By FRANCO PANIZO
Jozy Altidore has been no stranger to scoring nice goals this season, but the one he bagged this weekend is arguably among his best of the year.
Altidore finished off a beautiful passing sequence in AZ Alkmaar's match against Heerenveen when he got an open look from close range after a beautiful first touch that got him by a defender. Altidore was also involved in the build-up to the goal (his fifth in the Eredivisie and ninth across all competitions this season) with a nice one-touch pass. Unfortunately for Alkmaar, Altidore's goal was one of the lone bright spots as it lost the game, 5-1.
Some more good news came for American fans in Aston Villa's 1-0 loss to Manchester United. Brad Guzan made his first Premiership appearance of the year and second since joining the club in 2008 in the match after he replaced an injured Shay Given in the first half. Guzan made two saves and did not allow a goal against United's star-studded attack in 52 minutes of action.
Another goalkeeper who got rare minutes was Diego Restrepo. The 23-year-old filled in for America de Cali's suspended incumbent and recorded a cleansheet in the club's scoreless draw against Once Caldas in the first leg of the quarterfinals. Restrepo's appearance, which included three saves, was his third in Colombia's Categoria Primera A this season.
Here is how the Americans Abroad did this weekend:
ENGLAND
Premiership
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made 1 save in Everton's 1-0 loss vs. Stoke City on Sunday.
- Marcus Hahnemann did not dress for Everton.
- Clint Dempsey and Fulham play Liverpool on Monday.
- Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made 4 saves in Tottenham Hotspur's 3-0 win vs. Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.
- Brad Guzan came off the bench, played 52 minutes and made 2 saves in Aston Villa's 1-0 loss vs. Manchester United 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' 3-0 loss vs. Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Zak Whitbread dressed but did not play in Norwich City's 5-1 loss vs. Manchester City on Saturday.
Championship
- Jonathan Spector started and played 75 minutes in Birmingham City's 1-0 loss vs. Cardiff City on Sunday.
- Conor Doyle did not dress in Derby County's 1-1 draw vs. Crystal Palace on Friday.
- Robbie Findley did not dress in Nottingham Forest's 1-0 loss vs. Brighton on Saturday.
- Daniel Potts did not dress in West Ham United's 2-1 loss vs. Burnley on Saturday.
League One
- Frank Simek did not dress in Carlisle United's 2-0 loss vs. Charlton Athletic on Saturday. He is recovering from a hip injury.
- Anton Peterlin dressed but did not play in Walsall's 1-1 draw vs. Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday.
- Mike Grella started and played 45 minutes in Brentford's 1-0 loss vs. Wrexham on Saturday.
SCOTLAND
Premier League
- Maurice Edu started and played 90 minutes in Rangers' 2-1 win vs. Dunfermline Athletic on Friday.
- Carlos Bocanegra did not dress for Rangers. He is recovering from a hamstring injury.
- Alejandro Bedoya dressed but did not play for Rangers.
First Division
- Dominic Cervi started and played 90 minutes in Greenock Morton's 1-0 loss vs. Falkirk on Saturday.
ITALY
- Michael Bradley started and played 90 minutes in Chievo Verona's 0-0 draw vs. Atalanta on Sunday.
GERMANY
Bundesliga
- Jermaine Jones did not dress in in Schalke 04's 3-1 win vs. FC Augsburg on Sunday. He was suspended due to yellow card accumulation.
- Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96's 1-1 draw vs. SC Freiburg on Saturday.
- Timmy Chandler started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in FC Nurnberg's 2-0 loss vs. Hamburg SV on Sunday.
- David Yelldell dressed but did not play in Bayer Leverkusen's 2-0 win vs. TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Friday.
- Alfredo Morales did not dress in Hertha Berlin's 1-1 draw vs. Kaiserslautern on Saturday.
- Fabian Johnson started and played 59 minutes in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim's 2-0 loss vs. Bayer Leverkusen on Friday.
- Danny Williams started and played 90 minutes for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
- Terrence Boyd did not dress in Borussia Dortmund's 1-1 draw vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday.
Bundesliga 2
- Ricardo Clark did not dress in Eintracht Frankfurt's 2-0 win vs. Karlsruher SC on Saturday.
- Luis Robles started and played 90 minutes in Karlsruher SC's 2-0 loss vs. Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
- Edson Buddle started and played 90 minutes in FC Ingolstadt 04's 1-0 loss vs. Eintracht Braunschweig on Friday.
- Bobby Wood did not dress in TSV 1860 Munich's 2-2 draw vs. Alemannia Aachen on Sunday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Matt Taylor dressed but did not play in SC Paderborn 07's 1-1 draw vs. St Pauli on Friday.
FRANCE
- Quentin Westberg did not dress in Evian Thonon Gaillard's 2-1 win vs. Valenciennes on Saturday.
NETHERLANDS
- Jozy Altidore started, played 90 minutes and scored a GOAL in AZ Alkmaar's 5-1 loss vs. Heerenveen on Sunday.
