By FRANCO PANIZO
Kaiserslautern might have been officially relegated, but U.S. Under-23 men's national team forward Andrew Wooten helped the team achieve something it had not done in quite a while.
Wooten scored the winner in the club's 2-1 triumph over Hertha Berlin on Saturday, giving Kaiserslautern their first league victory since October (a span that stretched over 21 games). The goal was Wooten's first as a professional, and will help his case for more playing time as Kaiserslautern prepare for he 2. Bundesliga.
Two more experienced Americans also found the back of the net. DaMarcus Beasley scored his fourth goal of the Clausura season in Puebla's 3-2 loss to America, tying him with Luis Garcia for most on the team this campaign. Jozy Altidore continued his scoring ways, netting the winner in AZ Alkmaar's 2-1 win over VVV Venlo. The goal was Altidore's 19th of the year across all competitions and fifth in his last five games.
Not all the positive news that stemmed from this weekend came from the goal-scorers. Oguchi Onyewu returned to Sporting CP's lineup for the first time in exactly two months in the club's 3-2 win over Nacional de Madeira on Sunday. Onyewu went the distance in the match that saw him fully recovered from the right knee injury he suffered just before the U.S. men's national team's friendly versus Italy in February.
Here is how the Americans Abroad performed this weekend:
ENGLAND
Premiership
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made four saves in Everton's 4-4 draw vs. Manchester United on Sunday.
- Marcus Hahnemann did not dress for Everton.
- Clint Dempsey started, played 90 minutes and had an ASSIST in Fulham's 2-1 win vs. Wigan Athletic on Saturday.
- Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made two saves in Tottenham Hotspur's 1-0 loss vs. Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
- Brad Guzan dressed but did not play in Aston Villa's 0-0 draw vs. Sunderland on Saturday.
- Eric Lichaj started and played 90 minutes for Aston Villa.
- Tim Ream started and played 90 minutes in Bolton Wanderers's 1-1 draw with Swansea City on Saturday.
- Stuart Holden did not dress Bolton Wanderers. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Zak Whitbread did not dress in Norwich City's 2-0 loss vs. Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
- Adam Henley did not dress in Blackburn Rovers' 2-0 win vs. Norwich City on Saturday.
Championship
- Jonathan Spector did not dress in Birmingham City's 1-1 draw vs. Brighton on Saturday. He is recovering from a thigh injury.
- Conor Doyle did not dress in Derby County's 2-1 win vs. Portsmouth on Saturday. He is recovering from a hamstring injury.
- Robbie Findley came off the bench and played 49 minutes in Nottingham Forest's 2-1 loss vs. Hull City on Saturday.
- Robbie Rogers did not dress in Leeds United's 1-1 draw vs. Cardiff City on Saturday. He is recovering from an ankle injury.
League One
- Frank Simek started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Carlisle United's 2-1 loss vs. Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
- Anton Peterlin did not dress in Walsall's 4-2 loss vs. Exeter City on Saturday.
- Mike Grella started, played 88 minutes and scored TWO GOALS in Bury's 4-2 win vs. Notts County on Saturday.
SCOTLAND
- Maurice Edu started and played 90 minutes in Rangers' 3-0 win vs. Heart of MIdlothian on Saturday.
- Carlos Bocanegra started and played 90 minutes for Rangers.
- Alejandro Bedoya dressed but did not play for Rangers.
- Dominic Cervi did not dress in Celtic's 3-0 win vs. Motherwell on Sunday.
ITALY
- Michael Bradley started and played 90 minutes in Chievo Vorona's 0-0 draw vs. Udinese on Saturday.
GERMANY
Bundesliga
- Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96's 0-0 draw vs. SC Freiburg on Sunday.
- Jermaine Jones started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Schalke 04's 1-1 draw vs. FC Augsburg on Sunday.
- Timmy Chandler started and played 90 minutes in FC Nurnberg's 1-1 draw vs. Hamburg SV on Saturday.
- Fabian Johnson started and played 90 minutes in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim's 1-0 loss vs. Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
- Danny Williams dressed but did not play for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
- Joe Gyau did not dress for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
- Terrence Boyd did not dress in Borussia Dortmund's 2-0 win vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday.
- Alfredo Morales did not dress in Hertha Berlin's 2-1 loss vs. Kaiserslautern on Saturday.
- David Yelldell did not dress in Bayer Leverkusen's 1-0 win vs. TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Saturday.
- Andrew Wooten started, played 90 minutes before being subbed off and scored a GOAL in Kaiserslautern's 2-1 win vs. Hertha Berlin on Saturday.
