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Americans Abroad: Weekend Rewind

Jose Francisco Torres 1 (Reuters)  

By FRANCO PANIZO

If getting consistent playing time is a prerequisite for making the U.S. World Cup team, Jose Francisco Torres has one less thing to worry about. 

Torres started his eighth consecutive match for Pachuca in the club's 2-1 win over Indios de Ciudad Juarez. Torres did not get on the scoresheet in Pachuca's second consecutive victory, but he did go the distance in a victory that saw the club get closer to post-season play in the Mexican League.

Far from playing for any hardware, Jonathan Spector and West Ham United took a positive step towards avoiding relegation by pulling out a 2-2 draw against Everton at Goodison Park. Despite having a penalty kick saved by Tim Howard, West Ham averted a seventh straight loss by fighting from behind twice to earn its result. Spector started and played 90 minutes at left back.

There was also a pair of goals scored this weekend. Maurice Edu netted his second goal of the season, scoring the game-winner vs. Hamilton Academical, and Herculez Gomez continued his tear over Mexican club's defenses with another goal in a 1-1 draw against Morelia.

Here is how the Americans Abroad did this weekend:

England

PREMIERSHIP

  • Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made three saves, including a penalty kick stop, in Everton's 2-2 draw vs. West Ham United on Sunday.

  • Jozy Altidore came off the bench and played 25 minutes in Hull City 's 2-0 loss vs. Stoke City on Saturday.

  • Clint Dempsey started and played 90 minutes in Fulham's 2-1 win vs. Wigan Athletic on Sunday.

  • Jonathan Spector started and played 90 minutes in West Ham's 2-2 draw vs. Everton on Sunday.

  • Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made five saves in Aston Villa's 1-0 win vs. Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.

  • Brad Guzan dressed but did not play in Aston Villa's 1-0 win vs. Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.

  • Marcus Hahnemann started, played 90 minutes and made eight saves in Wolverhampton Wanderers' 1-0 loss vs. Arsenal on Saturday.

  • Stuart Holden did not dress in Bolton Wanderers' 1-0 loss vs. Aston Villa on Saturday. He is recovering from a leg injury.

COCA COLA CHAMPIONSHIP

  • Jay DeMerit did not dress in Watford's 1-1 draw vs. Preston North End on Saturday.

  • Frank Simek dressed but did not play in Sheffield Wednesday's 1-1 draw vs. Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
  • Kenny Cooper came off the bench and played 9 minutes in Plymouth Argyle's 2-1 win vs. Doncaster Rovers on Saturday.

LEAGUE ONE

  • Eric Lichaj started and played 90 minutes in Leyton Orient's 3-1 loss vs. Hartlepool United on Saturday.
  • Jemal Johnson started and played 90 minutes in Stockport County's 1-0 win vs. Walsall on Saturday.
  • Jon-Paul Pittman came off the bench and played 36 minutes in Wycombe Wanderers' 2-1 loss vs. Huddersfield Town on Saturday.

  • Mike Grella started and played 75 minutes in Leeds United's 3-0 loss vs. Swindon Town on Saturday.

  • Zak Whitbread dressed but did not play in Norwich City's 3-1 loss vs. Tranmere Rovers on Saturday.

Scotland

  • Maurice Edu started, played 90 minutes and scored a GOAL in Rangers' 1-0 win vs. Hamilton Academical on Saturday.

  • DaMarcus Beasley dressed but did not play in Rangers' 1-0 win vs. Hamilton Academical on Saturday. 
  • Dominic Cervi dressed but did not play in Celtic's 1-0 win vs. Hibernian on Sunday.

Italy

  • Oguchi Onyewu did not dress in AC Milan's 3-2 win vs. Cagliari on Saturday.

Germany

BUNDESLIGA

  • Michael Bradley started and played 88 minutes in Borussia Moenchengladbach's 2-1 loss vs. VfB Stuttgart on Saturday.

  • Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96's 0-0 draw vs. Hamburg SV on Sunday.

  • Sal Zizzo did not dress in Hannover 96's 0-0 draw vs. Hamburg SV on Sunday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
  • Jermaine Jones did not dress in Schalke 04's 2-1 loss vs. Bayern Munich on Saturday. He is recovering from a leg injury.
  • Ricardo Clark dressed but did not play in Eintracht Frankfurt's 3-2 win vs. Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
  • Daniel Williams dressed but did not play in SC Freiburg's 1-1 draw vs. VfL Bochum on Saturday.

  • Jared Jeffrey did not dress in Mainz 05's 2-0 loss vs. Nurnberg on Saturday.

BUNDESLIGA 2 

  • Luis Robles dressed but did not play in Kaiserslautern's 2-1 loss vs. RW Oberhausen on Sunday.
  • Matt Taylor did not dress in FSV Frankfurt's 2-1 loss vs. Arminia Bielefeld on Sunday.
  • David Yeldell started, played 90 minutes and made three saves in TUS Koblenz's 2-1 win vs. SC Paderborn 07 on Sunday.

France

  • Carlos Bocanegra started and played 90 minutes in Stade Rennes' 2-1 loss vs. Lyon on Saturday.

  • Charlie Davies did not dress in Sochaux's 0-0 draw vs. Nice on Saturday.

Portugal

  • Gale Agbossoumonde did not dress in Sporting Braga's 3-2 win vs. Guimaraes on Friday.

Greece

  • Freddy Adu and Aris Salonika did not play this weekend.

  • Eddie Johnson and Aris Salonika did not play this weekend.

