2-0.
Rounding out today's Americans was Dominic Cervi. With Celtic's first-choice keeper Artur Boruc suffering from a knee injury, Cervi deputized for Lukasz Zaluska but didn't see any action as the Hoops drew 0-0 against Hamburg.
What did you think of today's Americans in action? Catch the red cards in the Fulham game?
Share your thoughts below.
Stop being bitter that soccer is not as big as the other sports yet, the NFL is entertaining, so is soccer. Trashing other sports is childish.
dude, get out of here with that. What makes the game entertaining is that sometimes refs miss calls, and sometimes they give red cards when they shouldn’t have. They make make-up calls. This is all part of what’s entertaining in this game. To change it ans start reviewing stuff and second guessing is going to ruin it and turn it into that crappy American football. Let’s keep the game the way it is. Sometimes it’s unfair, but that’s life.
I wouldn’t consider myself a soccer junkie if I’m EAGERLY LOOKING FORWARD to sunday football. And your ideas are pretty retarded. Stopping the game to check film? This is soccer, not American football. What’s next, time outs?
The Fulham Roma match could have been a great match but the ref ruined it. Players for Roma barely getting touched and falling down and getting the call and then Dempsey being knocked over several times by hard fouls while playing striker and not getting any calls. Worst job by a ref that I have seen since CONCACAF qualifying matches. Very disappointing results in both of Fulham matches against Roma.
that fulham match was frustrating. FIFA needs to figure out a way to standardize expectations between refs from different regions/leagues.
Since there’s a stoppage with carding anyway, what’s the problem with having a challenge option that can allow the play to be reviewed on film. If the challenge is denied then you lose a substitution, otherwise no penalty.
Again, different refs will find different things acceptable, that does not mean soccer is too fluid a sport to quantify penalties, it simply means no one gives enough of a s__t to bother enforcing the letter of the law; that or FIFA likes the buzz controversy generates. Between the diving and bad calls, even a soccer junkie like me is waiting eagerly for Sunday football.
9 points in 9 matches… only 2 away from the drop zone… isn’t really RESURGENT!!! Are they playing better, yea… but I’d hesitate to call it resurgent
Ah, I believe that factoid should go in the non-American Americans Abroad section.
Rossi scored a goal for the resurgent Villarreal.
Where’s the Cervi photo op? Need to get a new picture of him riding the pine!
The comical officiating for the Fulham match was not limited to the red cards. I thought I was watching a CONCACAF qualifier.