By FRANCO PANIZO
Clint Dempsey is officially a thorn in Manchester United’s side.
For the second time this season, Dempsey punished Manchester United by scoring a vital goal for Tottenham on Sunday. Dempsey, who scored the winner the last time these two teams met in September, donned the hero’s cape by tucking away a 93rd-minute shot from close range to give Spurs a 1-1 draw inside of a snowy White Hart Lane. The goal was Dempsey’s fifth in the Premiership and seventh in all competitions this season.
Jozy Altidore also found the back of the net this weekend, scoring a hat-trick in AZ Alkmaar’s 4-1 win against Vitesse Arnhem on Saturday. Altidore netted all three goals in a span of 22 minutes in the second half and now has 14 goals in league play and 18 across all competitions this season. The hat-trick was Altidore’s second of the campaign.
A pair of players also made their respective debuts for their new clubs. Maurice Edu came off the bench and played 25 minutes in Bursaspor’s 2-1 triumph over Kayserispor on Saturday afternoon, and Jose Torres started and played 71 minutes as Tigres UANL defeated Atlas, 1-0, on Saturday night.
Here’s how the Americans Abroad did this weekend:
ENGLAND
Premiership
- Tim Howard and Everton play Southampton on Monday.
- Brad Friedel dressed but did not play in Tottenham’s 1-1 draw vs. Manchester United on Sunday.
- Clint Dempsey started, played 90 minutes and scored a GOAL for Tottenham.
- Brad Guzan started, played 90 minutes and made four saves in Aston Villa’s 2-2 draw vs. West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
- Eric Lichaj came off the bench, played 85 minutes and received a yellow card for Aston Villa.
- Geoff Cameron started and played 90 minutes in Stoke City’s 3-1 loss vs. Swansea City on Saturday.
- Sebastian Lletget did not dress in West Ham United’s 1-1 draw vs. Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
Championship
- Tim Ream started and played 90 minutes in Bolton Wanderers’ 0-0 draw vs. Crystal Palace on Saturday.
- Stuart Holden did not dress for Bolton Wanderers.
- Jonathan Spector did not dress in Birmingham City’s 2-2 draw vs. Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday. He is recovering from an injury.
- Will Packwood did not dress for Birmingham City. He is recovering from a leg injury.
- Conor Doyle did not dress in Derby County’s 1-1 draw vs. Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
- Zak Whitbread did not dress in Leicester City’s 1-0 win vs. Middlesbrough on Friday. He is recovering from an injury.
League One
- Frank Simek and Carlisle United’s game vs. Crawley Town on Saturday was postponed due to the field being frozen.
- Mike Grella and Scunthorpe United’s game vs. Portsmouth on Saturday was postponed due to the field being frozen.
SPAIN
La Liga
- Oguchi Onyewu did not dress in Malaga CF’s 1-1 draw vs. Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Segunda Division
- Carlos Bocanega started and played 90 minutes in Racing Santander’s 1-0 loss vs. Las Palmas on Saturday.
ITALY
- Michael Bradley started, played 90 minutes and drew a penalty kick in AS Roma’s 1-1 draw vs. Inter Milan on Sunday.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frAPddG9wD4?feature=player_detailpage]
GERMANY
Bundesliga
- Steve Cherundolo did not dress in Hannover 96’s 5-4 loss vs. Schalke 04 on Friday. He is recovering from knee pains.
- Jermaine Jones did not dress in Schalke 04’s 5-4 win vs. Hannover 96 on Friday. He is serving a suspension.
- Fabian Johnson started and played 90 minutes in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim’s 0-0 draw vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday.
- Danny Williams came off the bench and played 54 minutes for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
- Timmy Chandler started and played 65 minutes in FC Nurnberg’s 1-1 draw vs. Hamburg SV on Sunday.
- David Yelldell did not dress in Bayer Leverkusen’s 3-1 win vs. Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
- Michael Parkhurst dressed but did not play in FC Augsburg’s 3-2 win vs. Fortuna Dusseldorf on Sunday.
NETHERLANDS
- Jozy Altidore started, played 90 minutes and scored THREE GOALS in AZ Alkmaar’s 4-1 win vs. Vitesse Arnhem on Saturday.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aqp90BHxR0?feature=player_detailpage&w=600&h=360]
PORTUGAL
- Tony Taylor did not dress in G.D. Estoril Praia’s 2-1 loss vs. Gil Vicente on Sunday.
- Caleb Patterson-Sewell dressed but did not play in Vitoria Setubal’s 4-1 loss vs. Braga on Sunday.
