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Americans Abroad: Weekend Rewind

Charlie Davies 1 (ISIphotos)

photo by ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

Call this weekend goals galore.

Five goals from four different Americans were scored this weekend as Clint Dempsey, Maurice Edu, Sacha Kljestan and Mike Grella found the back of the net for their respective clubs.

Dempsey netted a first-half brace in Fulham's 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic. Edu blasted a beauty in Rangers' 1-1 draw with Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Grella scored for a second consecutive game as he tapped in a late equalizer and helped draw a penalty kick (that was missed by a teammate) in Carlisle United's 1-1 tie with Bristol Rovers. Kljestan opened the scoring in RSC Anderlecht's 2-1 victory over Racing Genk.

Another American found the back of the net, but it came in a reserve match. Charlie Davies scored a game-winning penalty kick as Sochaux's reserves defeated Dijon FCO, 2-1. Davies' goal is the latest bit of progress for him as he attempts to fully recover from the car accident he was in last October.

Here is how the Americans Abroad performed this weekend:

England

PREMIERSHIP

  • Tim Howard started and played 90 minutes in Everton's 1-0 win vs. Stoke City on Saturday.
  • Clint Dempsey started, played 90 minutes and scored two GOALS in Fulham's 2-0 win vs. Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

 

  • Eddie Johnson did not dress for Fulham.
  • Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made four saves in Aston Villa's 0-0 draw vs. Birmingham on Sunday.
  • Brad Guzan dressed but did not play for Aston Villa.
  • Eric Lichaj dressed but did not play for Aston Villa.
  • Marcus Hahnemann started, played 90 minutes and made one save in Wolverhampton Wanderers' 2-1 win vs. Manchester City on Saturday.
  • Jonathan Spector did not dress in West Ham United's 1-0 loss vs. Arsenal on Saturday.
  • Stuart Holden started and played 90 minutes in Bolton Wanderers' 1-0 loss vs. Liverpool on Sunday.

CHAMPIONSHIP

  • Conor Doyle dressed but did not play in Derby County's 4-1 win vs. Watford on Saturday.
  • Zak Whitbread did not dress in Norwich City's 3-1 loss vs. Cardiff City on Saturday. He is recovering from a calf injury.

LEAGUE ONE

  • Frank Simek started and played 90 minutes in Carlisle United's 1-1 draw vs. Bristol Rovers on Saturday.
  • Mike Grella started, played 90 minutes and scored a GOAL for Carlisle United.

 

  • Anton Peterlin did not dress in Plymouth Argyle's 4-2 loss vs. Oldham Athletic on Saturday.

Scotland

  • Maurice Edu started, played 45 minutes and scored a GOAL in Rangers' 1-1 draw vs. Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Saturday.

 

  • Dominic Cervi did not dress in Celtic's 3-0 win vs. St Johnstone on Saturday.

Spain

  • Jozy Altidore came off the bench and played 19 minutes in Villarreal's 1-1 draw vs. Sporting Gijon on Sunday.

Italy

  • Oguchi Onyewu did not dress in AC Milan's 2-1 loss vs. Juventus on Saturday.

Germany

BUNDESLIGA 

  • Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96's 4-0 loss vs. TSG Hoffenheim on Sunday.
  • DaMarcus Beasley came off the bench and played 13 minutes for Hannover 96.
  • Michael Bradley started and played 90 minutes in Borussia Moenchengladbach's 3-0 loss vs. Kaiserslautern on Saturday.
  • Jermaine Jones did not dress in Schalke 04's 1-0 loss vs. Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday. He is recovering from an ankle injury.
  • Ricardo Clark came off the bench and played 1 minute in Eintracht Frankfurt's 3-1 win vs. St Pauli on Saturday.
  • Daniel Williams came off the bench and played 8 minutes in SC Freiburg's 4-2 loss vs. Bayern Munich on Friday.

BUNDESLIGA 2

  • Kenny Cooper did not dress in TSV 1860 Munich's 4-2 win vs. Karlsruhe on Saturday. He is recovering from an ankle injury.
  • David Yeldell and MSV Duisburg play Fortuna Dusseldorf on Monday.
  • Luis Robles started, played 90 minutes and made four saves in Karlsruhe's 4-2 loss vs. TSV 1860 Munich on Saturday.
  • Amaechi Igwe did not dress in FC Ingolstadt 04's 3-1 loss vs. Hertha Berlin on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.

France

LIGUE 1

  • Carlos Bocanegra did not dress in St Etienne's 2-0 loss vs. Brest on Saturday. He is recovering from a neck injury.
  • Charlie Davies did not dress in Sochaux's 2-1 loss vs. Lyon on Saturday. He scored a penalty kick GOAL in Sochaux's reserves' 2-1 win vs. Dijon FCO on Saturday.

LIGUE 2

  • Quentin Westberg dressed but did not play in Evian Thonon Gaillard's 1-1 draw vs. Istres on Friday.

Greece

  • Freddy Adu did not dress in Aris Salonika's 2-0 win vs. Atromitos on Saturday.

Belgium

  • Sacha Kljestan started, played 90 minutes, received a yellow card and scored a GOAL in RSC Anderlecht's 2-1 win vs. Racing Genk on Sunday.

 

Denmark

SUPERLIGA

  • Michael Parkhurst and FC Nordsjaelland play Odense BK on Monday.
  • Marcus Tracy did not dress in Aalborg BK's 0-0 draw vs. Randers FC 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 DIVISION

  • Benny Feilhaber started and played 88 minutes in AGF Aarhus's 4-3 win vs. AB Copenhagen on Sunday.

Sweden

  • Alejandro Bedoya and Orebro SK play IFK on Monday.
  • Ryan Miller started and played 45 minutes in Halmstads BK's 4-2 loss vs. Helsingborg on Sunday.

