photo by Ben Queenborough/ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
Benny Feilhaber accomplished something this weekend that he's only done once before in his career: he scored a goal at the club level.
A week after providing two assists and helping force an own goal, Feilhaber netted the equalizer for AGF Aarhus in its 1-1 tie against Hobro. Feilhaber scored off a well-taken penalty kick in the second half to keep Aarhus atop the table in Denmark's second division.
Another pair of Americans also found the back of the net. Clint Dempsey scored the equalizer in Fulham's 1-1 draw with Blackburn, and Clarence Goodson headed home from close range in IK Start's 4-2 triumph against Stromsgodset.
It wasn't all good news this weekend. Michael Bradley and Borussia Moenchengladbach were blown out for a second straight game, losing 7-0 to VfB Stuttgart. Jonathan Spector also failed to dress for a second consecutive week in West Ham's 1-1 draw versus Stoke City.
Here is how the Americans Abroad performed this weekend:
England
PREMIERSHIP
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made four saves in Everton's 1-0 loss vs. Newcastle United on Saturday.
- Clint Dempsey started, played 78 minutes and scored a GOAL in Fulham's 1-1 draw vs. Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
- Eddie Johnson came off the bench and played 12 minutes for Fulham.
- Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made four saves in Aston Villa's 1-1 draw vs. Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.
- Brad Guzan dressed but did not play for Aston Villa.
- Eric Lichaj did not dress for Aston Villa.
- Marcus Hahnemann started, played 90 minutes, received a yellow card and made five saves in Wolverhampton Wanderers' 3-1 loss vs. Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
- Jonathan Spector did not dress in West Ham United's 1-1 draw vs. Stoke City on Saturday.
- Stuart Holden started and played 90 minutes in Bolton Wanderers' 1-1 draw vs. Aston Villa on Saturday.
CHAMPIONSHIP
- Mike Grella did not dress in Leeds United's 0-0 draw vs. Doncaster Rovers on Friday.
- Zak Whitbread did not dress in Norwich City's 1-0 win vs. Preston North End on Saturday. He is recovering from a calf injury.
- Conor Doyle dressed but did not play in Derby County's 1-1 draw vs. Barnsley on Saturday.
LEAGUE ONE
- Frank Simek started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Carlisle United's 0-0 draw vs. Brighton on Saturday.
- Anton Peterlin dressed but did not play in Plymouth Argyle's 3-2 win vs. Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
Scotland
- Maurice Edu started and played 70 minutes in Rangers' 4-0 win vs. Dundee United on Saturday.
- Dominic Cervi did not dress in Celtic's 2-1 win vs. Kilmarnock on Sunday.
Spain
- Jozy Altidore dressed but did not play in Villarreal's 2-1 win vs. Levante on Sunday.
Italy
- Oguchi Onyewu did not dress in AC Milan's 1-1 draw vs. Catania on Saturday.
Germany
BUNDESLIGA
- Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96's 2-0 loss vs. VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday.
- DaMarcus Beasley came off the bench and played 13 minutes for Hannover 96.
- Michael Bradley started and played 90 minutes in Borussia Moenchengladbach's 7-0 loss vs. VfB Stuttgart on Saturday.
- Jermaine Jones dressed but did not play in Schalke 04's 3-1 loss vs. Borussia Dortmund on Sunday.
- Ricardo Clark dressed but did not play in Eintracht Frankfurt's 1-0 loss vs. SC Freiburg on Friday.
- Daniel Williams dressed but did not play in SC Freiburg's 1-0 win vs. Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday.
BUNDESLIGA 2
- Kenny Cooper did not dress in TSV 1860 Munich's 2-1 win vs. Fortuna Dusseldorf on Sunday. He is recovering from an ankle injury.
- David Yelldell started, played 90 minutes and made one save in MSV Duisburg's 1-1 draw vs. FC Erzgebirge Aue on Sunday.
- Luis Robles dressed but did not play in Karlsruhe's 2-1 win vs. SC Paderborn 07 on Saturday.
- Amaechi Igwe did not dress in FC Ingolstadt 04's 1-0 loss vs. RW Arminia Bielefeld on Sunday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
France
- Carlos Bocanegra started and played 90 minutes in St Etienne's 3-0 win vs. Montpellier on Saturday.
- Charlie Davies did not dress in Sochaux's 4-0 win vs. Nice on Saturday.
Greece
- Freddy Adu did not dress in Aris Salonika's 1-0 loss vs. Panionios on Sunday.
Belgium
- Sacha Kljestan did not dress in RSC Anderlecht's 3-0 win vs. Kortrijk on Sunday.
Denmark
SUPERLIGA
- Michael Parkhurst and FC Nordsjaelland play Lyngby on Monday.
