By FRANCO PANIZO
Brian McBride should enjoy his record for goals scored in a Premier League season by an American while he still can because Clint Dempsey is on the brink of breaking it.
Dempsey scored his career-high ninth goal in the Premiership campaign, giving Fulham the equalizer in a 2-2 draw against Aston Villa. Dempsey rose up to meet a ball sent in from a corner kick, and he beat fellow American Brad Friedel with a neat header. The goal saw Dempsey tie McBride's record for goals scored in a season (set in both the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons), with 12 games remaining.
Dempsey's former Fulham teammate, Eddie Johnson, didn't score for his new team, but he did receive a 90-minute showing for the first time this season. Johnson made his Preston North End debut by starting and going the distance in the club's 4-0 loss to Bristol City.
This weekend wasn't all about the attacking players. Steve Cherundolo played 90 minutes and helped Hannover 96 defeat VfL Wolfsburg, 1-0. The win brought Hannover, currently fourth in the Bundesliga, within two points of second place and the Champions League berth that comes with it.
Here is how the Americans Abroad fared this weekend:
England
PREMIERSHIP
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made one save in Everton's 5-3 win vs. Blackpool on Saturday.
- Clint Dempsey started, played 90 minutes and scored a GOAL in Fulham's 2-2 draw vs. Aston Villa on Saturday.
- Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made three saves in Aston Villa's 2-2 draw vs. Fulham on Saturday.
- Eric Lichaj did not dress for Aston Villa.
- Michael Bradley did not dress for Aston Villa.
- Marcus Hahnemann dressed but did not play in Wolverhampton Wanderers' 2-1 win vs. Manchester United on Saturday.
- Jonathan Spector did not dress in West Ham United's 1-0 loss vs. Birmingham on Sunday. He is recovering from a hamstring injury.
- Stuart Holden started and played 87 minutes in Bolton Wanderers' 2-1 loss vs. Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
- Jermaine Jones started, played 79 minutes and received a yellow card in Blackburn Rovers' 4-3 loss vs. Wigan Athletic on Saturday.
CHAMPIONSHIP
- Conor Doyle dressed but did not play in Derby County's 1-1 draw vs. Portsmouth on Saturday.
- Zak Whitbread started and played 45 minutes in Norwich City's 2-1 loss vs. Burnley on Saturday.
- Brad Guzan started, played 90 minutes and made four saves in Hull City's 5-1 win vs. Scunthorpe United on Saturday.
- Mike Grella did not dress in Leeds United's 1-0 win vs. Coventry City on Saturday.
- Robbie Findley did not dress in Nottingham Forest's 1-0 win vs. Watford on Saturday. He is recovering from a thigh injury.
- Eddie Johnson started and played 90 minutes in Preston North End's 4-0 loss vs. Bristol City on Saturday.
LEAGUE ONE
- Frank Simek started and played 90 minutes in Carlisle United's 3-1 loss vs. Walsall on Saturday.
- Anton Peterlin dressed but did not play in Plymouth Argyle's 2-0 loss vs. Brentford on Saturday.
Scotland
PREMIER LEAGUE
- Maurice Edu started and played 90 minutes in Rangers' 2-2 draw vs. Celtic on Sunday.
- Dominic Cervi did not dress in Celtic's 2-2 draw vs. Rangers on Sunday.
Germany
BUNDESLIGA
- Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96's 1-0 win vs. VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday.
- DaMarcus Beasley did not dress for Hannover 96.
- Ricardo Clark did not dress in Eintracht Frankfurt's 0-0 draw vs. SC Freiburg on Sunday. He is recovering from a fractured cheekbone.
- Daniel Williams did not play in SC Freiburg's 0-0 draw vs. Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday. Williams is out with a knee injury.
- Timothy Chandler came off the bench and played 18 minutes in Nurnberg's 1-0 win vs. Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
BUNDESLIGA 2
- David Yeldell started and played 90 minutes in MSV Duisburg's 3-1 win vs. FC Erzgebirge on Sunday.
