By FRANCO PANIZO
It's been over a year since Herculez Gomez last represented the U.S. men's national team, but that drought could soon end after Gomez's latest goal-scoring performance.
For the fourth straight game that he's played in, Gomez scored a goal. Scoring with a redirected effort after entering the game in the 68th mintue, Gomez's finish was one of few bright spots for Estudiantes Tecos in their 5-2 loss to Chivas de Guadalajara. Gomez's goal total on the season is now at six (he also scored last week while most leagues took off for the international break).
Sacha Kljestan also had a noteworthy performance, drawing rave reviews from Belgian press for his work in midfield in RSC Anderlecht's 5-0 demolition of rival Standard Liege. Kljestan started and went the distance in the match that kept Anderlecht atop of the league standings.
Michael Bradley continued his strong run of form in Serie A, going 90 minutes and helping Chievo tie Serie A leaders Juventus on Sunday. Bradley near added his second assist in as many games, but Juventus cleared a goal-bound Chievo shot off the line.
It wasn't all good news this weekend. Josh Gatt was removed with a reported hamstring injury just 13 minutes into Molde FK's 0-0 draw with Odd Grenland. The timetable for his recovery has yet to be announced.
Here is how the Americans Abroad did this weekend:
ENGLAND
Premiership
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made 2 saves in Everton's 3-1 loss vs. Chelsea on Saturday.
- Marcus Hahnemann did not dress for Everton.
- Clint Dempsey started and played 90 minutes in Fulham's 2-0 loss vs. Stoke City on Saturday.
- Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made 4 saves in Tottenham Hotspur's 2-2 vs. Newcastle United on Sunday.
- Brad Guzan dressed but did not play in Aston Villa's 4-1 loss vs. Manchester City on Saturday.
- Eric Lichaj did not dress for Aston Villa. He is recovering from a hip injury.
- Stuart Holden did not dress in Bolton Wanderers' 3-1 win vs. Wigan Athletic on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Zak Whitbread did not dress in Norwich City's 3-1 win vs. Swansea City on Saturday. He is recovering from a hamstring injury.
Championship
- Jonathan Spector dressed but did not play in Birmingham City's 2-0 win vs. Leicester City on Sunday.
- Conor Doyle dressed but did not play in Derby County's 1-1 draw vs. Southampton on Saturday.
- Robbie Findley came off the bench and played 14 minutes in Nottingham Forest's 1-0 loss vs. Coventry City on Saturday.
League One
- Frank Simek did not dress in Carlisle United's 3-0 win vs. Yeovil Town on Saturday. He is recovering from a hip injury.
- Anton Peterlin started and played 90 minutes in Walsall's 1-0 win vs. Preston North End on Saturday.
- Mike Grella came off the bench and played 24 minutes in Brentford's 0-0 draw vs. Scunthorpe United on Saturday.
SCOTLAND
- Maurice Edu started and played 72 minutes in Rangers' 1-1 draw vs. St Mirren on Saturday.
- Alejandro Bedoya did not dress for Rangers.
- Carlos Bocanegra started and played 90 minutes for Rangers.
- Dominic Cervi did not dress in Celtic's 3-3 draw vs. Kilmarnock on Saturday.
ITALY
- Michael Bradley started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Chievo Verona's 0-0 draw vs. Juventus on Sunday.
GERMANY
Bundesliga
- Jermaine Jones came off the bench and played 45 minutes Schalke 04's 2-1 loss vs. Kaiserslautern on Saturday.
- Steve Cherundolo dressed but did not play in Hannover 96's 2-0 loss vs. FC Cologne on Sunday.
- Timmy Chandler started and played 90 minutes in FC Nurnberg's 2-1 loss vs. VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday.
- David Yelldell dressed but did not play in Bayer Leverkusen's 2-2 draw vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday.
- Alfredo Morales came off the bench and played 29 minutes in Hertha Berlin's 4-0 loss vs. Bayern Munich on Saturday.
- Fabian Johnson did not dress in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim's 2-0 loss vs. VfB Stuttgart on Saturday. He is recovering from a neck injury.
- Danny Williams started and played 62 minutes for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
Bundesliga 2
- Ricardo Clark did not dress in Eintracht Frankfurt's 2-0 win vs. VfL Bochum on Friday.
- Luis Robles dressed but did not play in Karlsruher SC's 2-0 loss vs. FC Union Berlin on Saturday.