- Marcus Tracy did not dress in Aalborg BK's 3-2 win vs. Randers on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Chris Rolfe did not dress for Aalborg BK. He is recovering from a hamstring injury.
VIASAT DIVISIONEN
- Benny Feilhaber started, played 90 minutes and scored a penalty kick GOAL in AGF Aarhus' 1-1 draw vs. Hobro on Sunday. You can see the goal here.
Sweden
- Alejandro Bedoya started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Orebro SK's 1-1 draw vs. Halmstads BK on Sunday.
- Ryan Miller started and played 90 minutes in Halmstads BK's 1-1 draw vs. Orebro SK on Sunday.
Norway
- Clarence Goodson started, played 90 minutes and scored a GOAL in IK Start's 4-2 win vs. Stromsgodset on Sunday. You can see the goal here.
- Hunter Freeman started and played 90 minutes for IK Start.
- Mikkel Diskerud started and played 90 minutes in Stabaek IF's 3-0 loss vs. Odd Grenland on Sunday.
- Steve Clark dressed but did not play in Honefoss BK's 1-0 loss vs. Molde on Sunday.
Mexico
- Jose Torres came off the bench and played 19 minutes in Pachuca's 1-0 loss vs. San Luis on Saturday.
- Herculez Gomez came off the bench and played 45 minutes for Pachuca.
- Marco Vidal started and played 90 minutes for Pachuca.
- Edgar Castillo did not dress in San Luis' 1-0 win vs. Pachuca on Saturday.
- Sammy Ochoa came off the bench and played 8 minutes in Estudiantes Tecos U.A. de G.'s 2-2 draw vs. Pumas UNAM on Friday.
- Sonny Guadarrama did not dress in Atlante's 2-0 win vs. Morelia on Saturday.
———–
What do you think of Feilhaber's penalty kick abilities? Whose goal are you more impressed by, Dempsey's or Goodson's? Starting to worry for Bradley and Moenchengladbach? Expect Spector to get back into West Ham's rotation soon?
Share your thoughts below.
Video Highlights of Matthew Taylor’s 2 goals and Rot Weiss Ahlen vs. Carl Zeiss Jena: http://www.footytube.com/video/rot-weiss-ahlen-fc-carl-zeiss-jena-sep18-56532
Did you see Johnson try to beat the Blackburn defender? He tried to take the ball down the line and bounced off the defender and fell to the ground. I was embarrased for Johnson. The announcer was criticizing him for just putting his head down and running with the ball.
Is benny playing in a high school league over there.
Much of what you say is right. Even when you are wrong, the logic behind the statement such as this is right:
“Further, one super-star on a mediocre team in basketball can carry a team much further than one super-star in soccer, it’s a numbers game.”
In the NBA this is true. And from a logical perspective it should be true internationally, however, international basketball does not bare that out. What super-star on a mediocre team has produced results? I believe Germany had one really good tournament with Dirk (but on the other side of the coin) Canada has done nothing with Nash when he plays, nor China with Yao Ming. And the supporting cast of Germany isn’t much different than many of the other teams that are at or near the mountain top. Perhaps, you could argue more effectively it would be true if there were more non-American “super” stars. Though, the late 90s til two years ago, would advocate a team full of superstars is inferior to a team.
In point of fact, International basketball the last ten years has been more of a team game, with the whole being greater than the parts, than soccer has been. It’s been a while since Greece won the Euro cup and that was arguably the last time a strong “team” did anything (internationally) in soccer. There is a paucity of examples prior to that suggesting it was the exception. On the contrarty a “team” gets to the semis of just about every international tournament in basketball.
For whatever reason, despite the logic, in soccer you need superstars more than you do in basketball.
Team first is the crux of your post and we are in agreement in that.
Matthew Taylor netted twice for Rot Weiss Ahlen in BL3 action this weekend.
http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/3liga/vereine/542032/artikel_Arie-van-Lent_Ein-Auge-auf-Taylor.html
Anyone else curious as to why Jones didn’t see action? Wonder if it was just a precaution to give him some rest or if that leg injury is acting up again?
way too many dressed but did not play. yikes..
I watched the Fulham game and even the announcers said, “it seems that Johnson didn’t want to fight for the ball, afraid to be hit by the goalkeeper.”
That’s because Eddie Johnson is weak and weak willed. He never challenges hard.
He and Jozy Altidore are the same…..very weak.
Dempsey looked great! Very in control and creative. Mexico to USA for a great goal! Has that ever happened before?????
Haha I was thinking that same thing. It looks like the field that I played on when I was 12. He wasn’t exactly thrilled when he scored, either.
And, seriously, what’s up with Everton and their lack of firepower? I know they don’t have the cash to spend like other clubs do, but for chrissakes, can’t they get someone who can put the ball in the net?