- Luis Robles started, played 90 minutes and made five saves in Karlsruhe's 3-0 loss vs. SC Paderborn 07 on Saturday.
- Edson Buddle started, played 80 minutes and got an ASSIST in FC Ingolstadt 04's 1-0 win vs. Arminia Bielefeld on Sunday.
- Amaechi Igwe did not dress for FC Ingolstadt 04. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Bobby Wood and TSV 1860 Munich play Fortuna Dusseldorf on Monday.
- Alfredo Morales dressed but did not play in Hertha Berlin's 2-1 loss vs. FC Union Berlin on Saturday.
France
LIGUE 1
- Carlos Bocanegra started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in St Etienne's 2-1 win vs. Montpellier on Saturday.
- Charlie Davies did not dress in Sochaux's 1-0 loss vs. Nice on Saturday. He is on trial with D.C. United.
LIGUE 2
- Quentin Westberg and Evian Thonon Gaillard play Tours on Monday.
Netherlands
- Oguchi Onyewu did not dress in Twente Enschede's 1-1 draw vs. FC Utrecht on Sunday. He is recovering from a back injury.
Turkey
SUPER LIG
- Jozy Altidore did not dress in Bursaspor's 2-1 win vs. Sivasspor on Friday.
BANK ASYA 1. LIG
- Freddy Adu did not dress in Rizespor's 1-0 loss vs. Denizlispor on Saturday.
Belgium
- Sacha Kljestan came off the bench and played 6 minutes in RSC Anderlecht's 2-0 win vs. St Truiden on Sunday.
Mexico
- Jose Torres started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Pachuca's 2-0 loss vs. Monterrey on Saturday.
- Herculez Gomez started and played 90 minutes for Pachuca.
- Edgar Castillo started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Puebla's 1-0 loss vs. Pumas UNAM on Sunday.
- Sammy Ochoa did not dress in Estudiantes Tecos U.A. de G.'s 3-2 loss vs. San Luis on Saturday.
- Sonny Guadarrama came off the bench and played 20 minutes in Atlante's 2-0 loss vs. Chivas de Guadalajara on Saturday.
- Jonathan Bornstein started, played 78 minutes and got an ASSIST in Tigres UANL's 2-0 win vs. Santos Laguna on Saturday.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVq751SrP3k]
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Do you think Dempsey will break McBride's record? How many goals do you think he'll score this season? Expecting Johnson to continue to start and play 90 for Preston North End? Do you see Cherundolo and Hannover qualifying for the Champions League?
Share your thoughts below.
because someone has to sit the bench and he is competing with gera, davies, zamora, johnson, Dembele, and Duff. All of these players are great and besides zamora’s injury duff davies and gera have all been riding the pine intermittently. the whole team has to prove themselves, dempsey is currently winning.
Hindsight is so good isn’t it?
German 2nd dvision is not the World Cup and Buddle wasn’t playing this well when called upon in the World Cup.
He had a fairly easy chance early on against Algeria and blew it. Besides, he and Findley do not play the same position. The guy who beat him out was Jozy, or even Clint.
Dempsey will score 12 league goals. and 2 in the cup. Fulham are still in the FA Cup and 12 league games left so I say he will score 4 more goals for a season total of 14 in all competition, he currently has 10.
McBride’s league high was 10 goals, Collins John had 11 and Louis Saha scored 13 before he left for Man U.
Fulham needs to build the team around Dempsey. He’s 27 and if they offer him bigger wages, could play well for them for the next 2-5 years. They could really change from a small relegation fight club to a mid-size annual push for Europe or win a cup, type of club.
Either way if Dempsey scores 4 or 5 more goals especially in the league, you can bet Everton come calling.
Don’t know what Glen Johnson you’ve been watching, but his service with his left has been laughable and he’s been burned several times.