photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
As far as season finales go, DaMarcus Beasley could not have had a much better performance to close out his first year in Mexico.
Beasley capped his season with Puebla with a Man of the Match-worthy outing, playing a pivotal role in the club overcoming a one-goal deficit to defeat Tigres UANL, 2-1. Beasley assisted on the equalizer in the 83rd minute with a gorgeous cross from the left flank before partaking in the sequence that resulted in the winner in the 87th. Beasley finished the Clausura campaign with five goals and two assists, and all but one of those contributions have come since March 10.
Eric Lichaj also continued his string of solid outings in Aston Villa's 0-0 draw with West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, starting and going the distance in his seventh consecutive match for the Villans. Unfortunately for Aston Villa, the result kept them winless in the last eight games and only three points above relegation.
Far from their league's respective drop zone, Schalke 04 booked their place in next season's Champions League with a 4-0 thrashing of Hertha Berlin. Jermaine Jones contributed to Schalke's victory by playing 85 minutes in the game that saw him earn his 14th yellow card of the season.
Here is how the Americans Abroad did this weekend:
ENGLAND
Premiership
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made two saves in Everton's 4-0 win vs. Fulham on Saturday.
- Marcus Hahnemann did not dress for Everton.
- Clint Dempsey started and played 90 minutes in Fulham's 4-0 loss vs. Everton on Saturday.
- Brad Friedel started and played 90 minutes in Tottenham Hotspur's 2-0 win vs. Blackburn Rovers on Sunday.
- Brad Guzan dressed but did not play in Aston Villa's 0-0 draw vs. West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
- Eric Lichaj started and played 90 minutes for Aston Villa.
- Tim Ream started and played 90 minutes in Bolton Wanderers's 2-2 draw vs. Sunderland 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 3-0 loss vs. Liverpool on Saturday. He is recovering from a groin injury.
- Adam Henley did not dress in Blackburn Rovers' 2-0 loss vs. Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Championship
- Jonathan Spector did not dress in Birmingham City's 2-0 win vs. Reading on Saturday. He is recovering from a thigh injury.
- Conor Doyle did not dress in Derby County's 1-1 draw vs. Peterborough United on Saturday. He is recovering from a hamstring injury.
- Robbie Findley did not dress in Nottingham Forest's 2-0 win vs. Portsmouth on Saturday.
- Robbie Rogers did not dress in Leeds United's 2-1 loss vs. Leicester City on Saturday. He is recovering from an ankle injury.
League One
- Frank Simek started and played 90 minutes in Carlisle United's 4-1 win vs. Exeter City on Saturday.
- Anton Peterlin did not dress in Walsall's 1-1 draw vs. Huddersfield Town on Saturday.
- Mike Grella started and played 84 minutes in Bury's 0-0 draw vs. Oldham Athletic on Saturday.
SCOTLAND
- Maurice Edu started and played 90 minutes in Rangers' 3-0 loss vs. Celtic on Sunday.
- 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. Rangers on Sunday.
ITALY
- Michael Bradley started and played 90 minutes in Chievo Vorona's 0-0 draw vs. Cagliari on Saturday.
GERMANY
Bundesliga
- Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96's 1-0 loss vs. Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
- Jermaine Jones started, played 85 minutes and received a yellow card in Schalke 04's 4-0 win vs. Hertha Berlin on Saturday.
- Timmy Chandler started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in FC Nurnberg's 3-2 win vs. TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Saturday.
- Fabian Johnson started and played 90 minutes in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim's 3-2 loss vs. FC Nurnberg on Saturday.
- Danny Williams did not dress for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. He is recovering from a shoulder injury.
- Joe Gyau did not dress for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
- Terrence Boyd did not dress in Borussia Dortmund's 5-2 win vs. Kaiserslautern on Saturday.
- Alfredo Morales did not dress in Hertha Berlin's 4-0 loss vs. Schalke 04 on Saturday.
- David Yelldell did not dress in Bayer Leverkusen's 1-0 win vs. Hannover 96 on Saturday.