Norway

  • Clarence Goodson started and played 90 minutes in IK Start's 2-1 loss vs. Odd Grenland on Sunday.
  • Hunter Freeman did not dress for IK Start. He is recovering from an injury.
  • Mikkel Diskerud started and played 90 minutes in Stabaek IF's 2-1 win vs. Sandefjord on Sunday.
  • Steve Clark dressed but did not play Honefoss BK's 3-1 win vs. Valerenga on Sunday.

Mexico

  • Jose Torres started and played 90 minutes in Pachuca's 2-1 win vs. Atlas on Saturday.
  • Herculez Gomez dressed but did not play for Pachuca.
  • Marco Vidal came off the bench and played 13 minutes for Pachuca.
  • Edgar Castillo came off the bench and played 24 minutes in San Luis' 2-1 win vs. Toluca on Sunday.
  • Sammy Ochoa and Estudiantes Tecos U.A. de G. play America on Sunday evening.
  • Sonny Guadarrama and Atlante play Necaxa on Sunday evening.

————–

What do you think of these performances? Pleasantly surprised to see so many goals? Which was your favorite? What do you think of Davies netting in Sochaux's reserve match? What non-scoring performance are you most impressed/concerned by?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. That’s a pretty blanket statement about distribution from the three mids. Jones distribution was spot on in the Poland game. It wasn’t bad against Columbia. Edu was asked to play out of position in the Poland game.

    I’m going to disagree with you on that remark.

    Reply
  2. I don’t know about no business, but Holden certainly is outplaying him in a destroyer role at Bolton. He’s the real deal. That kid breaks up plays continously.

    Reply
  3. It happened in a crappy little Roadhouse,in a crappy little town down south, big bar fight…a guy was wearing steel toed boots with a blade on the end and he saw him a bit too late…He wishes he was only a little bigger.

    Reply
  4. Aug. 25 “my mind is made. always good to have clarity.”

    Sept. 26 “Very exciting announcements coming up in within the next couple of months. Couldn’t be happier.”

    Reply
  5. I seem to remember him announcing on twitter a while ago that he had made a decision on his future but couldn’t announce anything at that point. It was a couple months ago after his trial at FC Sion so I could be remembering incorrectly.

    Reply
  6. Yeah, but when we had players out there earning PK’s and then didn’t take them, many criticized those players as well. And by “players”, I mean Jozy Altidore at Hull.

    It’s never good enough…

    Reply
  7. I was once sitting next to a VA state trooper in a diner and he told me that he was more afraid of “old grandma” on the road than any crazy teenager. His point was grandmas often didn’t realize just how fast they were going and had no reflexes so if anything happened…..

    Reply
  8. Stu had a good game for Bolton. I can’t believe City lost to Hahnemann’s Wolves. Go Timmy, another shutout. “Salcido to Dempsey” — never thought I’d hear that commentary. Can’t say how excited I am for Charlie to get a goal. Good to see Jozy get 20 +/- minutes in a league match. I could go on and on. A really great weekend for Americans abroad. We are absolutely loaded at midfield BTW. Any chance Bob “Brains” Bradley switches to a 4-6-0?

    Reply
  9. When he played at Preston they used to call him “The American Beckham” and it wasn’t because of his lifestyle or his underwear ads.

    At this point, I’d take the younger in-form Eddie over Stu but there’s time yet.

    Reply
  10. The Baquito saw it. Stu is playing very refined football these days, and I only see it getting better.

    At this point, Bob has two crises at midfield: JJ/Mike/Mo and Stu/Demps/Lando.

    I know 4-4-2 is akin to a pair of stonewashed jeans at this point, but:

    Demps-Jozy
    Lando-JJ-Mike-Holden
    Boca-Edu-Goodson-Dolo
    Tim

    The backline is so fluid right now. We have lots of potential challengers for D slots and I think any of the upstart suspects here will provide for more possession out of the back; I can’t wait to see where we’re at D-wise come Gold Cup time. I also have this theory that Guzan organizes the D better, could be wrong.

    Reply
  11. I guess ThaHater thinks at that point Sacha should have just trapped the ball and looked for a defender to beat so that he could be more impressive. It just won’t do to score unimpressive goals.

    Reply
  12. Two major things that come to mind:

    1. Its time for Oguchi Onyewu to start looking for a loan deal in the winter transfer window. Its great that he is committing himself to fight for a place at AC Milan but it would be a lot better if he were playing regularly at another team in a top league. He isnt going to see the field anytime soon unless there are a rash of injuries to the back line.

    2. Its time for Spector to get out of West Ham. I honestly have no idea where he should go but its clear that Grant has no plans of using him.

    Besides that I think it was a great weekend for Americans in Europe. Hopefully Davies 90mins and PK are part of a long term recovery. Dempsey and Edu continue ball, Holden continues to get 90 min at an extremely competitive EPL team, Bradley and Jones are stalwarts at their respective clubs, and Altidore is showing that he can at least get on the field on a team filled to the brim with world class strikers.

    Reply
  13. Each Saturday morning the first thing I do is check all the starting lineups of all the teams with Americans on it. All the teams except Milan and Aris. I already know the answer…

    Reply
  14. Do the stats say how many of those completed passes were over like 10 yards? Don’t let his pass completion rate fool you…I’d bet a large portion are super short or sent backward…

    Also I’m not convinced (even given time to practice) that a 4-3-2-1 would work. The distribution from Jones, MB, and Edu just wouldn’t be good enough.

    My vote, 4-2-3-1, Jones/Edu as the 2 and Dempsey/Holden/Donovan with Holden in the middle as the 3.

    Reply

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