By FRANCO PANIZO
Zak Whitbread is on the brink of doing something that he's only done once this season: Start consecutive games.
A week after returning to Norwich City's lineup in a surprise victory over Newcastle, Whitbread appears set to start for the Canaries when they play Tim Howard and Everton. A solid performance there would likely serve as a confidence boost for the oft-injured center back, and it could also catch the eye of U.S. men's national team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
Two of Klinsmann's regulars have marquee matches this weekend as well, albeit under totally different circumstances. Jermaine Jones will look to keep Schalke 04 within striking distance of Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich when his club faces fifth-place Werder Bremen. Meanwhile, Michael Bradley will try to help Chievo Verona from falling further down the Serie A table when they battle Cagliari.
If you're wondering what other match is worth watching, look no further than Aston Villa's game against Liverpool. The match will arguably provide Brad Guzan's biggest test to date this season, as he goes up against a potent Liverpool attack that includes the likes of Luis Suarez and Craig Bellamy.
Here is who the Americans Abroad square off against this weekend:
Edson Buddle and FC Ingolstadt 04 play FC Erzgebirge Aue.
Matt Taylor and SC Paderborn 07 play Fortuna Dusseldorf.
SATURDAY
Tim Howard, Marcus Hahnemann and Everton play Zak Whitbread and Norwich City.
Clint Dempsey and Fulham play Stuart Holden and Bolton Wanderers. (Holden is out injured.)
Robbie Findley and Nottingham Forest play Bristol City.
Conor Doyle and Derby County play Ipswich Town.
Daniel Potts and West Ham United play Barnsley.
Mike Grella and Brentford play Bury.
Frank Simek and Carlisle United play Wycombe Wanderers.
Anton Peterlin and Walsall play Chesterfield.
Maurice Edu, Alejandro Bedoya, Carlos Bocanegra and Rangers play Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
Dominic Cervi and Greenock Morton play Hamilton Academical.
Michael Bradley and Chievo Verona play Cagliari.
David Yelldell and Bayer Leverkusen play Timmy Chandler and FC Nurnberg. (Chandler is out suspended).
Terrence Boyd and Borussia Dortmund play SC Freiburg. (Boyd is with the U.S. U-23 men's national team.)
Fabian Johnson, Danny Williams and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim play Alfredo Morales and Hertha Berlin.
Jermaine Jones and Schalke 04 play Werder Bremen.
Luis Robles and Karlsruher SC play MSV Duisburg play Bobby Wood and TSV 1860 Munich. (Wood is out injured.)
Quentin Westberg and Evian Thonon Gaillard play Lyon.
SUNDAY
Brad Guzan, Eric Lichaj and Aston Villa play Liverpool. (Lichaj is out injured.)
Brad Friedel and Tottenham Hotspur play Sunderland.
Steve Cherundolo and Hannover 96 play Kaiserslautern.
Jozy Altidore and AZ Alkmaar play NAC Breda.
Oguchi Onyewu and Sporting CP play Academica de Coimbra.
Sacha Kljestan and RSC Anderlecht play KSC Lokeren.
MONDAY
Jonathan Spector and Birmingham City play Crystal Palace.
Ricardo Clark and Eintracht Frankfurt play St Pauli.
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Which matches are you most looking forward to? How do you think Whitbread will fare against Everton's attack? Who has more chance of winning, Jones and Schalke or Bradley and Chievo? Think Guzan will blank Liverpool?
Share your thoughts below.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Reyna’s old teamate!)was 35 in 2010 when scored what might have been the goal of the tournament for Holland in the semis against Uruguay. He the went on to play 105 minutes at left back in the final against Spain.
Dolo will be 35 in 2014. If he keeps his form, there is no reason to think he can’t play in the World Cup.
He is not having a great year but I’m not yet convinced he is finished. However if he is done, there is a very long line of suitable candidates to replace him. Not so at left back.
Regardless, Chandler is a better left back, a better soccer player than Lichaj.
