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Kljestan scores in Anderlecht victory

SachaKljestan (ISIphotos.com)

Photo by ISIphotos.com

When Sacha Kljestan sat out his second straight match for Belgian club Anderledcht during mid-week Champions League action, there was some concern that the U.S. national team midfielder might be losing out in the race for playing time.

Kljestan was back in action today, and made the most of it, heading home the first goal in Anderlecht's 3-0 win against KSC Lokeren on Saturday. Kljestan played all 90 minutes for Anderlecht, which plays host to Partizan Belgrade on Tuesday after registering a 2-2 tie on the road in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League playoff series.

Here is Kljestan's goal:

Glad to see Kljestan back in the starting lineup? Hoping he gets a chance in Champions League action? Is Anderlecht striker Romelu Lukaku becoming one of your favorite young players?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Sacha stopped trying and pouted after his loan to Celtic fell through. That ultimately led to him losing a spot on the nat team he had appeared to have lockd up.

    So all u Sacha apologist who want to say he lost confidence when his loan fell through and immediately found it when he went to belgium, don’t be so naive.

    He quit on MLS

    And I lost all respect for him

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  2. Not really. Sacha jumped over the corner flag as his celebration with Chivas USA.

    I would love to see kill that Stanky leg though!

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  3. But was also the best player in the USA’s 1-2 loss to Nigeria, not even including the goal. He played well in all three group stage matches, and to be honest, Sacha isn’t a “maestro” just like you say, but that’s not what he should be expected to do. He’s an attacking midfielder that loves to make runs out of the middle and looks to crack the defense. A maestro dictates the pace and play of the game through his passes. Sacha tried to be a pure pass converter, but it’s not his thing. He did really well in MLS when he was allowed to be in a more pure attacking midfield role.

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  4. He still needs to work on that celebration. Looked like he was confused on what to do. CD9 needs to give him some dance lessons.

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  5. Sasha has a ridiculously hot girlfriend. I don’t think he cares that people rip him.

    And I think playing on a prestigious club and playing in the Champions League is better than playing for an MLS team + being transfer handcuffed by an entire league.

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  6. Sacha Kljestan gave up with ball on a stupid pass, like he has a nack for doing, and they came back, and earned a FK and scored against us to tie us and that help end our olympics. that and MB and Adu’s yellow card accumulations and orozco’s red.

    Sacha Kljestan can’t be a central midfielder and give the ball up as often as he does. He tries to be the “MEASTRO” and he gives up the ball on a lot of ‘crafty’ passes

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  7. Lately, a lot of the USA players have been fighting for playing time in Europe. Sasha is getting a lot over seas in Europe so far so do not put him on the chopping block yet. 😛 He is a very good player.

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  8. The Belgian league is a much higher level of play from top-to-bottom compared to MLS. This is a very good place for Sacha to go to get his career back on track. Belgium is one of those “smaller” leagues where players prove themselves (much like France and Netherlands) and it is better than Scotland.

    The criticism of Sacha’s game was that he had a tendency to disappear from games and have defensive lapses at times. But he was always assured a spot in Chivas’ starting 11 every week due to the disparity between the top and bottom players in MLS.

    Anderlicht is a club that will push him and force him to take his game to another level this should benefit him and the US program long term.

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  9. Ow and about sacha, trainee of anderlecht is rotating , if rsca progresses to cl he should get enough PT fo sure since hes doing well

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  10. Hi, belgian speaking, you guys might think a bit low of anderlecht, (and belgian teams in general)just to give you guys an idea:

    last year in europe league

    rsca reached 1/8th final (defeated by hamburg)
    standard (other belgian team) reached 1/4th final (also defeated by hamburg)

    then taking into consideration that rsca (anderlecht) was better than hamburg over the 2 matches you could say rsca is among the 50 best teams in europe, will this year be proven in champions league i think.

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  11. Sasha does not suck if he sucked so bad then how come Celtic a champions league team that always qualify every year was interested in him and try to buy him ? How come he scored a hat trick in a Sweden friendly ? Why did he dominate in the group stage of the Olympics u-23. You act like Sasha has had no accomplishments. Players getting out of form is something that happens to even the best players. Sasha was out of form, but he does not suck. So please do not be one of those people who are negative, biased, and say a player sucks cause they are out of form. Then when they get back in form and scoring and tearing up the league and their Nats team. Then you wanna jump on the bandwagon and you have a change of heart and think the player is awesome and good, but you use to hate on them and thought they were garbage.

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  12. Eh, he was just saying that Belgium seemed better, and from his perspective, it very well might. Like you said, he went from a low MLS team to a high team in Belgium, so that has to be taken in account. Anyhow, for all I care, he can go anywhere and say whatever he chooses, just as long as I don’t see him in the National team fold anytime soon.

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  13. Sergio was just a little boy, the son of a macaroni-bender. He dreamed of fishing the Mississippi delta with gummi scorpions.

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  14. I thought his tone was quite negative towards MLS….almost as if it was painful for him to be there….I know MLS isn’t one of the strongest leagues, but it is still a league where players can develop…and the quality of play has improved…and it’s not as if he was the most amazing player whhile he was in the league….he didn’t dominate games, he didn’t make everyone around him significantly better….he wasn’t mvp….so i think he should have just recognized his experience and moved on…there are still players that have benefitted very well from their MLS experience and who are better than him (stu holden, example)…he is playing on the best team in belgium, which does count for something but how does the belgian league compare with La Liga, the BundesLiga, etc…I would think that he would give a better impression of keeping everything in perspective…..

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  15. His teammates seem to like him, he seems happy, and he seems to be doing pretty well. If he gets time, he’ll get better. Anyone who says that’s bad for the Nats should cheese off: Americans playing well in any league make it more likely that OTHER Americans may get the chance.

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  16. It was a nice run and a solid finish. I would love to see him become a more consistent player by earning PT in Belgium. Having said that, it’s hard to say if his development at the club level will necessarily translate to the Nats. Some guys are “clubbers” and some guys are better performers for their national team. As an example, David Healy always plays very well for Northern Ireland, but has drifted from one club to another without much impact. On the flip side, Messi often seems to excel with Barcelona and disappoint for Argentina.

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  17. i am not going to get excited over sacha yet….i think it’s good for him to get his PT and improve but i’m wondering if he will play in CL matches…I think Lokeren is one of the weaker teams in the Belgian league….also, after reading sacha’s interview on si.com, it’s hard to be objective about him…..

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  18. great finish, poor defending, but thats not kljestan’s fault. Good run as well. Lets see a couple months of consistency and you can once again battle for a spot on the national team come January.

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  19. Lukaku is a star in the making.

    All rumors have him leaving to Chelsea after this year. He wanted to stay in Belguim to finish school but once that’s out of the way he is most likely gone and Anderlecht is going to be quit a bit richer.

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  20. Plus “Chivas, Los Angeles…” and the “USA , USA” chants in the background.

    Keep it up Sacha, we’re pulling for you.

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