2. BUNDESLIGA
- Luis Robles did not dress in Karlsruher SC's 2-0 win vs. SC Paderborn 07 on Sunday.
- Bobby Wood did not dress in TSV 1860 Munich's 4-1 win vs. FC Ingolstadt 04 on Saturday.
- Matt Taylor came off the bench and played 25 minutes in SC Paderborn 07's 2-0 loss vs. Karlsruher SC on Sunday.
- Villyan Bijev did not dress in Fortuna Dusseldorf's 2-1 win vs. FC Union Berlin on Sunday.
FRANCE
- Quentin Westberg dressed but did not play in Evian Thonon Gaillard's 2-1 win vs. Toulouse on Saturday.
- Charlie Davies did not dress in Sochaux's 6-1 loss vs. Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday.
NETHERLANDS
- Jozy Altidore started, played 89 minutes and scored a GOAL in AZ Alkmaar's 2-1 win vs. VVV Venlo on Sunday.
PORTUGAL
- Oguchi Onyewu started and played 90 minutes in Sporting CP's 3-2 win vs. Nacional de Madeira on Sunday.
RUSSIA
- Eugene Starikov did not dress in Zenit St Petersburg's 2-2 draw vs. Kuban Krasnodar on Saturday.
BELGIUM
- Sacha Kljestan started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in RSC Anderlecht's 1-0 win vs. Club Brugge in the Pro League playoffs on Sunday.
- Mikkel Diskerud did not dress in KAA Gent's 4-1 win vs. KV Kortrijk in the Pro League playoffs on Saturday.
DENMARK
- Michael Parkhurst did not dress in FC Nordsjaelland's 2-0 win vs. Aalborg BK on Saturday.
- Clarence Goodson started and played 90 minutes in Brondby IF's 2-0 loss vs. FC Midtjylland on Sunday.
- Conor O'Brien started and played 90 minutes in SonderjyskE's 2-1 win vs. HB Koge on Sunday.
- Brad Rusin came off the bench and played 32 minutes in HB Koge's 2-1 loss vs. SonderjyskE on Sunday.
SWEDEN
- Samuel Petrone did not dress in Mjallby AIF's 4-3 win vs. Djurgarden IF on Friday.
NORWAY
- Josh Gatt and Molde FK play Lillestrom on Monday.
- Steve Clark started and played 90 minutes in Honefoss BK's 3-1 win vs. Aalesund on Sunday.
- Ricardo Clark started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Stabaek IF's 2-1 loss vs. Sandnes Ulf on Sunday.
- Sean Cunningham started and played 90 minutes for Stabaek IF.
MEXICO
- Jose Torres started and played 90 minutes in Pachuca's 1-1 draw vs. Monterrey on Saturday.
- Herculez Gomez started and played 57 minutes in Santos Laguna's 3-0 win vs. Tigres UANL on Saturday.
- DaMarcus Beasley started, played 90 minutes and scored a GOAL in Puebla's 3-2 loss vs. America on Sunday.
- Sonny Guadarrama did not dress in Atlante's 1-1 draw vs. Morelia on Friday.
- Jonathan Bornstein did not dress in Tigres UANL's 3-0 loss vs. Santos Laguna on Saturday.
- Adrian Ruelas did not dress in Jaguares de Chiapas' 3-0 win vs. Pumas UNAM on Sunday.
- Michael Orozco Fiscal started and played 90 minutes in San Luis' 1-0 loss vs. Club Tijuana on Saturday.
- Edgar Castillo started and played 64 minutes in Club Tijuana's 1-0 win vs. San Luis on Saturday.
- Joe Corona started and played 90 minutes for Club Tijuana.
- Greg Garza started and played 90 minutes for Club Tijuana.
——-
What do you think of these performances? Think Wooten will be a staple in Kaiserslautern's lineup next season? Whose goal impressed you more, Altidore's or Beasley's? Do you see Onyewu returning and performing well with the U.S. men's national team this summer?
Share your thoughts below.
Lichaj just got back from injury. so JK hasn’t even had the chance to integrate him…
Not sure which MLS you were watching but Ream had great speed with the Red Bulls. Witness this goal saving run vs. the LA Galaxy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NebkoD3GFw
(SBI-Ream is hardly slow but saying he has “great speed” is also a bit of a stretch.)
Maybe Josh Gatt can be the heir in a few years.
Also, let’s hope Brek regains some form.
While I agree that his post-injury highlights don’t comprise a big enough sample size yet, Pontius has been called into USMNT camp before.
My money is on Fernando PIna to be the best of the lot.
