By FRANCO PANIZO
It appears age is nothing but a number for Brad Friedel.
The 38-year-old Friedel posted his eighth shutout in Aston Villa's last ten league games by making five saves in the Villans' scoreless draw with Tottenham. Averaging less than a goal against per game, Friedel now has 11 cleansheets on the season.
Carlos Bocanegra did not help Stade Rennes record a shutout, but he was a part of the club's impressive and surprising 4-2 victory over league leaders Bordeaux. Having fallen out of favor in December, Bocanegra has now started five out of Rennes' last six matches at left back, which should put U.S. fans worried about his playing time at ease.
U.S. fans are also probably smiling about Jozy Altidore's latest showing. Altidore continued his fine run of form in Hull City's game with Manchester City, contributing with his first Premiership goal while also drawing yellow cards on both of the Citizens' centerbacks in Hull's 2-1 upset victory.
Altidore wasn't the only one to find the back of the net this weekend. In just his third appearance for Puebla, Herculez Gomez scored his first goal for the club, nodding home a free kick in the 1-1 draw vs. Atlante.
Here is how the Americans Abroad fared this weekend:
England
PREMIERSHIP
- Landon Donovan started and played 90 minutes in Everton's 1-0 loss vs. Liverpool on Saturday.
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made two saves in Everton's 1-0 loss vs. Liverpool on Saturday.
- Jozy Altidore started, played 66 minutes and scored a GOAL in Hull City 's 2-1 win vs. Manchester City on Saturday.
- Clint Dempsey did not dress in Fulham's 0-0 draw vs. Bolton Wanderers on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Jonathan Spector started and played 90 minutes in West Ham's 2-1 loss vs. Burnley on Saturday.
- Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made five saves in Aston Villa's 0-0 draw vs. Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
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Brad Guzan dressed but did not play in Aston Villa's 0-0 draw vs. Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
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Marcus Hahnemann started, played 90 minutes and made four saves in Wolverhampton Wanderers' 2-1 loss vs. Birmingham on Sunday.
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Stuart Holden did not dress in Bolton Wanderers' 0-0 draw vs. Fulham on Saturday. He is recovering from a thigh injury.
COCA COLA CHAMPIONSHIP
- Jay DeMerit started and played 90 minutes in Watford's 1-0 loss vs. Barnsley on Saturday.
- Frank Simek started and played 90 minutes in Sheffield Wednesday's 2-1 loss vs. Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
- Kenny Cooper came off the bench and played 32 minutes in Plymouth Argyle's 1-0 loss vs. West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
LEAGUE ONE
- Ian Joyce and Southend United play Colchester United on Monday.
- Zak Whitbread came off the bench and played 13 minutes in Norwich City's 2-1 loss vs. Millwall on Saturday.
- Mike Grella dressed but did not play in Leeds United's 2-2 draw vs. Hartlepool United on Saturday.
- Jemal Johnson did not dress in Stockport County's 3-1 loss vs. Milton Keynes Dons on Saturday.
- Jon-Paul Pittman dressed but did not play in Wycombe Wanderers' 4-1 loss vs. Yeovil Town on Saturday.
Scotland
- Maurice Edu did not dress in Rangers' 0-0 draw vs. St Mirren in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup on Saturday. He is recovering from an ankle injury.
- DaMarcus Beasley did not dress in Rangers' 0-0 draw vs. St Mirren in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup on Saturday. He is recovering from a thigh injury.
- Dominic Cervi did not dress in Celtic's 4-2 win vs. Dunfermline Athletic in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup on Sunday.
Italy
- Oguchi Onyewu did not dress in AC Milan's 0-0 draw vs. Bologna on Sunday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
Germany
BUNDESLIGA
- Michael Bradley started and played 90 minutes in Borussia Moenchengladbach's 1-0 loss vs. Mainz on Sunday.
- Steve Cherundolo did not dress in Hannover 96's 2-1 loss vs. TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday. He is recovering from a shoulder injury.
- Sal Zizzo did not dress in Hannover 96's 2-1 loss vs. TSG Hoffenheim on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Jermaine Jones did not dress in Schalke 04's 0-0 draw vs. SC Freiburg on Saturday. He is recovering from a leg injury.
- Ricardo Clark did not dress in Eintracht Frankfurt's 3-2 win vs. Borussia Dortmund on Sunday.
