By FRANCO PANIZO
Ever since Oguchi Onyewu was inserted into Sporting CP's starting lineup, the club has done something it did only once during the opening month of the season: Win.
Onyewu has helped Sporting CP come out victorious in its last three matches across all competitions, and as a result, he'll likely get the nod again when the club faces Vitoria Setubal. Sporting CP and Onyewu currently sit in sixth place in the Primeira Liga standings, but they'll need a fourth consecutive triumph in order to close the five-point gap between them and league leader FC Porto.
Jonathan Spector is another U.S. men's national team player likely to earn a start. Spector has been a regular in Birmingham City's lineup since mid-August, starting in the club's last eight matches and going the distance in six of them. Spector should tack on more minutes to his season total when Birmingham plays Barnsley.
This weekend could also mark the return of Stuart Holden to Premier League play. Holden started and went the distance in Bolton Wanderer's Carling Cup win on Tuesday, and that performance may have done enough to convince manager Owen Coyle that Holden could make a cameo against Arsenal on Saturday.
Here is who the Americans Abroad square off against this weekend:
Matt Taylor and SC Paderborn 07 play Edson Buddle and FC Ingolstadt 04.
Josh Gatt, Sean Cunningham and Molde FK play Viking.
SATURDAY
Tim Howard and Everton play Manchester City.
Stuart Holden and Bolton Wanderers play Arsenal.
Clint Dempsey and Fulham play West Bromwich Albion.
Brad Friedel and Tottenham Hotspur play Wigan Athletic.
Jonathan Spector and Birmingham City play Barnsley.
Conor Doyle and Derby County play Millwall.
Robbie Findley and Nottingham Forest play Watford.
Frank Simek and Carlisle United play Stevenage. (Simek is out injured.)
Anton Peterlin and Walsall play Colchester United.
Mike Grella and Brentford play Oldham Athletic.
Maurice Edu, Alejandro Bedoya, Carlos Bocanegra and Rangers play Dunfermline Athletic.
Dominic Cervi and Celtic play Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
Timmy Chandler and FC Nurnberg play Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Steve Cherundolo and Hannover 96 play FC Augsburg.
Jermaine Jones and Schalke 04 play SC Freiburg.
David Yelldell and Bayer Leverkusen play Bayern Munich.
Quentin Westberg and Evian Thonon Gaillard play Caen.
Oguchi Onyewu and Sporting CP play Vitoria Setubal.
Eugene Starikov and FK Tom' Tomsk play Zenit St Petersburg.
Clarence Goodson and Brondby IF play FC Copenhagen.
Michael Parkhurst and FC Nordsjaelland play AGF Aarhus.
Samuel Petrone and Mjallby AIF play Elfsborg.
Ryan Miller and Halmstads BK play Syrianska FC.
Mix Diskerud and Stabaek IF play Stromsgodset.
Herculez Gomez and Estudiantes Tecos play Pumas UNAM.
Jose Torres and Pachuca play Michael Orozco and San Luis. (Torres is out injured.)
Jonathan Bornstein and Tigres UANL play Adrian Ruelas and Jaguares de Chiapas.
Sonny Guadarrama and Atlante play Atlas.
SUNDAY
Brad Guzan, Eric Lichaj and Aston Villa play Queens Park Rangers. (Lichaj is out injured.)
Michael Bradley and Chievo Verona play Genoa.
Fabian Johnson, Daniel Williams and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim play FC Cologne. (Johnson is out injured.)
Alfredo Morales and Hertha Berlin play Werder Bremen.
Luis Robles and Karlsruher SC play Hansa Rostock.
Bobby Wood and TSV 1860 Munich play SpVgg Greuther Furth.
Jozy Altidore and AZ Alkmaar play Feyenoord Rotterdam.
Sacha Kljestan and RSC Anderlecht play Germinal Beerschot.
Conor O'Brien and SonderjyskE play Brad Rusin and HB Koge.
DaMarcus Beasley and Puebla play Santos Laguna.
Edgar Castillo and Club America play Club Tijuana.
MONDAY
Zak Whitbread and Norwich City play Sunderland. (Whitbread is out injured).
Ricardo Clark and Eintracht Frankfurt play Dynamo Dresden.
Chris Rolfe, Marcus Tracy and Aalborg BK play Lyngby. (Tracy is out injured.)
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Which matches are you most looking forward to? Do you see Onyewu and Sporting CP winning again? Surprised at how quickly Spector has established himself with Birmingham? Think Holden will see time against Arsenal?
Share your thoughts below.
If you are curious, I was talking about Onyewu.