And, any number of other ‘keepers. Some in MLS: Kennedy young enough to be on this list. Also, Pina (Houston), Lampson (Crew) and Kempin (SKC). Outside MLS: Samir Badr and Steve Clark, who is rapidly becoming top ‘keeper in Norway. In college. Akron’s Meves, the Terps (and NYRB’s) Cardona, among others. Really young: Some good ‘keepers in Bradenton. The Klinsmann kid isn’t the only good youth ‘keeper, not even the only good youth legacy player, as Mike Amman’s kid is looking good in Virginia.
I really don’t think a couple of good games merits a call up for pontius. If he keeps it up though I could see him getting a call up in August
2 seasons at AZ would be better than heading to Italy or France, where he might not play, so that would be better THAN heading to France or Italy.
Terrifying? Really? Watch it again. Demps leaves his foot in there to draw the foul.
Doesn’t seem too likely. I think Seattle likes Gspurning. They didn’t want to make a trade to get Marcus. I’d be surprised if that’s changed. Vancouver must be pleased with Cannon, and they’ve got a star kid coming up.. I guess it’s possible that Portland would prefer him to Perkins. Either that or he’s going to have to be more flexible about where he’d play.
+1
maybe that is what Coyle said but Ream was known for just average speed in MLS and his biggest critique before the MLS draft was that he lacked the speed to play LB so maybe you should question your own knowledge.
Except Cunningham has been playing LCB not LB. Actually his perferred positiion is LCB. And Garza is horribly slow for a LB.
I was wondering the same thing. I thought it might be he got benched after a bad game a couple of weeks ago but have not found anything on it. Seems odd that he would go from starter to not making the gameday roster with out some kind of injury news.
Great to see Beasley happy and scoring goals. The fact that the USMNT hasn’t been able to find a replacement for him on the wing has kept the program back. We were just better when opponents had to worry about our lightening-fast counters.
Lichaj is really impressing me. I think Klinnsmann should integrate him more. If in the future our outside backs are Chandler and Fabian Johnson, I would like to see Lichaj be given a chance at central defense. If he could play either outside back position he maybe able to play centrally. He’s too good to leave out. Boca and Cherundolo probably will be to old for 2014. As a pure defender I rank Lichaj better than Ream and Goodson.
Wow, although Beaz and Jozy are gonna get all the press in this list, the two things that jump out to me are both at left back: Cunningham AND Garza both going ninety for their teams! That may be the first time for reach….and who said we had depth problems at left back??? (I kidddddd)
Glad to hear that Gooch is starting again. And is it me? Maybe Bornstein should have stayed at Chivas.
Thanks everyone. I love the lazy out-the-door meme. Oh, and I’d like to point out that Chievo would have won all those 0-0 draws against top Italian teams if Bradley weren’t so lazy on defense.
What is going on with Whitbread ?Why is he not playing ? I know he is injury prone a lot, but I am curious on what is going on with him.
And this is why sarcasm on the internet is not my forte.
My 23 man roster for the May camp.
GK: Howard, ?, ?
Defense: Chandler, Dolo, F.Johnson, Lichaj, Goodson, Gooch, Boca, Ream
Middies: Donovan, Shea, Beasley, Jones, Edu, Bradley, Torres
FWDS: Dempsey, Altidore, Gomez, Pontius, Wooten
Pontius can also play at RW as well. He is faster and more technical on the ball compared to Wondo. Pontius plays a lot like Deuce, but is faster. Therefore Pontius gets the nod over Wondo. And Wooten deserves a call-up over Boyd in my opinion. I like Boyd, but there is no need to rush him to the National team at the moment. Who would have thought that Goalie is turning into a no quality depth position for the USMNT. Sad to see really.
Oh and Tony Taylor scored for Estoril this weekend as well. Estoril looks like they are going to clinch a promotion spot to Portugals top flight next season. So Taylor will be scoring goals in Liga Portugal next season.
I’m not sure Whitbread is worth it at this point. Is he ever healthy?
His lack of Speed? I really question fans knowledge about players sometimes. Ream is the fastest player on Boltons squad. Owen Coyle stated that Ream had the fastest times on the team. He has good speed. He was at fault for one goal wher he was muscled off of the ball.
From what I have seen Ream has looked pretty good except the Newcastle game where his lack of speed was really exposed. Otherwise he hasn’t looked out of place in the Prem so far.
Plus that lazy jog to the corner flag to celebrate. Really disappointing.
He should have totally ran into the middle of three defenders, brought the ball down on his chest, nutmegged 2, shouldered one out of the way and then backheeled it into the upper 90. THAT would have been a suitable goal. None of this find the open space and clinically finish stuff.