BUNDESLIGA 2
- Luis Robles dressed but did not play in Kaiserslautern's 3-0 win vs. SC Paderborn 07 on Sunday.
- Matt Taylor did not dress in FSV Frankfurt's 1-1 draw vs. Alemania Aachen on Sunday.
- David Yeldell did not dress in TUS Koblenz's 1-1 draw vs. Energie Cottbus on Saturday. He is recovering from a leg injury.
France
- Carlos Bocanegra started and played 90 minutes in Stade Rennes' 4-2 win vs. Bordeaux on Saturday.
- Charlie Davies did not dress in Sochaux's 1-1 draw vs. AS Nancy Lorraine on Saturday. He is recovering from multiple injuries.
Greece
- Freddy Adu and Aris Salonika were losing 1-0 vs. Panthrakikos on Saturday before the match was abandoned at halftime due to a waterlogged pitch.
- Eddie Johnson and Aris Salonika were losing 1-0 vs. Panthrakikos on Saturday before the match was abandoned at halftime due to a waterlogged pitch.
Mexico
- Jose Francisco Torres did not dress in Pachuca's 2-2 draw vs. San Luis on Saturday. He is recovering from a hamstring injury.
- Edgar Castillo started and played 90 minutes in Tigres UANL's 2-2 draw vs. Pumas UNAM on Saturday.
- Marco Vidal started and played 90 minutes in Indios de Ciudad Juarez's 1-0 loss vs. Morelia on Sunday.
- Herculez Gomez started, played 61 minutes, received a yellow card and scored a GOAL in Puebla's 1-1 draw vs. Atlante on Sunday.
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What do you think of these performances? Do you wish Friedel was still playing for the U.S. national team? Are you done worrying over Bocanegra's playing time with Rennes? Think Altidore will continue the run of form he is currently enjoying until the end of the season? Impressed by Gomez's goal?
Share your thoughts below.
duh, don’t need a Briton to tell me that.
Kobe Bryant has always been outspoken about his love for Soccer… but I never thought he’d actually talk to Bob Bradley about trying out for the team. That man is full of it!…
I’ve just heard word about what Ives’ big announcement is going to be! It’s crazy…. If Davies doesn’t make it back from injury in time for the tournament, a new prospect has just come out with word that he’s “ready to take his place on the roster.” Brace yourself… (you’re not going to believe this)….
Kobe Bryant.
jonah freedman?
put daniel williams up there ives. he is better than most of those players.
There is actually AMERICAN FOOTBALL in other parts of the world.
JAPAN, PHILLIPINES, etc.
There is an exhibition held annually in December between the Japan team and some college “all stars”.
Saw it while in Japan back in 03 and saw it last year on ESPN deuce.
Well, consider the fact that there are pro leagues around the world(Japan, Korea, Austria, Germany), there is an international governing body of American football which holds a world cup every for years since 1999 and the fact that the United States doesn’t dominate that competition (Japan has more titles and the US only has one top 4 finish(2007 championship), the fact that the NFL champion the World Champion is legit.
and Dempsey or Daniel Williams will play for US
He scored once, I am pretty sure that is all BB looks for, but he isn’t slow or fat so he may not be called up like Ching/Casey.
if herc starts tearing it up in mexico than he deserves a call up. If he plays well for season down south then call him up next cycle.
Im thinking we get some good ggoch, cd9, and Jermaine jones news soon
Ives’s big announcement:
Podcast? Guest column series? ESPN on-air gig?
Twitter.
http://twitter.com/SoccerByIves
“Apologies for the light postings on SBI today. I was busy tending to some personal business. I will have some good news to share on Monday.”
Euro Group stages have been drawn. Any comment Ives?
Jozy abusing young Boyata all night. Great to see young players battle.
Good Goal…Jozy!!!! Hopefully a sign of more things to come.
Rad, thanks for the info.
My bad, i meant to put that on Sonicdamonkey’s post
Where did he say about the “good news” he will give us on monday?
where did he say about the “good news” ?
Just wanted to point out that Simek isn’t a regular starter with Sheffield Wednesday. He is in the team’s rotation, but doesn’t play week in and week out.
WTG Moose….you just made me throw up in my mouth a little. 😉
Ives, any hint on the “good news” you are planning to share on Monday?
Friedel also made TOTW.
Altidore was named to the soccernet EPL “Team of the Week” for the 2nd straight week.
“After a slow start in the Premier League it seems Hull City striker Jozy Altidore is finally making a name for himself.”