I saw him in training before the W.C. and he struggled. That is now 16 month-old news. He was a very good defender before his injury and if he has recovered, there is no reason to think he won’t be just as good now. He will likely have the same strengths (size, physical dominance, aerial ability) and weaknesses (touch, good passing ability, not so great awareness when playing out of the back). But, overall he can continue to figure into the USMNT if there are no lingering effects from his injury (something a single nice header says little about).
Inconceivable!
So what if Man U might have looked at him at some point? They brought in Kenny Cooper and John Thorrington and look how that turned out.
Youre judging him on 2 caps too. “look at the likes of Torres and Bedoya he has less caps than both of them and has performed better than them” dont give me this sh!t. It doesnt matter if he hasnt played with the A team. Hes no where near A team quality which is excatly why i said he was overated. Too many fans are all over his d!ck when he hasnt proved a thing.
No you are, I did watch the Chile game. Are you serious you judging him off two caps. Come on be for real ? Also, with his limited caps he has not even been with the A USA team. He did get beat on the side which lead to the Chile goal, but come on he is only twenty years old (20).
There have been credible reports of Man U’s interest in Mixx for a few months now.
There is a big difference between being intereted and actually buying a player and bringing him in but at least it’s something.
As for Gatt his boss is Ole Gunnar Soljskaer so whether there is any hard evidence it’s
pretty obvious Ole would talk with SAF.
Again, just because SAF is looking at a player it’s a big jump from that to buying him.
Josh Gatt, Sean Cunningham and Molde FK play Viking.
Does that mean they get to wear those helmets with horns on them?
You are crazy if you think he has performed better than Bedoya or Torres. He came on in South Africa made one good pass and then dissapeared. I dont know if you watched the Chile game but he was horrible. He killed every attack and played slower then Robbie Rogers against Chilean domestic players. He plays in Norway but I guess because thats in Europe he must be good. Give me Luis Gil over this fool
you killed my father. . . prepare to die, or alternatively,
That word you keep on saying, I do not think it means what you think it means
You are so crazy if you think he is over rated look at the likes of Torres and Bedoya he has less caps than both of them and has performed better than them. Also, Diskerud has never been with the USA A team due to he is young so I have no idea what you are on. -___-
You’re right: He’d definitely help teach Gonzo how to be immobile.
Don’t worry. We’re not English (nor are you, “Indigo Montoya”) so, none of us will be “taking the piss”.
Thanks.
His leaping ability is obviously back. Am I the only one who’s jaw was hanging open at how high he got to pound that header in?
I’ll be watching him a bit to see how his ability to track runners and cut out passes is coming along. Hopefully he is getting better at distribution as well.
I believe he is confused. Man U is supposedly interested in Josh Gatt, but even that is debateable. His coach apparently told SAF that Gatt was pretty good.
I’m with Tom. One good header isn’t going to say much about his career turning around. He’s a CB lets rate him on his defense before we do anything else.
Wait, did anybody else catch that? Manchester-friggin’-United is interested in Mix!?!??!?!?!?! When did this surface!?
Your entitled to your opinion, but I personally disagree with him being overrated. There is a reason Manchester United are interested in buying him, and it’s not because he’s not very good. Not to mention, he’s 20 years old and a very creative player. He’s only going to get better, so it would be nice to see him on the USMNT roster. Is he guaranteed to be the next best thing? Not necessarily, but there is that slight chance that if we continue to nurture him and he continues to get full minutes, he could become that creative player we’ve been missing in the midfield.
I hope Gooch can keep making his comeback, CBs can play until they are older and our CB pool is littered with potential and youth but really lacks quality depth. Gooch would do a great job teaching Gonzo how to play the immobile, bullying centerback too.
Tom if those two goals were his fault then yes he needs more time. If not would love to see him get a look in Jan.
lets hope so!
think j jones starts seeing the pitch with the manager’s departure?
the team plays d, not just one cb.
He also forgot that Gooch isn’t the only defender on the pitch. He probably thinks the formation was 1-0-9 :/ …. Sure the man has been a bit shakey, but let’s not exaggerate every time someone scores a goal. Gooch will be fine.
Don’t take the piss on Gooch. He’ll be back.
Blowing a 2 goal lead? You must have missed the news about Gooch scoring the winning goal.
As Charlie Sheen would say – that’s ‘winning.’
So you must have Gooch mixed up with someone else who – blew a 2 goal lead.
Diskerud is over rated
Gooch is a CB and they blow a 2 goal lead. H’mmm?? he needs to prove himself on defense before I’m ready to call him back.
i wonder if the next roster for the upcoming games will include the likes of diskerud and gatt since it’ll be a european based roster…..klinsman has repeated that he wants to use most of our younger players in the olympic set up first and bring them into the senior side slowly, but this would be a good time to see if the likes of those players could carryout his ideas of how we should play going forward!
very happy for Gooch – he always seemed like a decent dude