PORTUGAL
- Oguchi Onyewu and Sporting CP did not play this weekend.
BELGIUM
- Sacha Kljestan started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in RSC Anderlecht's 0-0 draw vs. OH Leuven on Sunday.
DENMARK
- Michael Parkhurst started and played 90 minutes in FC Nordsjaelland's 0-0 draw vs. FC Midtjylland on Sunday.
- Chris Rolfe started and played 90 minutes in Aalborg BK's 4-2 loss vs. Silkeborg IF on Saturday.
- Clarence Goodson started and played 90 minutes in Brondby IF's 1-1 draw vs. HB Koge on Sunday.
- Brad Rusin came off the bench and played 17 minutes in HB Koge's 1-1 draw vs. Brondby IF on Sunday.
- Conor O'Brien and SonderjyskE play Odense BK on Monday.
MEXICO
- Jonathan Bornstein and Tigres UANL play Queretaro in the second leg of the semifinals of the Mexico Apertura Liguilla on Sunday evening. Tigres UANL is tied on aggregate, 0-0.
COLOMBIA
- Diego Restrepo started, played 90 minutes and made 3 saves in America de Cali's 0-0 draw vs. Once Caldas in the first leg of the quarterfinals on Saturday.
——–
What do you think of these performances? How impressed are you by Altidore's goal? How do you see Guzan faring in the EPL should Given be out a substantial amount of time? Believe Restrepo can lead America de Cali out of the quarterfinals?
Share your thoughts below.
Agreed 100%.
Also, it’s fair to say Altidore has a better back-to-goal game than either Dempsey or Donovan, which makes him a better fit as a true striker, whereas D&D would both be ‘false nines’ when they play up top.
But honestly, watch LD whenever he’s asked to play centrally for the Nats, or rather, TRY to watch him. Because most of the cases when we lambaste him for being ‘invisible’ have to do with him being where he can be more easily marked.
Dempsey I do like in the withdrawn striker role. Mainly because he free-roles a lot already anyway.
Donovan and Dempsey are better players and better finishers than Jozy.
But putting either one or both in Jozy’s position fulltime means their abilty to contribute in other areas, such as starting the attack in the first place is compromised. Donovan plays up top for LA but he has Beckham to set him loose.
The US has no one to replace Donovan in midfield or were you not watching the last six games?
This is also true though to a lesser extent, for Dempsey. At forward he would not have as much freedom to roam as he does now. There is a reason better soccer minds than you and me have played him mostly in the midfield all these years.
Besides if you watched the last World Cup and saw the ferocious beating Jozy took as part of his job, you’d want Donovan and Dempsey, both of whom take a lot of punishment as it is, as clear of that as possible.
from the u-17 game to be specific
want to see a great goal. watch the one by the brazilian in that 3-1 loss to the US. It was an absolute laser. great strike.
Not really stereotyping; I have watched the last 5 or 6 (like most of us) and have been overwhelmingly disappointed. abc expressed his opinion, and I expressed mine. Nobody called anybody’s stereotype.
I care about our NT’s success. But, I think it would be more successful without Jozy Altidore. I would put Donovan and Buddle up front, or Donovan and Herculez Gomez, or Donovan and Dempsey.
You correctly disputed the “Serie A is boring” stereotype only to perpetuate another stereotype about “Los Clasicos.”
Chievo does seem to be rather difficult to watch. Not a lot of offense there recently. But, just like England, there are about 5 or 6 teams that are really exciting. At least to me.
great goal by jozy. keep it up.
this comment blows my mind. that goal was all class.
Jozy’s, what, 22? He has now found a home and will grow. 2 years from now when he transfers to “X” Champs League club we’ll all be fawning…
…and playing Steely Dan’s “Josie.”
Give it some time. its still early Monday morning. I agree that it was a brilliant goal. Shows Jozy’s skill is improving. I have no idea why anyone would be talking about Lee Nguyen… Actually, I do have an idea.
LMB
Houston’s like a Mecca for Vietnamese in the U.S.
Bedoya was subbed in for Edu last week. I know they play different positions in midfield, but other players can get shuffled around as well.
He said it was a “gevelidig” goal, fantastic! He commented on the good combination outside the box, the one-two, and he said the goal was difficult because of the tight space because of three defenders around him. He was going to go on about the goal/Jozy, but the vid was cut off.
I’m sick of that guy forcing his MLS-hate down our gullets.
I’m not sure his game would be helped by being the best player in Vietnam, so I wouldn’t expect it to have improved much from when he was here last (but I could be wrong).
Jozy is going to become our best striker ever. And that is saying something because Wynalda and McBride were pretty solid in their prime
several French teams are chasing him as we speak. Bedoya though has had to shake off injury and fight for a place. He’s still seen as a sub.
Europe remains the ultimate goal of most of the best players in the world because of its combination of big money and the high level of play.
Geography has little to do with it except that players in Scandanavia can be more easily seen by the big Euro scouts.
Guzan looked decent, albeit he didn’t have all too much to do.
