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.
he probably shouldnt have scored then. When it fell to him he should have just started walking the other way.
What’s your point?
If you don’t have a place for Bradley in your starting line-up you didn’t watch the world cup, or you just have no idea what you’re talking about.
Slightly offtopic, but since there was no coverage here of the midweek action in Mexico, except Pachuca’s game, Edgar Castillo was a late sub and had an assist in Thursday’s 2-1 loss to América.
No, I’m not saying he’s the US answer at any position, just giving him his due.
Call up Davies NOW!!!
Just get some old grandma to drive him to and from the game please.
I think he meant come back to MLS or the Mexican league for playing time not to keep him on the US team..
Great weekend for Americans abroad, highlighted by Dempsey’s superb performance for Fulham.
Holden, again looked like one of the better players for bolton today. One great strike/volley on frame, countless runs into the box, good possession. LOVED IT!
While I think there is potential for the 4-3-2-1 to succeed with Jones-Edu-Bradley, I trust Holden to make the incisive pass in the attacking 3rd more than any of those listed above. Plus he is still leading the PL in tackles, far from a defensive liability and he has a certain presence on the ball. Just my two cents.
Either way if you’re Bob, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, not that hes had much luck pleasing the faithful in the past anyway. Still needs time to experiment, something we have 4 more years of. I’m not terribly upset with either formation so long as it gets results.
My memory’s a little hazy on Eddie’s play, but I think maybe Eddie had a better dead ball shot but Holden is better at crossing and corners. Then again, Eddie had a great cross too.
Impressive or not they all count the same
He scored . . he scored in Europe and played 90 minutes – thats impressive . . no one is saying (right now) that we need to call him up . . . lets just be happy for the young man
Might be right. We’ll see if Holden improves.
The idea is to score goals, not impressive goals. At the end of the year it will only matter that you scored x number of goals, not how you scored them or whether anyone was impressed with them. Gerd Mueller, perhaps one of the greatest goalscorers ever, made a living scoring “unimpressive”, “garbage” goals, tons of them.
The question is are you a great goalscorer or do you score great goals, not that any of this applies to Sacha in particular.
Agreed, hands down best weekend.
people scoring, people who were just dressing now geting more minutes, people who weren’t dressing are now dressing, and of course Davies did a 90 min shift in the reserve league. PK was probably nothing to write home about but confidence is not a make-believe factor. Sure it made him feel good to have the ball hit the back of the net again.
I’m pretty sure Mwanga got his green card in 2006, though I don’t know what month. So the latest he should be eligible for US citizenship would be around the end of 2011.
He can do this even if he moves to Europe; as long as he fufills the residency requirements in this country.
In the Poland and Colombia games, where he did not play up to his standard, Bradley completed over 90% of his passes. Look it up.
I wish more people would embrace this kind of common sense. He should just now be learning to run again, instead he is scoring goals in reserve matches (last time it was during the run of play). Geezlouise! fans can be shortsighted. The fact that he was chosen to take the pk sounds like the coaches and teammates think highly of him and is likely to break into the first squad soon.
I’d add Holden to your group of must find places for.
Sasha’s goal, not that impressive
He’s already been capped by the US
Eddie Lewis
It’s been about a year and a few weeks since Charlie had his accident. I remember medical experts beig quoted as saying it would take about a year before anyone would know if he would ever play again; of course his miraculous initial recovery short circuited that.
Still it’s probably a good idea to be patient on deciding if Charlie will ever get to be as good as he was.
Better players than Charlie have suffered lesser injuries and not come back. I don’t know if any players suffering worse injuries have ever come back. My guess is are the odds are very much against him but I doubt we’ll really know until next season, if Sochaux don’t cut him loose before then.
If you are basing your crticism of the 4-3-3 on what you saw in the Colombia game, remember that Holden and Shea were the wide players in that set up.
Holden can’t stay wide even if his life depended on it. He will always drift inside. And Shea was a nervous rookie and played like it.
If the front three are Donovan, Dempsey and Bedoya (or someone like DMB if he ever gets back in form) then maybe things change. If you want Holden so bad put him, replace one of Bradley, Jones or Edu with him or put him wide and tell him if he drifts inside he is getting pulled. The man is just not really a wide player.
Adu needs to come back. Maybe go to Mexico if possible.
he was a game changer with his pace and his work effort. we don’t say he is the best, but he out worked most on the field.
I could be wrong, but I can’t remember an American being a better dead ball-striker than Stuart Holden. I very rarely see him hit one that’s even average, never mind terrible, today included.
I don’t see why someone could argue that Feilhaber deserves to be a starter. He has shown flashes but he’s good once every 3-4 games. You would start him over Holden and Bradley? In my book JFT and Feilhaber are about even.
where is Sea/LA game???
Why do three central midfielers better at defense mean no offense? It means we can clog the middle and let our wide players get into advanced positions to stretch play and combine with one another.
lol change style of play.