- Edson Buddle came off the bench and played 14 minutes in FC Ingolstadt 04's 3-1 loss vs. MSV Duisburg on Saturday.
- Bobby Wood came off the bench and played 2 minutes in TSV 1860 Munich's 2-0 loss vs. Hansa Rostock on Friday.
- Matt Taylor dressed but did not play in SC Paderborn 07's 1-0 win vs. Eintracht Braunschweig on Friday.
FRANCE
- Quentin Westberg did not dress in Evian Thonon Gaillard's 2-1 loss vs. St Etienne on Saturday.
NETHERLANDS
- Jozy Altidore started and played 72 minutes in AZ Alkmaar's 2-2 draw vs. Ajax on Saturday.
PORTUGAL
- Oguchi Onyewu started and played 45 minutes in Sporting CP's 2-0 win vs. Famalicao in the third round of the Taca de Portugal on Saturday.
RUSSIA
- Eugene Starikov started and played 29 minutes in FC Tom' Tomsk's 3-0 loss vs. Lokomotiv Moscow on Sunday.
BELGIUM
- Sacha Kljestan started and played 90 minutes in RSC Anderlecht's 5-0 win vs. Standard Liege on Sunday.
DENMARK
- Michael Parkhurst started and played 90 minutes in FC Nordsjaelland's 1-0 win vs. Aalborg BK on Saturday.
- Marcus Tracy did not dress in Aalborg BK's 1-0 loss vs. FC Nordsjaelland on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Chris Rolfe started and played 90 minutes for Aalborg BK.
- Clarence Goodson started and played 90 minutes in Brondby IF's 1-0 loss vs. FC Midtjylland on Sunday.
- Brad Rusin came off the bench and played 30 minutes in HB Koge's 3-1 loss vs. SonderjyskE on Sunday.
- Conor O'Brien came off the bench, played 3 minutes and received a yellow card in SonderjyskE's 3-1 win vs. FC HB Koge on Sunday.
SWEDEN
- Ryan Miller and Halmstads BK play Djurgardens IF on Monday.
- Samuel Petrone did not dress in Mjallby AIF's 2-1 win vs. Trelleborg FF on Sunday.
NORWAY
- Mix Diskerud started and played 90 minutes in Stabaek IF's 1-1 draw vs. Lillestrom on Saturday.
- Josh Gatt started and played 13 minutes in Molde FK's 0-0 draw vs. Odd Grenland on Sunday.
- Sean Cunningham did not dress for Molde FK.
MEXICO
- Jose Torres did not dress in Pachuca's 3-2 loss vs. Club Tijuana on Saturday. He is recovering from a foot injury.
- Herculez Gomez came off the bench, played 22 minutes and scored a GOAL in Estudiantes Tecos' 5-2 loss vs. Chivas de Guadalajara on Saturday. He also came off the bench, played 27 minutes and scored a GOAL in last Friday's 3-2 loss vs. Monterrey.
- Edgar Castillo did not dress in Club America's 3-0 win vs. Monterrey on Saturday.
- Sonny Guadarrama did not dress in Atlante's 1-1 draw vs. Jaguares de Chiapas on Saturday.
- Jonathan Bornstein dressed but did not play in Tigres UANL's 2-0 loss vs. Morelia on Friday.
- DaMarcus Beasley started and played 90 minutes in Puebla's 1-0 win vs. Queretaro on Sunday.
- Adrian Ruelas did not dress in Jaguares de Chiapas' 1-1 draw vs. Atlante on Saturday.
- Michael Orozco dressed but did not play in San Luis' 1-1 draw vs. Cruz Azul on Saturday.
- Joe Corona played two minutes in Club Tijuana's 3-2 win vs. Pachuca on Saturday.
COLOMBIA
- Diego Restrepo did not play in America de Cali's 3-0 win vs. Cucuta Deportivo on Saturday.
——–
What do you think of these performances? Is Gomez deserving of a call-up to the U.S. men's national team? Impressed by Kljestan and Anderlecht's thrashing of Standard Liege? Expecting Gatt to recover in time to be summoned to the U.S. team's November friendlies?
Share your thoughts below.