- Andrew Wooten started and played 90 minutes in Kaiserslautern's 5-2 loss vs. Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.
2. BUNDESLIGA
- Luis Robles did not dress in Karlsruher SC's 1-0 loss vs. Alemannia Aachen on Sunday.
- Bobby Wood did not dress in TSV 1860 Munich's 2-0 win vs. Eintracht Franfkurt on Sunday.
- Matt Taylor dressed but did not play in SC Paderborn 07's 1-0 win vs. FSV Frankfurt on Sunday.
- Villyan Bijev did not dress in Fortuna Dusseldorf's 1-1 draw vs. SpVgg Greuther Furth on Sunday.
FRANCE
- Quentin Westberg and Evian Thonon Gaillard did not play this weekend.
- Charlie Davies did not dress in Sochaux's 3-0 loss vs. Bordeaux on Sunday.
NETHERLANDS
- Jozy Altidore started and played 85 minutes in AZ Alkmaar's 1-0 loss vs. Feyenoord Rotterdam on Sunday.
PORTUGAL
- Oguchi Onyewu and Sporting CP play Academica de Coimbra on Monday.
RUSSIA
- Eugene Starikov did not dress in Zenit St Petersburg's 2-1 win vs. Dynamo Moscow on Saturday.
BELGIUM
- Sacha Kljestan did not dress in RSC Anderlecht's 4-0 win vs. Racing Genk in the Pro League playoffs on Friday. He was suspended due to yellow card accumulation.
- Mikkel Diskerud did not dress in KAA Gent's 2-1 win vs. Club Brugge in the Pro League playoffs on Saturday.
DENMARK
- Michael Parkhurst started and played 90 minutes in FC Nordsjaelland's 5-3 win vs. AGF Aarhus on Saturday.
- Clarence Goodson started and played 90 minutes in Brondby IF's 3-3 draw vs. SonderjyskE on Sunday.
- Conor O'Brien started and played 90 minutes in SonderjyskE's 3-3 draw vs. Brondby IF 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 1-1 draw vs. Helsingborg on Friday.
NORWAY
- Josh Gatt dressed but did not play in Molde FK's 2-1 loss vs. Sogndal on Saturday.
- Steve Clark started and played 90 minutes in Honefoss BK's 0-0 draw vs. Tromso on Saturday.
- Ricardo Clark did not dress in Stabaek IF's 2-0 loss vs. Odd Grenland on Saturday. He was suspended due to yellow card accumulation.
- Sean Cunningham started and played 90 minutes for Stabaek IF.
MEXICO
- Jose Torres started, played 90 minutes and had an ASSIST in Pachuca's 3-1 win vs. Chivas de Guadalajara on Saturday.
- Herculez Gomez dressed but did not play in Santos Laguna's 3-1 win vs. Atlas on Saturday.
- DaMarcus Beasley started, played 90 minutes, had an ASSIST and helped set up another goal in Puebla's 2-1 win vs. Tigres UANL on Saturday.
- Sonny Guadarrama did not dress in Atlante's 3-0 loss vs. Monterrey on Saturday.
- Jonathan Bornstein did not dress in Tigres UANL's 2-1 loss vs. Puebla on Saturday.
- Adrian Ruelas did not dress in Jaguares de Chiapas' 1-0 win vs. Morelia on Saturday.
- Michael Orozco Fiscal started and played 90 minutes in San Luis' 2-1 loss vs. Toluca on Sunday.
- Edgar Castillo started and played 90 minutes in Club Tijuana's 1-1 draw vs. Pumas UNAM on Sunday.
- Joe Corona started and played 90 minutes Club Tijuana.
- Greg Garza started and played 45 minutes Club Tijuana.
——-
What do you think of these performances? Hope Beasley gets called in for the upcoming friendlies and World Cup qualifiers? Think Lichaj and Aston Villa will avoid dropping into the relegation zone? More surprised by Schalke reaching the Champions League, or that Jones' yellow card was his 14th of the season?
Share your thoughts below.