Michael Bradley was the second best passer of the ball in the World Cup for the USA. Not only that, but he was stripped of the ball JUST ONCE the whole of the four matches. So yeah, I think I’ll keep him.
Why do we need to change the style of play? Our style suits us well and it takes advantage of our best players.
If you want fluid movement I the midfield Bradley has no business being in your lineup
I’ve wanted to see a 4-2-3-1 for a while. But for me Bradley is on the bench. He is not near good enough possession wise for the us to change its style of play. He has ALWAYS given way to many simple balls away. He has never been a clear starter for me.
———jozy——
Donovan Feilhaiber. Dempsey
—–jones——edu
Would be my first choice. Maybe Holden for Dempsey and Dempsey for altidore
Our depth in the midfield MUST be utilized if we want to be succesfull
I think the 4-3-3/4-3-2-1 with Jones, Bradley, and Edu in the middle will be better once the roles are better understood and Donovan and Dempsey are put in the lineup. Edu should be the deepest of the three, with Bradley right in front of him in a box-to-box role and Jones in a similar role more to the left of midfield. Jones come inside to make triangles with Bradley and Edu for passing the ball through the midfield and to link play into the attack with his incisive passing. He would also use his pace and energy to get up and down the flanks. Dempsey and Donovan will exploit and create space in the attacking third with their movement in the channels. Donovan makes runs into high and wide areas to occupy the fullbacks and stretch play. Dempsey drifts between lines to drag away players, creating space for players to exploit.
Another interesting tactic is the thought of using Edu the same way Marquez used Mexico in the World Cup. Edu could be a defensive midfielder that drops in between the center backs. This allows us better possession at the back, but also gives our fullbacks license to get forward, which in turn stretches the field and allows Dempsey and Donovan to worry about operating between lines. Cherundolo and Bornstein did this very well against Ghana, and one of Cherundolo’s runs kept the Ghanaian fullback honest long enough for Dempsey and Donovan to combine on the play leading to the penalty, rather than the fullback tracking Donovan’s movement inside. Another example was Donovan’s cross that Altidore nodded wide against England. Cherundolo’s run kept Milner back long enough for Donovan to whip one in.
Essentially, we need to have more fluid movement of the ball, particularly through the midfield and I think this is kind of how it would work – Using three central midfielders to create better angles, having our attacking midfielders drop deep to link play, and getting our wide players forward and involved in build up play as an out-ball.
Oh, yes, YOU were never the same afterward, so OBVIOUSLY Charlie Davies will never be a good forward for the US again.
Another aside: I really liked what I saw from Agudelo last night as well. He probably would have had a goal as well if Ballouchy hadn’t jumped in front of him.
I like Mwanga a lot too, but we should wait until he gets his citizenship before we declare him to be the answer.
As an aside, it’s nice to see Grella taking advantage now that he’s getting some playing time.
So you’d just leave holden out of the line up. 3 d mids would create no offense and I’d have to think we would get beat on the flanks.4-2-3-1 seems like the best fit.
ummm, he went 90 min. I’m happy for him for just doing that.
While it is a goal the reserves play the in CFA league which is an amateur league so I’m expecting Charlie to score goals at that level.
edu hit the nicest of the week
and i think its time to put dempsey up top for usmnt
Given out lack of true forwards and our depth at defensive mid, I’ve tended to think since spring that a Christmas tree (4-3-2-1), with Donovan and Dempsey as the 2 behind Altidore’s 1, as the US’s best line up.
As Much as I don’t wanna say/admit it, but charlie is not the answe atforward. I suffered his same leg injury and I was never the same afterward. Muanga is our answer. He’s class. Hes Fast enough. He’s CREATIVE, his ball control is legit. And he can finish from anywhere. Even tho him and jozy are very similar, they would easily be our best option/combination.
Ooooh…someone looking for Jones and Edu in the midfield with Michael Bradley. Is this a first?
This is the craziest week ever. Usually, a goal scored by an American in Europe is enough to make US fans happy for a week. Now, we’ve got five. Pleasantly unexpected.
And no, Davies isn’t back yet, but being negative about him scoring a penalty in the reserves is incredibly petty, so let’s not do it.
I don’t think we’ve ever had a deeper pool of midfielders in the history of the US NT. Sacha really seems to have snatched a starting role, hopefully he keeps that up the rest of the season. I don’t know if he’s ever going to fit into the A NT, but it’s nice to the kid succeeding at a pretty good level. We really need to find a way to get Mike, Edu and JJ on the field at the same time. Edu has been playing very well the season and has been extremely dangerous moving forward in CL play for Rangers as well, the kid can strike the ball pretty well.
looks like a lot of our yanks saw the pitch this weekend
It’s good he went 90 min but he scored on a pk he probably did not earn.
Oh no..the Charlie Davies Call him up crowd will be back in force….I want him back too considering our forward options but some people are a bit unrealistic with how great he was…