We don’t rely on the college system because that is the master plan all along we rely on it because that was the only choice for a long time. USSF and the MLS are trying to move away from that but, that is something that takes a long time to change it doesn’t happen overnight.
@ Jim in Atlanta – I played for crowds that size (when I got my 10 minutes of fame) in the German 5th Division…but I was living a dream 15 years removed from college and finally getting stationed in Germany.
Exactly! SPot on Jim.
Jesus it looks like Benny is playing in a weekend rec-league! There is no way he can be happy playing there. if he doesn’t get an opportunity to move to a better league in Europe he needs to come home.
Gooch is way down the depth chart from the looks of it..Nesta and Silva are shoe-ins for the starting 11 and their new signing Papastathopoulos (hurray Google) has been filling in well for Nesta or Silva when they’ve been out. Bonera has been playing RB but he fills in at CB as well. So that’s pretty much 4 CBs plus their new signing Mario Yepes who hasn’t featured yet this season. That’s roughly 4-5 CBs to cycle through before Onyewu even gets a sniff of the pitch. Relegated to Coppa Italia matches unless there’s an injury epidemic it seems :/
That’s exactly my point – a solid team based foundation and the same one Klinsmann is arguing for. We are not swimming in top tier talent b.c we continue to rely on old methodologies, the college system, that doesn’t work. Having played in the German club system, none of my younger (much younger) teammates played for a college team b/c they DO NOT exist, except for fun. They were dreaming of being picked out by some scout when we played in the cup. As for our top players, I am not talking about the Howards, Dolos, Bradley’s Dempseys, Boca, Holden, etc. We have a foundation and it’s the college system, but it’s time for a change to a club system unless we want more of the same. BL: we need a tiered club soccer system, not the college system, to advance our game. I look forward to continuining this debate after 2014.
I am saying that Altidore’s lack of production at this age isn’t uncommon.
A major factor in the emergence of solid national basketball teams has to deal, in large part, with those countries having a solid, team-based program that works in the much different international game. Analogy: Hedo Turkoglu with Turkey versus Didier Drogba with the Ivory Coast. Further, one super-star on a mediocre team in basketball can carry a team much further than one super-star in soccer, it’s a numbers game. MLS is improving, but every major soccer power either has a top-flight domestic league: Italy, Spain, England, Germany, etc…, or they send their players to those leagues, in order to play with the best competition and compete for playing time with the best in order to develop and stay in top-flight match fitness. While the US isn’t a major player, yet, US fans want to reach that pinnacle, and simply waiting for our players to grow in conjunction with the growth of MLS isn’t exactly logical. It would be foolish for the USSF to look at players who aren’t dressing and just admit defeat. By and large, our players need to work for playing time, not just decide to go to the leagues best-suited for constant playing time without putting in the work. Do you think clubs are just snatching up Americans so that they can pay them to fill up the roster or do coaches think they can be serious contributors? I’d argue the latter. Also, who are these “top” players not getting time? Going to be a bit of a snob, but the US isn’t exactly swimming in top-tier talent, and the majority of the guys not playing haven’t sniffed a major call-up. In my opinion, our top players, guys like: MB, Deuce, Timmie, Holden, Edu, Dolo, Jones (if you want to count him), Benny, Boca, and Goodson, guys who have consistently been call-up candidates, are seeing minutes and starting. Altidore is fighting and getting some time in cup play and will hopefully be in a better position after this year. Guzan is still in line with Villa and shouldn’t be going anywhere. Do you think the guys who aren’t playing are going to come to MLS, magically up their soccer IQ 50 points, and suddenly fill out the US roster? MLS is fine for guys like LD who probably have no growth left and are content with being perennial superstars in MLS, but for the young guys, fighting and developing is every bit as important as playing.
Holden got an “MLS assist” on the Bolton goal (passed to the guy who got the assist) and overall had a very good game. Drew a good save from Friedel and was one of Bolton’s best players on the pitch.
Nice win for Sochaux.
Stop Spamming Mr. -____-. Gratz on all the US men club goals and starts this weekend go yanks. 🙂
I’m curious to know exactly what Gooch’s status is at Milan. Is he not making the 18 because he’s still working toward regaining full fitness from the injury, or is he fit but just that far down the depth chart? I really hope its the former. I’m also getting pretty concerned about Spector…it really seems like he is not in the club’s plans. He already wasn’t the first choice, and now they’ve brought in Jacobsen as well. He needs to move, I think.
Anyone have any insight into Ricardo Clark’s club situation?