As much as SI want to see NATS at the big dance, Jozy should learn from his Villareal days and be patient. At 22 he’s got all the time in the world and there’s lots for him to learn playing another season exactly where he is.
Ditto for our Germexicanos and Gersilians and Geraitians and Gernaians…. This is a country of immigrants and expats. You go back far enough and everyone either flew floated drove or walked to get here .
Podolski is headed there next season. With their current roster plus Dempsey and Podolski i worry how Dempsey would adapt to potentially coming on as a sub as opposed to always starting.
like it. adu instead of boyd though since dempsey, shea, and donovan can all be used as forwards. kljestan and whitbread definitely deserve spots
did you see how lazy he was camping out at the back post? i hope he never sees the field for the nats
There is also that David Bingham kid from San Jose who always gets called into camps, Cody Cropper who was in the League Championship in England, and of course Jurgen Klinsmann’s son
I often wonder that too. A player at a club in England may go on loan to a club in Greece or a player in Switzerland goes on loan to a club in the 2 Bundesliga. wouldn’t it be easier and cheaper to keep them in the same country? Maybe head to a lower division or smaller club?
Sounds reasonable. He’s picking up a decent salary just riding the bench for Everton. Though had he stayed at WOLVES, he’d be starting for them, just before they get relegated.
So basically Luis Robles is going to be bouncing around 2 Bundesliga clubs. And David Yelldell is no3 or no4 GK at Bayer Leverkeusen. At least he soaking up the checks.
so our upcoming GK’s are Sean Johnson, Bill Hamid and that McMath kid right? damn
whose got the odds on Dempsey heading to Arsenal? If not I definitely see him heading to a Spanish or Italian CL club
Altidore should do 2 more seasons at AZ than head to France or Italy
The photo background…How long has Wooten been in prison?
They have american fathers, want to play for our country and make us better. I like um.
At an Everton game (I am an Everton Fan and currently studying abroad in England) I talked to Hahnemann about going to the MLS. He said he wanted to go and thought he was going to. Apparently however, he was facing some difficulties with the allocation processes as a USA international and Seattle was not willing to force through a move. I still think he will move to MLS at the end of this year.
I’m somewhere in the 5 range. I love our Germericans, and as long as they wear the colors with pride, I welcome them with open arms.
I know! I’m getting really sick of Jozy scoring totally lame goals. He’s so lame. What a lamewad. We should cap those U-11s you were talking about.
Seems like American feelings on the German-Americans can be put in the following categories-
1) Anybody who can play for us, sign them up.
2) Whoever developed a player deserves them. We didn’t, we shouldn’t be allowed to use them.
3) Gut-check-only playing for the US because can’t play for Germany, don’t really want them to play for us because they’re not American enough.
4) Feel similar to 3, a bit uneasy, but have learned to accept it. Justify it by the proliferation of dual-nationals elsewhere.
5) Consider them to be American, their dads risked their lives for the US. See things like Jermaine Jones saluting after his goal or Danny Williams being so excited to play for the US as evidence that, while they obviously consider themselves more German than American(as they should), that doesn’t preclude them from ALSO feeling American.
GK-Howard, Guzan, Kennedy
Backs-Dolo, Chandler, Lichaj, Johnson, Gooch, Boca, Whitbread, Goodson
MF-Shea, Beasley, Donovan, Torres, Bradley, Jones, Edu, Dempsey, Kljestan
ST-Altidore, Gomez, Boyd
Kljestan, Boyd, and Whitbread are definitely the most questionable for various reasons.
That goal by Jozy shouldn’t even count he was wide open and headed it into a wide open net. The U11 at my local parks can do that. What he should had done was scorpion kick off the top of the goal then bicycle it in then maybe we can give him a rating 5/10 for that goal.
Roma is interested in altidore all over Italian media and u can see on americano google if u type jozy altidore Roma. Would be nice for toro he can help us
Terrifying foul that Dempsey suffered early in the highlights. Good lord.
Also, terrific placement from Jozy on his goal.
Random thoughts-
Wasn’t Hahnemann supposed to be in Seattle or Vancouver now?
Why is Rico in Norway? Seems like a strange place to land mid-career.
Good to see Chievo punch in above their weight.
The Tijuana connection is pretty cool.
Anyone know how well Ream is playing?
Bedoya and a couple others are in over their heads, but I expect Guzan to start at a mid table club in a major league next year.
really cool to hear the AZ Fans singing “Born In The USA” after Jozy’s goal. Who could have thought a Haitian American would be introducing Amsterdamn to Springsteen. (Jokes)