Zing!
The one-two was weighted perfectly, and the touch in the box was very composed. Your Rec League boys wouldn’t have that same poise against Eredevisie defenders. I’ve scored some pretty nice goals in rec league too, and I suck. If Messi scores that goal, everyone’s on his nuts. I use that defense a lot but it’s true, I could totally see Messi combining for a tight-spaced one-two and then two-touching a low roller into the corner. People would watch it over and over and add it to his catalog of amazingness. Any goal scored by our starting forward SHOULD be a must-see goal; if you don’t want to see one of Jozy’s goals, you don’t care for our NT’s success.
As for above, since it got its own post, most of the love ended up over there, but it probably wasn’t enough.
I didn’t even mention Roma, always a fun watch too. After those 6 it drops off considerable as far as who I would rather watch.
You know, this is not to discredit your point, but I have actually argued that Italy is having one of the more entertaining leagues this year.
Napoli, Udinese, Juve, and Milan are all dynamite, and Lazio is really not far in quality from them. It’s rare that a league has 5 teams that I would really not mind watching in action, and if Inter can turn it on again, it will only get better.
I really think the Spanish league wins the ‘I don’t care for this’ award for the midyear in my book. I barely even watch Real or Barca (first time I liked when I was a naive lad who was like ‘hey whos that Ronaldinho guy?’) because it’s always gonna be a blowout – save for the Getafe debacle. And then the Clasico is just a slug/divefest where as much time is spent arguing as it is kicking a ball. Hoping the Dec. 10 2011 installment proves me wrong.
I’ve seen better goals in my rec league. The fact that Ives is calling this a “must see goal” is testament to the fact that Jozy hardly ever scores any well struck goals at all. The goal was just an average goal that any player at an intermediate level would score.
It’s funny bc somebody (idk if it was you) last week was like ‘when is Jones getting suspended?’
Right on cue 😛
Yea, that was pretty ruud of him.
The alternative to “Jones played 90 minutes and received a yellow card.” is “Jermaine Jones did not dress for… He was suspended due to yellow card accumulation.”
Yes- He said” Nice goal but I still hate the LA and the MLS”.
PD,
Haven’t you figured it out yet? When Altidore scores, it’s because he’s in Holland and no one defends.
When he doesn’t, it’s because he’s too lazy to become a good striker.
The consensus is already in on him here, meanwhile someone like Freddy Adu can do nothing for a decade at any level, and the same people who won’t watch Jozy score insane goal after insane goal assume Adu can play for the USMNT because Nike told them to believe it.
Can anyone translate what Gullit is saying about Altidore?
Im excited about the prospect of daniel potts- could be an awesome LB
Jozy = Golazo-azo-azo-azo.
SBI board reaction = yawn.
Ya’ll got a problem.
Rumor is that Dynamo are going to sign him
he played in copa america….
Thanks for the info – just wikipedia’d him and was unaware he had 3 USMNT caps. he’s only 25 too which is good. lets see how he fares in the MLS. could be a dark horse in Klinsmann’s pool
Lee Nguyen announced on twitter he’s coming to MLS. I’ll have to think about getting the Direct Kick package this year so I can watch him. I’m really interested in seeing how his game has evolved while in Vietnam.
I think MLS can overtake Scandanavia once the pay goes up, because we lose several quality players to them just because of pay. Your right not sure we can ever compete with the Champions League, but there are few countries in Europe who ever do well enough in it to matter.
Why? They don’t play the same position
I wish Michael Bradley was still at Gladbach instead of Chievo, not because they’re doing so well this year, but because aside from a handful of teams Italian soccer is unwatchable. It seems like Chievo never scores goals, my perception just based on these weekend rewinds is that their goal scoring rate must be below Ingolstadt and slightly better than Tom Tomsk.
I wonder if a winter transfer for Mo Edu (to a better league) would mean Bedoya gets more PT?
LOL. I was about to ask when Jermaine Jones was going to be suspended due to yellow card accumulation.
Josy has 11 goals. 5 in the league, 6 in Europe
Looking at all these Americans playing in Scandanavia, I can’t help but wonder if one thing will always hold back MLS from becoming a Top 10 league that it can’t control-geography.
When Eto’o goes to Russia, or somebody from England goes to a ‘lesser’ league like Italy or France, the justification always is that they still theoretically can compete in the highest competition in the world. The geographic distance to the US makes it likely it will always be seen as a cop-out, an easy money grab, even if it’s not. The way we see a player going to China or Qatar, they see players going to the US.
Even if the Club World Cup gets big, I can’t see a tournament that is 2 weeks and includes overwhelmingly not the best teams in the world(even if MLS got really good) helping make such a move OK for a player’s credibility.
The only thing that I think maybe could get around this is a ‘Americas Championship’, because maybe the combination of Mexican, Brazilian, Argentian, US, etc. teams would be enough to get players in their prime to come over.
mucho malo this weekende-yo
DNP Loss DND etc… MLS