I don’t quite know what your point is, but being that Stefano is Italian and Italy isn’t exactly short of options up top, what point it is your trying to make is probably wrong. That and his goal production In his appearances for club has been better.
i think he is getting paid this year and that he extended his contract by one free year at the end. i could be wrong but i thought that was the situation
Yeah, but money is what pays the bills, and this is these guys’ job. I know as a fan, you want to see all these guys playing week in and week out, but you have to remember that these people are making money where they are. MLS doesn’t have the pay roll to support that influx of US players overseas coming back.
Spot on Bottlecaps. I can no longer fault BB (well partly), but the root cause for our lack of moving to the next level is Sunil Gulati and crew.
Sorry, that first sentence is just awful. Y’all know what I mean.
Wow, there are entirely too many “did not dress” sdescriptions of the USA players abroad. I hope a lot of agents take note that advising a player to take the monet and go to a bigger team or a bigger league means it is entirely possible, no matter where you sit with the USMNT, you may be riding the pine for significant portions of the season.
This probably doesn’t bother some of these “undressed” players as Bradley has a penchant for “pedigree over performance” meaning no matter how much you ride the pine, you are getting a call-up as BB favors you.
This will be the USMNT undoing.
BTW, Gooch is not playing (or more accurately, not playing) without salary. As I understood it, he signed a one year extension to his current deal, vowing to play that year without salary to make up for the entire season he missed through injury. He’s being paid throughout the rest of his original 3 year deal.
Be Reasonable – Riddle me this? If Argentina, Brazil, Spain or Greece are now beginning to compete at a level and sometimes win against USA Men’s B-Ball team with one or two of their players in the NBA, when the majority of their players stay with clubs such as Barcelona B-ball and Madrid B-ball in Spain, as an example, why do we need several of our top players getting zero minutes in leagues in Europe? You still haven’t provided sound logic. Money isn’t what neccesarily makes a successful TEAM.
Be Reasonable – Club or country? Taking a page from Herb Brooks, USA 1980 Olympic Hockey Team, “Who do you play for?” Derby County, Aarhus, Aris or USA?
Obviously, you have never been exposed to live in the European club system. If we are able to have club soccer at the HS level, why not at the college age level? We’re so dependent on the college system that it will only lead to more of the same poor international results. As Einstein said, “Thinking that doing more of the same will lead to a different result is a sign of insanity” Although he didn’t say as much during an interview tonight on the Wizards pre-game show, this is exactly what Klinsmann is talking about. Think outside the box!
This idea is stupid on so many levels.
The would be a great idea. If you wanted to drive all those players away from the national team …
Come back to MLS and take massive pay cuts for the CHANCE that you can play on the USMNT instead of supporting your family and earning a living.
Are you serious with this terrible idea?
i agree with the poster who said Bob should tell all of the guys who are Did Not Dress week after week. get back to MLS and/or play regularly or forget the USMNT, period. what kind of serious footballing nation has nearly half of its top overseas talent not getting any game time at all?
About 48 players with 20 DNPs/DNDs. Frustrating. But psyched for Holden, the kid is making it happen. And Clint has seemed to earn his way back to starting for Hughes. Very cool.
P48 – I have to agree, so here is my theory which will never come to fruition b/c of greed. Each Yank playing abroad that does not meet the following: not a D1 league, not playing 20-40 minutes, not dressing dressing (period) should be summoned back to the US with the words, play in MLS or do not think of playing for USMNT. These guys should come back to the MLS and form the nucleus of a 3-4 teams. They get used to playing with each other, and give BB better options. Much like Bayern provides the nucleus of Die Mannschaft.
It’s great that we have so many Yanks Abroad, but the list of dressed, did not play/did not dress players is frustrating to see. It shows that as much progress as we’ve made, we still have a long, long way to go.
Holy high resolution slow load picture, Batman!
Will Gooch ever get a chance? A Cup game or something?
Italy ain’t so pretty sitting on the bench.
Impressed with Holden’s game at the moment, Can Gooch be loaned out if hes playing without a salary?
stu holden with yet another solid performance for Bolton. Everytime I see him in the middle of the field i get more confident of a 4-2-3-1 formation with holden bradley/jjones or edu in the middle.
The video of benny’s goal makes me even more sympathetic to his situation. Looks like he’s playing in front of 2300 people at most
Make that four
glad to seee DMB getting some minutes in the BL for Hannover.
It is such an important question that, apparently, I had to ask it three times
What is up with Gladbach?
What is up with Gladbach?
Hey Fulham fans(we should have plenty on this site) remember Italian striker Stefano Okaka Chuka that was loaned out tou Fulham last season? Because, his situation is similar to Altidore’s. Chuka and Altidore are similar physically, are around the same age, both were loaned out to premier league teams and Chuka like Altidore at Vilarreal can’t find playing time for As Roma right now. The major difference is Chuka is not asked to be his national team’s best striker Altidore is.