Photo by ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
Oguchi Onyewu may have had to wait longer than he would have liked to earn his first start with Malaga, but he made the most of it on Wednesday.
A week after making his Malaga debut by coming off the bench in a Champions League game, Onyewu started and went the distance for the club in a 4-3 Copa del Rey win against third-division side Cacereno. Onyewu got Malaga off to a dream start, scoring his first goal for the club in the opening minutes of an entertaining Round of 32 match.
Terrence Boyd was the other American to find the back of the net. Boyd netted the goal that saved Rapid Vienna from defeat in the OFB-Samsung-Cup, scoring the equalizer against Rheindorf Altach for his ninth goal across all competitions this season. Vienna went on to win the third round match, 4-2, in extra time.
Clint Dempsey and Tottenham’s day was not anywhere near as good. In fact, it was downright awful. Spurs suffered a 2-1 loss to Norwich City in the fourth round of the Capital One Cup, surrendering two late goals to the Canaries. Making matters worse was that Dempsey had a chance to equalize through an 89th-minute penalty kick, but his shot was saved and Tottenham was eliminated from the tournament.
Here is how the Americans Abroad who were involved in games on Wednesday fared:
CAPITAL ONE CUP
- Clint Dempsey started, played 90 minutes and missed a potentially game-tying penalty kick in Tottenham’s 2-1 loss vs. Norwich City.
- Brad Friedel did not dress for Tottenham.
COPA DEL REY
- Oguchi Onyewu started, played 90 minutes, received a yellow card and scored a GOAL in Malaga’s 4-3 win vs. Cacereno.
SERIE A
- Michael Bradley started and played 67 minutes in Roma’s 3-2 loss vs. Parma.
DFB POKAL
- Steve Cherundolo started and played 120 minutes in Hannover’s 4-3 penalty kick win (after a 1-1 draw) vs. Dynamo Dresden.
- David Yelldell dressed but did not play in Bayer Leverkusen’s 3-2 win vs. Arminia Bielefeld.
- Joe Gyau started and played 90 minutes in St Pauli’s 3-0 loss vs. VfB Stuttgart.
- Terrence Boyd started, played 120 minutes and scored a GOAL in Rapid Vienna’s 4-2 win over Rheindorf Altach.
ALLSVENSKAN
- Alejandro Bedoya started and played 90 minutes in Helsinborg’s 2-0 win vs. IFK.
- Brian Span did not dress in Djurgarden’s 1-1 draw vs. Syrianska FC.
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What do you think of these performances? Do you see Onyewu becoming a regular starter for Malaga in the near future? How many more goals do you see Boyd scoring this season? Surprised Dempsey missed the penalty kick given how clutch he has proven to be in the past?
Share your thoughts below.