By FRANCO PANIZO
Sacha Kljestan and RSC Anderlecht returned to league action this weekend for the first time since December, and they both picked up right where they left off.
RSC Anderlecht continued its winning ways with a 3-0 victory over third-place Club Brugge on Sunday. As has become the norm this season, Kljestan started and went the distance in the game. Kljestan also picked up a yellow card in first-half stoppage time of a match that kept Anderlecht in first place of the Pro League.
Landon Donovan and Everton did not win this weekend, but the U.S. international delivered a sublime assist that helped the Toffees avoid defeat against Aston Villa. Attacking from the left flank, Donovan cut in and dribbled before picking out Victor Anichebe with a defense-splitting pass. The assist was Donovan's second since rejoining the club, and it earned Everton a 1-1 draw against the Villans.
Michael Bradley and Chievo Verona were on the winning end of their game this weekend, as they topped Palermo, 1-0. Bradley, who already speaks Italian, played all 90 minutes in the win, the 16th time he has done that in 17 league appearances this season.
Here is how the Americans Abroad fared this weekend:
ENGLAND
Premiership
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made 6 saves in Everton's 1-1 draw vs. Aston Villa on Saturday.
- Landon Donovan started, played 90 minutes and had an ASSIST for Everton.
- Marcus Hahnemann did not dress for Everton.
- Clint Dempsey started and played 90 minutes in Fulham's 3-1 loss vs. Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
- Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made 2 saves in Tottenham Hotspur's 1-1 draw vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
- Brad Guzan dressed but did not play in Aston Villa's 1-1 draw vs. Everton 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. Manchester United on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Zak Whitbread started and played 90 minutes in Norwich City's 2-1 win vs. West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
- Adam Henley dressed but did not play in Blackburn Rovers' 3-1 win vs. Fulham on Saturday.
Championship
- Jonathan Spector started and played 90 minutes in Birmingham City's 6-0 win vs. Millwall on Saturday.
- Conor Doyle did not dress in Derby County's 1-0 win vs. Coventry City on Saturday.
- Robbie Findley came off the bench and played 18 minutes in Nottingham Forest's 3-0 loss vs. Southampton on Saturday.
- Daniel Potts did not dress in West Ham United's 1-0 win vs. Portsmouth on Saturday.
- George John did not dress for West Ham United.
League One
- Frank Simek and Carlisle United's match vs. Milton Keynes Dons was postponed due to the field being frozen.
- Anton Peterlin started and played 90 minutes in Walsall's 0-0 draw vs. Brentford on Saturday.
- Mike Grella did not dress in Brentford's 0-0 draw vs. Walsall on Saturday.
SCOTLAND
Premier League
- Maurice Edu started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Rangers' 2-1 win vs. St Johnstone on Saturday.
- Carlos Bocanegra started, played 90 minutes and scored an own goal for Rangers.
- Alejandro Bedoya dressed but did not play for Rangers.
- Dominic Cervi did not dress in Celtic's 2-1 win vs. Dundee United on Saturday.
ITALY
- Michael Bradley started and played 90 minutes in Chievo Verona's 1-0 win vs. Palermo on Sunday.
FRANCE
- Quentin Westberg dressed but did not play in Evian Thonon Gaillard's 3-1 loss vs. Dijon FCO on Saturday.
PORTUGAL
- Oguchi Onyewu started and played 90 minutes in Sporting CP's 2-1 loss vs. Braga on Sunday.
BELGIUM
- Sacha Kljestan started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in RSC Anderlecht's 3-0 win vs. Club Brugge on Sunday.
MEXICO
- Jose Torres started and played 90 minutes in Pachuca's 3-1 win vs. Puebla on Saturday.
- Herculez Gomez dressed but did not play in Santos Laguna's 2-1 win vs. Atlante on Saturday.
- Sonny Guadarrama came off the bench and played 2 minutes in Atlante's 2-1 loss vs. Santos Laguna on Saturday.
- Jonathan Bornstein did not dress in Tigres UANL's 1-0 win vs. Queretaro on Saturday.
- DaMarcus Beasley came off the bench and played 28 minutes in Puebla's 3-1 loss vs. Pachuca on Saturday.
- Adrian Ruelas did not dress in Jaguares de Chiapas' 3-1 win vs. Chivas de Guadalajara on Saturday.
- Michael Orozco started and played 90 minutes in San Luis' 2-0 win vs. Estudiantes Tecos U.A. de G. on Friday.
- Edgar Castillo started and played 90 minutes in Club Tijuana's 1-0 win vs. Monterrey on Saturday.
- Joe Corona came off the bench and played 32 minutes for Club Tijuana.
- Greg Garza did not dress for Club Tijuana.
——-
What do you think of these performances? Does Kljestan deserve another look with the U.S. men's national team? How many times have you watched that Donovan assist this weekend? Impressed at how quickly Bradley has adapted to Serie A and life in Italy?
Share your thoughts below.
Defensive midfield is probably JFT’s best position.
He would be stylistically different from Beckerman though.
The role Beckerman plays for JK?
Making Bradley play that role would be a waste. MB is more useful elsewhere and Beckerman is doing a solid job.
If anyone will replace Beckerman it would probably be Jones.
If he can get his card output under control he can be the enforcer the US has needed since Pablo has left the scene.
You must have a very low tolerance for so -called “bashing”.