I don’t know if Johnson, who has very clearly said he doesn’t want to play left back, is a better left back the Chandler.
I do know that, as long as Chandler is around, the US needs Johnson more in the attack than at left back.
“For the same reason we should be trying out Cameron, Gonzalez, John, and others at CB NOW even though Boca is still doing just fine.”
If those guys want to win jobs for the US they need to do more at the club level. The USMNT does not develop players they just pick them. If JK is not picking one or more of the holy trinity because he views them as flawed in some way, then those guys have to address that reason at the club level. It doesn’t get solved with a few days at a USMNT camp or practice.
For example, if JK is not picking Omar because he thinks Omar is not comfortable e enough on the ball or he thinks Omar is too clumsy, calling him into camp will not fix that. Omar willhave to work that out elsewhere. There is no magic formula.
i find it strange morales is not in the FL camp right now. i guess his club didn’t want him to leave. which i hope means he is close to first team action.
It is still true that Klinsman’s first job is to make sure he identifies a back 4 that can play in 2014. Right now 3 of the 4 first teamers (Boca, Dolo and Gooch) are old enough that either lack of pace or slow recovery-time from injuries due to that age will likely render them either unsuitable or unavailable in 2014.
In my opinion the group of players that must have the best understanding and is the group that should have the most continuity in its composition is the back 4. That implies that by the end of 2012, Klinsman needs to have a good idea of who will be starting in 2014. So the upcoming camp must be geared towards determining which backs he wants to go forward with (not necessarily which might start in the early qualifiers, but pretty clearly which players he will be keeping in the mix to form his starters in 2014). Of course plans gang aft aglee and some young hotshot might break-in late in 2013, but it would be poor planning to count on it.
Agreed that weekend rewinds are nice, but don’t contain any analysis of the performance. Always appreciate thoughtful well written analysis in the comments section.
Get to see two american’s in one game – Europa draws altidore v kljestan in round of 32.
AZ vs Anderlecht on 16 February/23 February
I understand the argument and to a degree agree that Johnson should be tried as a LB for the USNT.
I personally perfer him as the Left Midfield Winger, expecially after the performance he put in during the Slovenia match. But until Lichaj is healthy and playing consistently (I think he needs a loan deal) I’d be OK with moving Johnson to LB and Chandler to RB…expecially with the lack of Playing Time and continued decline of Cherundolo. My ultimate hope is that Lichaj and Chandler will eventually be our outside defenders (Speed & Attacking strenght w/out giving up defensive shape/Cohesion)…and that Sheanon Williams, Kevin Alston, Danny Williams (has played LB & RB) or maybe Zerek Valentin will develop and provide depth/cover for them.
I hear what you are saying. But I truly think a guy like Dolo, who has played his heart out for years for the USMNT and has captained a team in the Bundesliga, would be a solid bottom-line investment for an MLS team. In other words, I think a team putting Dolo on the field would recoup his high DP salary in a surge in ticket sales, etc. American boys who are into soccer would be more excited getting Dolo’s autograph than say, Rafa Marquez’s.
I don’t think it makes any sense for MLS pay aging players past their prime from overseas DP millions while guys like Ream are making 62k a year. Do people really buy tickets to see old former stars? I don’t think so. MLS should spend those millions instead to bring in good players still in their prime and young players with potential to become great players. Steve Cherundolo playing for the Red Bulls, or Timmy Chandler or Michael Bradley or Fabian Johnson would trigger more ticket sales during a season than Rafa Marquez. The whole DP system might have been necessary just a few years ago, but now it is a bad and wasteful business model.
so Donovan will be ready to play in just 3 weeks. hallelujah.
and besides you guys, Cherundolo has another good year in him. I figure he’ll be with us for qualifying this year as Lichaj gets healthy but after 2012, i’d say he’s done.
you know Joshuaw, if you had written this post a week ago I would have written it off as complete rubbish to be honest. But then a day later we would all have seen Johnson’s great performance at LB for Hoffenheim and you would have looked a genius.