Bunbury gets a nod over Gomez because Gomez will be on the wrong side of 30 by 2014 WC, while Bunbury will be entering his prime. He has a much higher upside and Klinsmann tends to favor young players with higher upside – Shea, Chandler, Williams, etc. Plus, Gomez had a terrible WC in 2010 and giving his age is unlikely to improve dramatically. Gomez is what he is, a streaky and aging poacher with a limited upside. He might get a limited duty in the next year or two with the national team, but he It’s a closer call with Buddle, but Klinsman might trust Buddle slightly more than Gomez after seeing Buddle do so well as a starter with Galaxy.
Bedoya: Did Not Dress
……..Injured?
Can you score goals?
Answer: YES HE CAN. YES HE CAN. YES…you get the idea.
So you think gatt a wingers would start over josh our only Target striker at striker. The unproven 5″10 gatt?
a whole 2 minutes.
#NextBigThing
I did find it interesting that Bradley took all the free kicks after he game on in the second half of the US game. I haven’t seen Chievo’s games, is he taking corners for them?
I hope you are right, but no sign of it so far with regards to Beckerman.
A lot of players on this list either don’t play or play very little?
Bradley played box to box covering a lot of the field. He made some good and bad passes and some excellent corners. Deuce’s Fulham side lacks discipline. They got into a fouling contest with Stoke and came out on the short end. I can see them changing managers soon.
Yeah, I can see that point of view.
I also see the argument that a player putting balls into the net is valuable no matter how much time his club team coach decides to give him.
Agree that JK thinks highly of beckerman, but don’t think he’ll be a permanent starter. JK has already shown that he’ll drop players even while givnig them high praise.
Rogers and castillo probably won’t see another callup in november despite being a couple of early ‘favorites.’
If beckerman continues to underperform with the ball at his feet, JK will go with somebody else.
No chance. Klinsmann loves Beckerman and says so. Beckerman is the starting DM for any game that Klinsman thinks he needs to win (and he is in need of more than one win amongst his results).
Rail all we might that Jones/Bradley/Holden/Edu is better there, Klinsmann does not share that opinion.
Jones needs to step up and get back to where he was 6 months ago…we’ll see him again
I like watching Gomez play…really do…but he’s getting old and has this repetetive habit of letting it all go to his head then crash n burn making it tough to build chemistry…too little too late
Gatt is almighty 😉
Makes speedy Chandler look like he’s standing still…
I think you are being a bit unfair and definitely seeing the glass as half empty. Bradley was the first coach to ever get the US to the final of a FIFA event. It doesn’t matter what the overall record was at that event, we got there and played well against both Spain (then #1) and Brazil. He was the first coach to win his WC Gp in most of our lifetimes. Bringing up the 2007 Copa America either shows your bias or your lack of knowledge since we sent a B (at best) team as our better players needed the break after winning (which you fail to mention) the Gold Cup the prior month which got us into the Confed Cup 2009.
No, he wasn’t perfect, but no coach is. I just hope Klinsman can produce comparable or better results. There is NO guarantee of that.
He’s still weighing all his options.
lol…
wow, he must be good…
It is a tempting option to go physical, but as teh French say the best defense is to attack.
But thinkiing about a 3 DM formation… I just don’t know which three would work. Beckerman is great at breaking plays up and standing folks up in a way that Torres hasn’t shown (don’t even know if he’ll be fit by November), but his passing is just off enough to give a French side a field day and make Dred liable to be the assist leader for the opponent…
Maybe putting Dempsey as a lone striker with Edu, Bradley and Jones on the field with Shea and Williams? (maybe LD for Shea if LA is not still in the playoffs). Those are all players that have a defensive track back mindset… leaving Deuce to do what he does best–create ofensive chances.
disagree. Bundesliga has been an underrated league for about 8 years now, they surpassed Serie A in consistently and quality awhile back. every team has a very high level of technical ability, tactical acumen and fitness.
Oh, and your MOM’s retarded. Just wanted to make sure I also wrote something you could wrap your little troll head around.
I believe over the next 12-18 months this is more of the lineup we’ll see for qualifying…
Shea Gatt Donovan
Dempsey Diskerud Williams
Lihaj Onyewu Bocanegra Chandler
Howard
Bradley & Edu pair well in more defensive formations
Rolfe,Torres,Parkhurst,Kjestan,Bedoya,Holden,Hamid, Guzan, Johnson,Adu, Cherundolo, Altidore & Doyle (if they step up)
The olympics will be a good test of younger talent. Love watching the USMNT play…but can’t get very excited since I think our team will be bringing in better talent over the next 6 months and be much stronger come qualifying…
Realistically, in the next 12-18 months I believe the team will look more like…
Gatt
Bradley and Chievo are having themselves a strong start to the season.