Chris Whitbread is injury prone. At the very least he gets hurt at very inopportune times. Just look at his record.
When your career is constantly interrupted by injury it is hard to develop any consistency. Still Whitbread may yet put together a run.
As for getting scouted by EPL teams, so what?
He plays for Norwich, an EPL team so why wouldn’t other EPL teams scout him? They scout a lot of players. Did they tell what they thought after scouting him? Maybe they thought he sucked.
Now if they make an solid offer that is another story.
lol
AZ hasn’t played since 12/18. They play on the Thursday vs. Ajax in their domestic cup competition, and then again on Sunday.
I do not overate any players.The only players I think are over rated are Ream and Bedoya.I do think you saying Whitebread is inconsistent is laughable. He is not the fastest, but you are trashing a player who is American, who plays for an okay EPL side, and he starts. You are laughable too. 😀
ouch…
I saw Zak play one match a few weeks ago. He is very big, but slower than Gonzo, John & G. Cameron. He’s about as quick as Ream, without the smooth distribution. But he is huge.
I would give him a hard look, but based on the game I saw, I think he would get abused by speedy attackers.
I remember the same thing in Africa around the same time period.
I always thought acknowledging teamwork was a funny American thing to castigate.
maybe you overrate players
While I think he could handle the position, in watching how Beckerman functioned in those game he did very little roving forward, which is something that Junior does exceptionally well. It would be a shame to sacrifice that element to convert him into a 5th defender. Oddly enough I’d like to see how Paco Torres could handle that role, which is where I believe he plays for his club.. Not sure if he has the size, but he has the speed and passing. It would be nice to see some competition for that role now that it’s clear how JK sees that position functioning
hard to be considered “underrated” when he played nearly every minute of every match for the Nats during a 4 year stretch.
under-appreciated? perhaps, but bradley is what he is.
I’d like to see that too. IF all those guys could mesh together, it could be a pretty potent attack. I’m not sure I’d say MB is the most underrated, but probably the most misunderstood. Lots of haters out there who don’t know a lot about soccer or are just blinded by their own biases. Also, I think its great that he’s speaking Italian- definitely representing America well.
If I got a dollar for every time you bashed a American pro soccer player I would be a billionaire. :D. And if he is so inconsistent why did he get scouted by top EPL teams. -____-
Jose’s back!? Sweet!
All of you are missing the obvious!!!
Who let a porn star into the Belgian Pro League?!?! Seriously Franco, tell SK to lose the bell bottoms and the big collared shirt. That ‘stache makes me think of Austin powers and the “MOLLEEE!” scene.
Based on what I’ve see abc, I’m with you. An OK player, better with his distribution than Boca (he’s left-footed so he’d slot to LCB), but doesn’t have Bocas heart. No real speed, OK positioning and OK instincts. A fine player, but nothing special.
Still, I’d like him to get a shot…any U.S. player in the EPL should get a shot…pretty soon we may not be able to say that…but today he gets a shot.
I watched the Pachuca and Puebla game…and though he didn’t start, Beasley impressed me. Look, I know people think he’s gonna be too “old” by the time World Cup Brazil comes around, but if he’s playing in good form right now (and he’s pretty much Donovan and Dempsey’s age which isn’t that old) I really think he needs to get call ins to first-team USMNT camps. I put him only a bit below Shea and maybe in Fabian’s range as far as our backup wingers. So i’d like to see him fight for a backup winger/late sub winger slot, and cause some threats late in games.
Any English readers on this blog who can respond to this question? When I first started following soccer in 1997, an English friend of mine derided the “Americanization of football statistics with the term ‘assist'”.
Do English football fans still sneer at the notion of “an assist”, or has it since made it into the normal English footballing lexicon?
Not at all similar to Jay DeMerit though.
I don’t think he’s MNT quality.
Would like to see Johnson in the middle w MB and Shea and LD using their speed on the wings w Deuce playing underneath Jozy
Big win for Chievo, vaulting them into 10th place. Sacha looks eerily like a V for Vendetta mask in that shot.
sounds similar to jay demerit
Now that he’s healthy, he’s a top 5 US centerback. Nothing stellar, a bit slow, but fairly dependable.
Whitbread is quality. His biggest problem is injuries. If he can stay healthy he is a better version of Goodson. He also is more of a leader as far as being vocal and organizing the backline than you see from guys like Ream or Gooch.
Injury prone and not really consitent
Holden has another three months before he will be back on the pitch.
Bocanegra scored. In his own goal!!
Hope JK calls up Whitbread in February. If he’starting LCB and playing for a decent team in the Premier League then he deserves a call up.
Bradley continues to be the most underrated player on the national team because of his father. It’s time to give him the destroyer role that Klinsi handed to Beckerman. That will allow us to maintain more width from guys like Johnson and Shea, while letting Dempsey sit underneath two strikers.
Anyone watch Whitbread for Norwich this year at all? A lot of hype about CB’s going to the Prem with Ream and John (Hammers will be up next year)seems like Zak might be overlooked. Personally, haven’t seen him play.
Great article about Bradley. Good find Franco
Nvm, saw they have been on break for a while.
Gotta love it.
Thanks for the update, Ives and co.
Any word on when Stuart Holden might be back?
Where is Jozy?
I wonder if Guzan is back to the bench now.
Also, any update with A.Henley and D.Potts from a MNT perspective?