my one, and its a big one, concern is that he and his left sided mid fielder had a thorough understanding that as johnson pushed high up the pitch, the left middy would drop back in defense…not overlap, but literally assume LB duties until johnson was back.
if brek shea can do this (and i know he showed great D against France) then you have a strong argument. brek doesn’t do much of this for fc dallas though which raises my only concern. if they can develop that repoire then awesome, but if they can’t its a no-go because having no LB is worse than having bornstein as the LB on the counter attack
Good luck finding a MLS team to pay DP money to a 34 year old american defender
Why in the world are you worried about expressing your opinions? The more opinions the merrier. There are a few jerks here who personally attack the messengers of opinions they don’t agree with, but that is there problem, no need to take their hate seriously (or personally).
As for your suggestion, it is definitely something Klinsmann is going to have to consider, especially if Dolo keeps riding the bench. I think Dolo should consider moving back home and joining a top MLS team as a DP. He could be a great asset to any team, would be a big fan favorite, and would trigger lotsa ticket sales wherever he played.
We should have been thinking of using Johnson/Chandler like that even BEFORE Dolo ended up on the bench, because there was no way he would be the starting RB at the 2014 World Cup in any case. Try Lichaj and Johnson at LB, if Lichaj gets the job, Johnson competes with Shea and others on the wing, if Johnson gets the job, Lichaj backs up RB and LB.
For the same reason we should be trying out Cameron, Gonzalez, John, and others at CB NOW even though Boca is still doing just fine.
definitely worth a look. I know Johnson said he doesn’t like playing defense; but Lichaj could always pick up at left back when he’s healthy and playing again.
Alright, I’ve been meaning to get this off my chest for a while, and I finally have the right forum to do so. So here goes nothing:
As Dolo continues to age/ride the bench we should really consider putting Fabian Johnson to left back and moving Chandler back to his natural position, right back. And I already understand that he is not a left back (trust me I get it), he would prefer to play in the midfield, etc etc…. I also understand this isn’t a new argument, but as I watched him play left back for Hoffenheim this last weekend I realized that if he can play left back in the bundesliga he can play left back in concacaf. In fact I would venture to say that he could be a better left back than Chandler/Lichaj.
Both Lichaj and Chandler are natural right footers and are playing out of position at left back, whereas Johnson is a left sided player. Also, we have a dearth of quality left backs and a plethora of midfielders so it makes sense to move him back there. With Brek playing ahead of him we would have great attacks down both the left and the right.
Okay, now that that’s off my chest bring on the hate.
Finally! Tks for the info, matt. I did not think this injury would take so long to rehab.
The weekend rewind did not really give a comprehensive review of how Guzan played. It basically just said how many saves he made, that really means nothing. I for one read the rewind and still thought it was a relevant question. Thanks for the insight NE Matt, could to hear from someone who actually watched the game
Don’t read the weekend rewinds, huh?
he’s doing solidly. averaging his usual yellow card every game but is putting in strong shifts and his team is winning. also worth mentioning he has great chemistry with his center backs and the middies in front of him it seems
he did great. one scary spill that came to nothing and a failed clearence by his defense that went in a shot he wasn’t expected to stop. got the 2-1 and had a half dozen or more saves when all was said and done. a really good shift over all
How did Guzan do last week?
I haven’t followed Jones and Schalke at all this year. How’s he doing?
Small update from Aston Villa’s website on Lichaj’s progress:
“Grant also expects right-back Eric Lichaj to return in the New Year as he continues to make progress in his recovery from a hip injury which has kept him out for the last three months.
The United States international has returned to light training with the physios and Grant added: “Eric’s the only one at this moment in time, so we’ve just got to keep an eye on him.
“But he’s getting stronger every day and it’s great to see him out on the training field every day, not with us, but with the physios.
“So hopefully it will be the turn of the year when he comes back and he’ll be fully fit.””