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Americans Abroad: Monday Rewind

By FRANCO PANIZO

Alejandro Bedoya has begun to establish himself as a starter for Orebro SK, and his performance on Monday was the latest piece of evidence.

Bedoya started and played 90 minutes in his fourth consecutive match as Orebro disposed of AIK, 1-0. The win ended Bedoya and Orebro's two-game skid and puts them in sixth place of the 16-team Swedish League.

Bedoya was one of several Americans Abroad in action on Monday. Here is how the rest fared:

England

COCA COLA CHAMPIONSHIP

  • Jay DeMerit came off the bench and played 80 minutes in Watford's 1-1 draw vs. West Bromwich Albion.

  • Frank Simek dressed but did not play in Sheffield Wednesday's 1-0 loss vs. Bristol City.
  • Kenny Cooper dressed but did not play in Plymouth Argyle's 2-0 loss vs. Middlesbrough.

LEAGUE ONE

  • Eric Lichaj started and played 90 minutes in Leyton Orient's 2-1 loss vs. Southampton.
  • Jemal Johnson started, played 68 minutes and received a yellow card in Stockport County's 2-1 loss vs. Norwich City.
  • Jon-Paul Pittman started and played 90 minutes in Wycombe Wanderers' 2-1 loss vs. Walsall.

  • Mike Grella dressed but did not play in Leeds United's 2-1 win vs. Yeovil Town.

  • Zak Whitbread started and played 90 minutes in Norwich City's 2-1 win vs. Stockport County.

Denmark

  • Michael Parkhurst dressed but did not play in FC Nordsjaelland's 3-0 loss vs. FC Copenhagen.
  • Marcus Tracy did not dress in Aalborg BK's 1-1 draw vs. Silkeborg IF. He is recovering from a knee injury.
  • Chris Rolfe dressed but did not play in Aalborg BK's 1-1 draw vs. Silkeborg IF.

Sweden

  • Alejandro Bedoya started and played 90 minutes in Orebro SK's 1-0 win vs. AIK.

Norway

  • Clarence Goodson started and played 90 minutes in IK Start's 5-3 win vs. Valerenga.
  • Hunter Freeman started and played 90 minutes in IK Start's 5-3 win vs. Valerenga.
  • Mikkel Diskerud started and played 90 minutes in Stabaek's 1-0 loss vs. Tromso.

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What do you think of these performances? Think Bedoya will make the World Cup team?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I really hope he sneaks on the roster. Bedoya is another Charlie Davies type player, plus he’d be a bit of an unknown in SA, just like CD was last year. He’s already shown his speed tenacity, well timed runs and ability to create space for himself and for the other more established big guns will prove very valuable this Summer. He’d be great!

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  2. Bro, Lichaj is most certainly not a League One Defender he is there on loan, lichaj is young and was not getting minutes at Aston Villa so they loaned him so he can stay sharp

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  3. kenny cooper is just not a good player. his mentality and intelligence on the ball is so poor. i am not surprised he can’t find time anywhere there are intelligent coaches.

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  4. I’ve got about the same list for the 23. The concern I have is if BB will only bring 7 Defenders or if he’ll bring 8. Right now I think the 8th defender would likely be Pearce, but Marshell has an outside chance.

    If 8 defenders then I’d drop Beasley from the midfield (based on lack of PT).

    I’d also cut Casey out of contention for a forward slot and try and insert a Speed option (not that anyone has impressed), since Dempsey, Altidore, and Ching all present as more of Hold up Strikers while Davies is the only real speed option.

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  5. I think it’s pretty obvious at this point that BB is giving looks to U.S. players a lot more than he is to players who are playing in Scandinavia.

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  6. What is it that you don’t get about going backwards when you are playing every day, named captain, and getting calls to the national team at one point, and then the next thing you know you are having problems playing at all because you have one injury after another? I wasn’t just talking about their level of play when they are playing being a step backward.

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  7. I don’t make sense? You might want to read some of my material because your logic is extremely flawed.

    Your definition of “doing very well” is very strange. I don’t consider leaving MLS just to come back and play about the same or worse “doing very well”. Is that what you think their goal was?

    Stating that they are having long term injury problems also doesn’t mean they are “doing very well!” I guess Damarcus Beasley, Adin Brown, Ramiro Corrales, and Pat Noonan, to name a few, are “doing very well” too. Noonan was almost named to the World Cup team before he left. Now he can’t start in MLS. Adin Brown, after playing with the national team before he left, is now with Portland.

    I mentioned your silly post to Socrates, and he agreed with me that you are a sophist.

    What was so great about Perkins’ adventure in Norway? He was goalkeeper of the year and had two great seasons right before he left MLS for Valerenga in Norway. He would undoubtedly have had more than a token cap for the national team if he had stayed in MLS. Yes, going to a frozen wasteland where your wife can’t stand it and you all but disappear from view is “doing very well.” You also neglected to mention all of the teams that passed on him in France and Holland. He came back to MLS because they decided they weren’t interested in him. I guess it’s hard to be too impressed by someone playing for Valerenga in Norway!

    I’ll tell you what. For every player you can name that is doing “very well” overseas after leaving MLS, I will name at least two that aren’t.

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  8. That is as good a side as we can muster, and it could accomplish something with a bit of luck. Let’s not over-analyze this and enjoy the show!

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  9. Cooper Sr. actually called me to give me a stern talking to because I didn’t cheer loudly enough when they showed a shot of his son sitting on the bench while I was watching the Plymouth game on the internet. True story.

