Josh Gatt's first foray into the UEFA Champions League was a rousing success.
Gatt's Molde FK topped Latvian side FK Ventspils 3-0 in the first leg of their second qualifying round tie, taking a big advantage heading into next Tuesday's road leg.
Gatt, who scored his fourth league goal of the season over the weekend, started and went the distance for Molde, which coasted courtesy of two goals by Davy Claude Agnan and a penalty kick from Vegard Forren.
For Gatt and Molde to reach the group stage of the Champions League, they would need to get by Ventspils and two more qualifying rounds.
Here are a couple of more stories from around the soccer world:
SPAIN TOPS MEXICO IN PRE-OLYMPIC FRIENDLY
Two of the top contenders for Olympic soccer glory got a glimpse at what the other is bringing to the table in a high-profile friendly Wednesday.
Spain's Under-23 national team defeated Mexico's 1-0 at Estadio Ramon de Carranza in Cadiz, Spain, in a tune-up match for both sides that have medal aspirations.
Javi Martinez scored the lone goal off a header from a 13th-minute corner kick, and David de Gea earned the clean sheet for Spain, which is looking for Olympic gold on the heels of winning the U-21 and senior European championships in the last year. Mexico, meanwhile, is looking to continue its success on the youth level, winning the FIFA U-17 World Cup and finishing third in the U-20 World Cup last year.
MANCHESTER UNITED WINS FRIENDLY
Manchester United kicked off its preseason in South Africa, getting a goal from 2010 MLS All-Star Game MVP Federico Macheda in a 1-0 victory over AmaZulu.
Macheda finished off a through ball from Dimitar Berbatov, who is playing with the club despite rampant reports that he is going to be transferred elsewhere. The two were some of the more notable starters for the Red Devils, along with Javier Hernandez, Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Rio Ferdinand and goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard.
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How much damage do you think Molde can do in the Champions League? Do you think Spain will win the Olympic gold? How do you see Mexico faring in the Olympics? Think Macheda could be an impact player if given the playing time in the Premier League?
Share your thoughts below.
There is still SIX weeks left in this current transfer window. If he keeps playing awesome he might get a ticket up this year. Molde sold an attacking winger last year for 2.1m Lbs. I bet they would part with Gatt for 2.5m…I guess they might want more if the potential buyer is a moneybags EPL team.
seconded.
My understanding from a Euro based journo who explain it to me is that Europeans refer to their u21 as u19, since thats the age they start their process. So they will refer to their u23 as u21. So I think it was their u21, maybe.
Correct.
i thought spain won the uefa u19 title?
Yeah, he’s been flat out dominant at times the few games I’ve seen this year. Still needs to work on a bunch of stuff but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if a team in a bigger league attempts to buy low on him right now. Weird circumstance, but I had a dream recently that Aston Villa purchased him…they could certainly use more attacking options. What is my life becoming when I dream of transers of random U.S. players?
if he keeps playing like he is now, I can see a team grabbing him in the midseason transfer period.
That was a spectacular fail. Probably happened becasue about 5 minutes before Gatt failed to see Angan on the cross, but he was no where near as open as Gatt was. It was a 1 yard sitter.
Can;t say enough about his pace. There were multiple instances he took on multiple defenders. 1v3 1v5… There was one where he slalomed through about 6 guys and laid a perfect pass that was almost a goal.
Should be in lineup for Mexico if at all possible.
Josh Gatt will have a very interesting season if Molde make it through the play off round. I really hope so. If he does well this season, plays well and scores some goals, next summer you can be sure he will be heading to a bigger league.
How many American played in last years CL? How many will play this year?
Gatt completely bossed the first half of this game. He was the best player on the pitch and all of Molde’s best moves came through him. The striker had a one on one with the keeper where an extremely simple pass would’ve led to a tap in for Gatt but instead he shot in missed (all of his teammates, and the announcers went crazy afterwards).
They’re still in qualifying rounds. Playoff round starts at the end of that.
Participating in the playoff rounds is e2M. Making the group stage gets another e4m or so, plus per-game/performance payouts.
So, nothing for a while, as far as I can tell.
What’s the payoff like in these early CL qualifying rounds?
Hahaha, that is exactly what I thought to myself when the article popped up
this must be the only photo of Josh Gatt that exists.