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.
By that logic, you should also be taking a swipe at Bradley. He didn’t dress for Villa due to lack of practice time so he must be not able to hack it in the EPL
Freddy Adu did not dress…..
The more things change the more they stay the same…..
I know it was only a few days since he was signed but I could not resist the temptation of taking a swipe at that hack….
Also, Jozy open your eyes and see what can happen, let Adu be a lesson to you.
Boy that move to Hannover hasn’t done a damn thing for Beasley. Has he gotten any game time there? I never understood why a guy as frail as he is would go to the German league and the Scottish league, way too rough for him.
He sure is. He’s playing with great intensity. BTW also seems to be leading the team in fouls given with 40 – lol
+2 thats hilarious
I remember his days playing for DC United
The guy to watch is Buddle. He looks strong and aggressive in that highlight. He won’t be playing in the German 2nd Div. for very long…Mr. Bradley, this is what you could have had if you hadn’t played Findley…
haha no way. Ching wasn’t going to change anything.
Flavor of the month.
Wegerle also had some of the best hair ever among American forwards of all time.
Good observation, tnnelson. I agree that Clint rarely scores an inconsequential goal. He’s had a flair for dramatic goals dating all the way back to his first EPL goal — vs. Liverpool to save Fulham from relegation in the dying minutes of the last game of the 06/07 season.
It’s a mystery why he’s had to keep proving himself over and over again every time they have a managerial change.
Buddle also had the first shot in clip, which forces a tough save. The follow-up is roofed by his teammate.
Buddle was quite impressive! Maybe I shouldn’t be automatically counting him out of the usmnt. great play.
Deuce is on fire, out mcbriding Mcbride at Fulham, he obviously digs pressure.
Any particular reason why Jozy and Michael didn’t play?
Man our boys in Mexico sure have made a comeback!
How was Edu and Jones?
It’s kind of weird how are central midfield pool keeps getting deeper and deeper.
Buddle was quite impressive! Maybe I shouldn’t be automatically counting him out of the usmnt. great play.
Deuce is on fire, out mcbriding Mcbride at Fulham, he obviously digs pressure.
Any particular reason why Jozy and Michael didn’t play?
Man our boys in Mexico sure have made a comeback!
How was Edu and Jones?
It would appear Wegerle scored 18 for QPR in the English First Division in 90-91.
http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=44411
(SBI-It would also appear that Wegerle didn’t become an American citizen until ’91.)
yea, there are times when he is literally Fulham’s entire offense. this wasn’t his best game of the year, but still manages to get a goal. he’s so clutch too. how many of his goals are winners or late equalizers?
truth. look at glen johnson. his form has much improved at liverpool since his switch at left back. he has a great left foot though for a righty, but his right foot is still his dominant foot
explain?
How many hold up forwards do we need at a world cup Pepe? You need a starter ( Altidore ), and 2 speedy guys ( findley & Buddle ), and a good sub ( Gomez ). No room for your boy who was coming off a knee injury. Made sense in my eyes, but we can dwell on the past or look forward to the new crop of forwards.
Deuce is on my EPL fantasy side and he’s a stat hog. He’s my best player by far and I wasn’t expecting that on a fantasy squad that has plenty of other stars. He’s a superb value. I can imagine he’d notch even more goals with more talent around him.
Wow nice job Buddle. He did really well to keep that play alive. Impressive
Buddle is the most in form USMNT striker right now.
Agreed. Awesome jerseys too.
Wow, Buddle did a great job of holding that ball and finding his teammate for the goal. I really love that the goal scorer immediately ran over to give Buddle some love.. That’s a awesome start to his new team.
He looks lean mean and smiley. Team looks pretty cheerful with him, nice team unity
Nice job by Dempsey but “Premier League” is an artificial cutoff.
Pretty sure Roy Wegerle still holds the American record in the top English division….
If Clint keeps it up and bangs in a couple more he might pop into the top 5 premiership scorers for a minute or two
Dempsey, McBride and Dooley are the national team players that I have the
fondest memories of.
So you’re saying Chandler can’t play left back because he’s right footed?
You don’t have to be left footed to play left back well.
I think BB should have been fired for that alone. You leave off a proven, veteran striker and the guys you bring don’t score any goals. Yeah, none of our strikers scored a single goal in the World Cup.
Buddle got the assist. It was actually pretty nice too. The video is at yanks abroad videos.
I’ve seen him play, but didn’t know who he was. I’ve checked some German websites and he’s basically the same story as Jermaine Jones and Daniel Williams as far as background. But he has a US passport according to one German website.
He’s apparently an all around defender. The “Doh!” moment came when I read that he was right footed.
Williams is apparently very two-footed, so I’m hoping he might be able to work out at left back.
Otherwise our future at that position is pretty much in Bornstein’s hands by default.
But a lot of teams struggle to find a good left back.
Penaltiy kicks count as a goal in every league at every level for the player who scores on them.
The only exception would be penalty kick shootout deciders. Those don’t count towards the player’s total in that competition.
Who is that Chandler kid?
Buddle had the ast. for his club and from reading the match play by play he was pretty dangerous.
regrets
Thanks. I wonder if BB regret that, in retrospect.
Correction.(My bad.) Left side of central midfield, with a bit more liberty to get into attack than the other holding mid.
He’s not likely to play anywhere else unless LB Torres Nilo goes down with injury at left back.
LM
Alfredo Morales? Cap him!
OK,, I found a site with a better breakdown, your partially right. He did score a goal in the Carling Cup Match against Port Vale, but did not score in any FA CUP matches. PL:9 CC:1: FA:0 Total 10
I believe PK’s do count. He has scored 9 goals in EPL matches, and 10 goals in all competitions (I believe he has one in a FA Cup match).
What position did he play? CDM, LM, or LB?
Ching was mostly recovered from a leg injury, but wasn’t back to match fitness. BB chose to go with Buddle and Gomez, because of their record (and play) in the run-up to the WC.
Is this right? Dempsey has actually scored 10 goals, but not counted are penalty kicks. So 9 goals from run of play and one goal from a penalty kick. Why doesn’t the EPL count penalty kicks, that are taken and made by the player, toward his aggregate goals scored. Is it an EPL policy, or a scorers/statistician’s choice.
Off topic, but… …your new Fox Sports/msn video highlights format ROCKS! Thanks, Ives!
Deuce is just straight “nasty”! Really having a break-through year in the EPL.
Totally Off Topic (thought about this while driving around today): Did anyone ever find out why Brian Ching wasn’t brought to the World Cup? Injury, or just didn’t merit it based on training? I ask because he looked good in the run-up, and I sure wish that player had been available. I think he would have made a difference.
Gomez had a nice chance in 76′ v. Monterrey but the keeper collided with him.
Bornstein had an assist and was named man of the match.