Man you are so spot on; playing in the German first division is overrated. Gotta love wanna-be-soccer pundant retards who get their hands on a keyboard. These guys will be mainstays in the USMNT for years to come. Time to get off their backs and get on the party train. RAWR!
Buddle and Gomez will be useful in qualifying. Agudelo and Bunbury should stick to the u-23 at least until the Olympics and then be ready to help out in 2013. Help them get experienced in time for the next WC
Well, if you wanted to, you could point to the times that he lost, and lost big.
Just saying. I never had a huge problem with tactics so much as I did personnel choices, but even so, he went 1-2-1 at the World Cup (drawing Slovenia and losing to Ghana), 2-0-2 at Confed Cup, washed out of Copa America in 2007, lost the 2009 Gold Cup, lost some WCQ’s he should have won, got smoked in a few friendlies, and lost to Panama and Mexico in the 2011 Gold Cup.
He did win the 2007 Gold Cup. And he beat Spain in 2009. Unqualified successes.
That doesn’t mean he won all the time, and it doesn’t mean his system was the best way to win with the current pool, especially when you consider recent results, which USSF obviously did.
I think I read somewhere that Tijuana has a new coach who’s had Corona coming off the bench instead of starting.
Because he only plays 20 minutes a game, and even though he scores, it’s still not considered “getting regular playing time” from your club.
No me gusta “Bornstein dressed”.
Gomez callup makes sense to me. comfortable off the bench or starting, good off the ball, smart player who can finish and is in form. Also scored in South Africa 🙂
Is Eddie Johnson still alive?
Great header from Herc.
Corona only played two minutes, I wonder what is that about.
Uh, no, Chandler’s not.
Williams, Chandler, and Jones are way overrated
The Latin Obama strikes again
I think between Jones, Bradley, and Owenyu, even Edu Beckerman, and Lawrentowitz, we should make it a physical battle, I think we should try to physically intidate them kinda like we did Portugol in the 2002 World Cup, if nothing else its just a friendly so yellow cards wont be a big deal.
I would be very suprised if Gomez doesn’t get a call for the November friendly. pairing him with Jozy is as close to a CD9 Altidore pairing as you could get. Jones and Torres should get call-ups for the France friendly in November (unless Torres doesn’t patch up in time or Jones works his way back into the doghouse)
With those calls, provided JK doesn’t roll our a three DM midfield to contain Robery Nasri and company I think you’d be likely to see:
——–Gomez-Altidore——–
———–Dempsey———–
Shea——————-Williams
————-Jones————
Chandler–Boca—Onyewu–‘dolo
———-Howard————-
or sub Gomez in for Altidore and add another DM next to Jones, like Torres or Bradley. I think Beckerman stays home on this go round.
Subs: Agudelo, Torres, Bradley, Edu, Kljestan, Beasely, F. Johnson, Goodson, Hamid
That’s largely true. Even a country like Israel produces much more than we do. That’s what Bradley haters never understood – that his defensive style had us consistently performing beyond the limited skill of our talent pool. I think that if we wan’t to compete with the Brazils in the next 30 years, we need to go in a different direction, but you can’t argue with the fact that Bradley knew how to win.
Not the best weekend for the Yanks Abroad but not the worst either. Considering this was short turn for many of the players after having played significant minutes for the US National team…
Bright spots: Jermaine Jones continues to get more minutes under Schake’s new coach, Alfredo Morales, Danny Williams got reasonable minutes, and Bobby Wood made the field for the Senior team.
Marco Fabian of Chivas is impressive, good player..
Seriously how is Herculez Gomez not getting called up, when Buddle and even Bunbury are… we need GOAL SCORERS.
call up mo salama!!
Answer to Gomez call up….Uh, YES!
No me gusta “did not dress” y “did not play.”
I think that is possibly true. Right know we are not developing players that top teams countries like Japan and even Australia are starting to pass us in that regard.
because mls doesnt pay enough $. if i was ricardo clark id also sit on the bench if it meant that id make alot more money.
did joe benny corona play for tijuana?
Just shut up, Roger.
we might have the weakest pool from the top 30 national teams.
go dynamo!