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  10. One of those midfielders won’t make it because Bradley will take Pearce. As for forward Gomez deserves a shot.

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  11. It’s great to go to Euroipe BUT you gotta play not sit. The ones who really excell and earn time also earn looks for BB. It’s not easy over there.

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  12. Yes finally! That is most likely the 23 man roster, but I do hope Buddle goes on a scoring streak and solves the fourth striker problem once and for all. I would take Buddle over any other MLS striker other than a healthy Ching.

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  13. how id dermit going backwards. he cam back from eye injury and got in the starting lineup immediately. then, he kept that spot until he got the back injury two weeks ago. sat on the bench because of it last weekend. probably still have a lingering issue and was on the bench today. other guy gets injured so they go to DeMerit. looks like he is okay now, which means he is back in the starting XI. how is that backwards?

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  14. @Aristotle- Stick to writing philosophy. What you said makes very little sense. Bedoya is doing very well, Goodson is doing very well, Marcus Tracy, before injury, was doing very well, Mix is doing very well,and CD9 parlayed it into a starting role on a Ligue 1 team and a starting role on our national team, Perkins was doing well but had to come home due to his wife. Also, Demerit is not taking a step back as he has been battling injury.

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  15. I have a feeling Ching will miss out due to his injury, just a hunch. I wonder if Edson Buddle has/will do enough to actually earn a call up in May? That would be interesting.

    I do think Pearce might get a call for the camp, and I wonder how Bob feels about Clark. He hasn’t played first team football in a while.

    It looks like Jones’ ship has sailed but we can’t close the door completely on that. He may make some miraculous recovery and start running again in a couple of weeks, who knows?

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  16. Yeah, Demerit has actually missed a game or two with an injury, so coming off the bench for 80 is actually a positive here.

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  17. The list of players abroad and their “progress” report seems to get more and more depressing. I’m really not so sure playing in Scandinavia is doing any good at all for most U.S. players. (Except financially.) There’s very little evidence of them coming back to MLS or moving on to somewhere else to suggest that it helps them in any way.

    Now Michael Parkhurst seems to be lost in obscurity. Apparently he’s not good enough to start in F.C. Nobody’s 3-0 loss. That Denmark League must really be top notch.

    Maybe it’s just a bad phase. Simek and Demerit seem to be going backwards in England too. Kenny Cooper is off to a disastrous start with Plymouth as well. He can’t even get any time as a sub on a team that will soon be in England’s third division.

    It’s nice to see Zak Whitbread is slowly but surely clawing his way back to the top, where he started. Norwich should be a top Championship League team next year.

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  18. I hope Kenny Cooper is banking in England because him not playing at ALL is just ridiculous. I don’t know what he’s doing or not doing, but he might have to pull an Usher and fire his dad and handle his business with just he and his agent. I just don’t see how this move benifitted him at all, glad MLS made money off, suchs to be 1860 they bought a complete lemon.

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  19. That looks like a solid 23 to me. Don’t think I would make any changes. I think I would go with Ching out of those 3 (if healthy).

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  20. No kidding. Kenny was getting call ups for nat’l team camps and gold cup goals with FC Dallas. What the f Kenny? Get it together. We want to see you on the field.

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  21. Don’t see why both can’t be on the roster. We’re short of backups to Dempsey and Donovan on the wings, esp. if Dempsey is moving up to play forward alongside Jozy. My current 23:

    GK: Timmay, Guzan, Marcus H.
    DEF (7): Spector, Boca, Gooch, DeMerit, Cherundolo, Bornstein, Goodson
    MF (9): Donovan, Holden, Feilhaber, Bradley, Beasley, Edu, Torres, Bedoya, Clark
    FW (4): Altidore, Davies, Dempsey, Gomez/Casey/Ching

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  22. Franco: Tracy is pretty much out for the season. He returned to the US for some weird treatment on his knees. This info is from an AaB fan on BigSoccer.

    (SBI-Igor, we posted about that last week, and it was actually Franco who posted it.)

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  23. If Beasley continues to struggle for playing time, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we do see him on the roster, the fact that he was called in for the Netherlands friendly should tell us that Bradley does like him.

    We don’t have too many wide midfielders who are in form and playing regularly at the moment.

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  24. You don’t often see “subbed in and played 80 minutes”. Glad to see Jay back on the pitch. I’m also very intrigued by Bedoya. I haven’t gotten to see him hardly at all, but I hear great things and he looked good in the little time I saw him play (for the USMNT).

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  25. I do not think we need to start resorting to League 1 defenders (or any League 1 players) right before the World Cup. I agree with Aaron in StL, if he is playing next season give him a call up for the next cycle. I wouldn’t mind a Gold Cup call up.

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  26. I would love to see Bedoya on the 2010 WC team. He looked fearless and dangerous against the Dutch. Hopefully, he keeps it up and really impresses BB in the camp. I would also love to see him bag a couple of goals before this summer for his club! I don’t see how he could be kept off the team if he puts a couple in the back of the net between now and USMNT camp.

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  27. Thought that, but more for the next cycle. If he gets significant time with Villa next year he’s a guaranteed call up. Never too early to start grooming the younger guys, and we have a bunch of players that will be 30+ in 2014.

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  28. Licaj started right away and every game since his loan. I believe he got called to a Nats camp once, is it time for another? Lots of defenders getting time though.

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