Pretty impressive.
Call up Herc!
The point is that the Premier League champion would not necessarily defeat the La Liga or Bundesliga champion. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the NBA champion would beat the Spanish league winner 99 times out of 100 in a long series. The discrepancy is huge — there’s really no reasonable way to argue that the NBA/MLB aren’t by far the best leagues in their respective sports.
The World Cup has nothing to do with this….I’m just talking about club leagues.
By definition “world champion” would indicate there is some form of championship available to all comers. The NFL, NBA, MLB do not offer foreign entry of teams, so the winners cannot be world champions. If the Premiership was deemed the best league, the top team still wouldn’t be the world champion. This is why the World Cup is much more significant.
Start Gomez up top with Jozy!
He’s been linked with loans to Ipswich and Southampton.
Big news on the weekend, both Jozy and Landon got the highest rating from Sky for their performances. They said Landon was Everton’s most dangerous player. Jozy was dangerous throughout the game.
franco/ives, any way you can use your connections to find out about this michael hoyos kid…he made another appearaance today for estudiantes la plata…
Yup, whatever happened to Eric Lichaj?
…There are legitimate basketball and baseball leagues in the world besides the NBA and MLB, but the best players from around the globe — without a doubt — play in the American-based leagues. Whoever wins those leagues is the best in the world.
its where jay demerit plays…
But the NFL is the ONLY major football league in the world, played almost solely by Americans! There are major baseball leagues in Japan, Korea, and Latin America, and basketball is huge in Europe and South America. I’m sorry — I love football, but you cannot escape the fact that virtually no one else in the world plays it.
Of course, you can say you’re the “world champion” if you win the Super Bowl. But that’s like saying Punxatawny Phil is the world champion shadow-seeing groundhog. Of course he is — he’s the ONLY one!
championship’s not that great a league
I completely disagree. The winner of the Super Bowl does deserve to be called the world champion, based on the exact reasoning you provided, there is no other legitimate professional league in the world to challenge this.
In the other two examples you provided, there is actual credible competition in other parts of the world that could at least put up a semblance of a challenge for the crown of “World Champion” (the Japan based Nippon Professional Baseball league and the Euroleague – the Champions League of European basketball). MLB is actually in talks with NPB to put together a truly global “World Series” annually between the champions of the two leagues.
Hey Ives,
What does Frank Simek have to do to get back in the Nats picture? We’re not deep enough on the back line to ignore a player who is starting regularly in a pretty good league. What’s your take?
The Aris game was finished today.
Aris lost 2-0
Johnson played the whole game, Adu did not play.
I really wish baseball could have a real world tourney, but unfortunately I don’t think it will ever happend. The torunament they have pre season is a joke.
“World champion” for the NBA is fine, too. But leave it out of football. I guess these guys have been to college and used the phrase “national champion,” and they want to feel even better about themselves. But I’m sorry, you’re still a “national champion.”
Lol chunks. Childish, yet hilarious. JK Ives you the man!
I give the World Series a bit of slack because baseball is actually played by countries across the world, and the MLB is — in any rational sense — the best league with the world’s top players. So, “world champion” for baseball is ok by me. I know I’m in a minority in that opinion, though.
I enjoy the NFL as much as any on-and-off fanatic and realize that it’s the best football league in the world (take that Canada and the now-defunct NFL Europe!), but can someone please tell these meatheads on ESPN that the phrase “world champion” is a bit, uh, pretty freakin’ STUPID?
Not bad (for our standards) when 7 of your likely starters got starts and significant minutes in Europe. Now if Clark, Dempsey, Gooch and Davies get healthy we’ll be set.
I think Rico has the most to lose/gain this spring, so he definitely needs to get fit and get minutes. Stu will make the roster if healthy but was never a starter in the WC unless injuries called for it. Clark could possibly lose his spot if he doesn’t get minutes. Although his competition is in the same boat.
Oh, NOW you include CD9?! About time chunks.
Herculez Gomez is garbage…that is all
Bocanegra at left back is looking more and more likely, especially after this kind of game. I know Spector has been getting games for West Ham at left back, but we’ve seen him take on the best in the world from RIGHT back with the national team, so I’d rather take that kind of data rather than what’s going on at West Ham. Bocanegra doesn’t have the most natural crossing technique, although he’s served a few good balls in, but his defensive ability is what’s important against teams that will have more of the ball.
INJURIES!
JOZY!