Denmark

  • Benny Feilhaber came off the bench and played 74 minutes in AGF Aarhus' 0-0 draw vs. Randers FC on Sunday.
  • Michael Parkhurst started and played 90 minutes in FC Nordsjaelland's 1-0 loss vs. FC Midtjylland on Thursday. Parkhurst and FC Nordsjaelland play FC Copenhagen on Monday.
  • Marcus Tracy did not dress in Aalborg BK's 1-1 draw vs. Sonderjsyke on Friday. He is recovering from a knee injury. Tracy and Aalborg BK play Silkeborg IF on Monday.
  • Chris Rolfe came off the bench and played 20 minutes in Aalborg BK's 1-1 draw vs. Sonderjyske on Friday. Rolfe and Aalborg BK play Silkeborg IF on Monday.

Sweden

  • Alejandro Bedoya and Orebro BK play AIK on Monday.

Norway

  • Clarence Goodson and IK Start play Valerenga on Monday.
  • Hunter Freeman and IK Start play Valerenga on Monday.
  • Mikkel Diskerud and Stabaek play Tromso on Monday.

Mexico

  • Jose Francisco Torres started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Pachuca's 2-1 win vs. Indios de Ciudad Juarez on Saturday.

  • Edgar Castillo did not dress in Tigres UANL's 3-0 win vs. San Luis on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
  • Marco Vidal started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Indios de Ciudad Juarez's 2-1 loss vs. Pachuca on Saturday.
  • Herculez Gomez came off the bench, played 45 minutes and scored a GOAL in Puebla's 1-1 draw vs. Morelia on Saturday.

Argentina

  • Michael Hoyos did not dress in Estudiantes La Plata's 1-1 draw vs. Banfield on Sunday.

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What do you think of these performances? Impressed by Torres' performance/season? Do you see Spector and West Ham's draw against Everton as the result they needed to gain confidence? Which goal did you like better, Edu's or Gomez's?

Share your thoughts below

Comments

  1. Castillo may not make the team, but he should because he is a hell of a lot better than Bornstein, and he should be given a reward for playing in a much stronger league than MLS Week in and out. If you don’t believe that take a look at the CCL where MLS and the Mexican Primera each started with four teams and all four Mexican teams are in the final four.

    Reply
  2. Who do you want JP, and Harkes?????? they SUCK!!!!!! The ugly truth is that we do not have enough GOOD commentators, and until we do I would much rather listen to a guy like Martin Tyler and let JP Delawhoo stick to calling so called so-cal “super-classico’s”

    Reply
  3. I may answer my own question here. I ran across this quote from Dowie today. Apparently, last week he said:

    “Jozy is a lad I will be driving mad and getting at him to get an intensity in his training,” added Dowie. “He is a laid-back lad, that is not a criticism, we love him to death we just need to get a bit of devil in his stomach.”

    Dowie may be trying to get Jozy good and mad with something to prove.

    Reply
  4. I’d imagine that if Edu was playing as poorly as you stated than Walter Smith wouldn’t have given him the start. What is evident is that Edu is clearly getting back in form, and even if it’s not coming immediately, we have no space to be snubbing players like Edu, especially when they’re getting time, goals, and their team results.

    Reply
  5. I’m an American who is currently in Glasgow. I was at the Rangers game. Other than the goal, Edu and for that matter all of the Rangers players really, really sucked. There was a lot of ball watching, none of the players (including Edu) seemed to be willing to directly challenge players for the ball and passing was terrible. Many Rangers fans were surprised that he got the Man of The Match Award.

    With the exception of his performance at the Old Firm game, Edu has been fairly mediocre. Half the time he won’t challenge players for the ball at midfield and his passing is very inconsistent. Of course he did come back from an injury, but I don’t think he is ready for World Cup level play and I don’t think he will be back to form by time the World Cup starts.

    Reply
  6. Hahnemann was chosen goalie on BBC’s Garth Crook’s team of the week. Pretty big deal. Not only shoud he have left Guzan in the dust for our #2 keeper but Timmy should stay on his toes!!!

    Reply
  7. I am more peeved that over the past month when there has been very little sports going on most days that they don’t show soccer highlights of any league. But we all know when Tebow has a hangnail and who the 124th pick in the draft might be.

    Reply
  8. this is a good weekend for americans abroad. lots of playing time and multiple assists and two goals. glad to see that.

    really cool to see Lichaj get the start on his loan. i hope he can come back to Aston Villa and crack their line up in the not-too-distant future.

    hopefully Cooper can continue to triple his playing time! hahaha

    Reply
  9. Got a bench on the reserves last I saw. He has until the summer to prove himself and hasn’t do it once, yet. Fingers crossed for him, he has some talent and a heart breaker story!

    Reply
  10. Why? They offer different roles and have been chosen on the teamsheet together before.

    Torres offers overall passing and controlling the tempo of the game. Feilhaber offers more attack with his dribbling and short, creative passing. I’d take both.

    Reply
  11. With Jose Torres making the front picture over Edu, i guess we finally discovered SBI’s intentions…They want Torres on the US team badly!, and are expressing it quickly because Feilhaber is back to playing now. And Bob is most likely either going to take Feilhaber or Torres as one of the last CM’s.

    Reply
  12. ahm is on the mark. But you have to realize those headlines are written by Brits. That why you’ll always read about managers “launching an astonishing attack” at a player or ref (when they’re doing something like simply criticizing a decision or play). I hate it. It’s British sensationalistic tabloid culture.

    Reply
  13. ESPNsoccernet is mainly written by and for Brits. None of the writers you normally read on the ESPN.com front page know anything about soccer and/or refuse to write about it. They have hired several people to write about the US team, but their articles get buried. It’s stupid, but that’s ESPN for you. Go to Fox Soccer of SI to get your USA news. Trust me.

    Reply

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