- Maurice Edu came off the bench and played 25 minutes in Bursaspor’s 2-1 win vs. Kayserispor on Saturday.
BELGIUM
- Sacha Kljestan and RSC Anderlecht’s game vs. Zulte-Waregem on Saturday was postponed due to inclement weather.
MEXICO
- Herculez Gomez started and played 90 minutes in Santos Laguna’s 2-1 loss vs. Puebla on Sunday.
- Hector Joya did not dress for Santos Laguna.
- Jose Torres started and played 71 minutes in Tigres UANL’s 1-0 win vs. Atlas on Saturday.
- Jonathan Bornstein did not dress for Tigres UANL.
- Edgar Castillo started and played 90 minutes in Club Tijuana’s 2-1 win vs. Pumas UNAM on Sunday.
- Joe Corona did not dress for Club Tijuana.
- Greg Garza did not dress for Club Tijuana.
- DaMarcus Beasley came off the bench and played 20 minutes in Puebla’s 2-1 win vs. Santos Laguna on Sunday.
- Michael Orozco Fiscal started and played 45 minutes for Puebla.
- Ventura Alvarado did not dress in Club America’s 4-0 win vs. Atlante on Saturday.
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What do you think of these performances? Impressed with Dempsey’s late-game heroics? Which of Altidore’s three goals did you like the best?
Share your thoughts below.
Why did Stu not play?
Shhhh! Listen! Do you hear it?
Yep, it’s the sound of the Clint Dempsey haters weeping their a**es off today about Dempsey’s late heroics yesterday to steal points from Man U and to bolster Tottenham’s hopes to win a ticket to next year’s Champions League. Luckily for them, their eyes are so filled with tears they aren’t able to see the great photo above of Dempsey celebrating the great goal. Plus, they aren’t able to read the headlines splashed all over the British soccer press today lauding Dempsey’s performance and what it means to the Man U vs Man City title chase.
It’s okay, they are still talking about the super easy goals he missed and how he should have had 4 hat tricks and how he could have saved a cat from a tree outside the Lane but didn’t get it done.
Actually, a lot of the British press is not very impressed by his performance, so there is that.
Dempsey/Altidore 2028
A couple of my friends are studying abroad in the Netherlands. Wishing to see Jozy play they started tweeting him and Jozy responded by paying for 12 tickets for them to go to the game. On top of that he scored a hat trick and met up with them at the stadium after the game. Cheers to Jozy for making my friends experience in the Netherlands! Class act in my book
If this is true, and I don’t see why you’d make it up, that is an awesome story.
I thought Bradley had a great game. He set up what should have been 2 more goals with great passes, and he did his usual job of patrolling the midfield and breaking up plays.
im really stoked about Bradley at Roma. still looks awkward in goal celebrations, as if he isnt as affectionate as his Italiano teammates. He always does a quick pat on the back half-hug.
Wow, that Bradley penalty is a little embarrassing, for the Italian refs, were they fooled by the fact that bradley didnt dive
His name is Clint Dempsey…….
5 league goals for Spurs. Maybe he finishes with 10 for the season. He needs to score more in the Europa League
I believe he had 6 at the halfway point last season.
Ended with 17 on a team with far less talent around him. 23 across all competitions.
Absolutely astonishing how much people still doubt Dempsey.
Lol haven’t heard that in a minute.
Totti’s penalty was hard core. He drilled that thing into the upper corner.
ripped the back of the net
Bobby Wood scored a nice goal for 1860 Munich but apparently that was a friendly…
Thanks for the update! Wood’s story is very inspirational for those players struggling.
Dempsey had a cape? How about Depsey had a tap in and a howler! He missed two sitters that would have won the game befor needing a last minute goal to tie. I’m a big Dempsey fan and glad to see him score but as a Man U fan I’m bummed to lose two points, deserved or not.
Yeah, Dempsey playing really poorly outside of the goal, which obviously goes a long way toward redemption for the day, but it does nothing for him long term if he continues to struggle.
Calling those two sitters is pretty crazy.
agreeance…i’d like to see the new definition of “sitter” . Get a grip dude.
Those weren’t sitters considering the conditions angles etc. a sitter is like a tap in from deflection.
You’re insane to call those sitters. De Gea made great saves on both.
every other human in the world thought they were great saves. Nice use of the vocabulary though.
Ok they weren’t “sitters”. But can we all agree he wasn’t wearing a cape?
Nope
It’s okay to be wrong.
I’ve been wrong here before and have admitted it. Ives can attest to that. But I just don’t equate working hard to wearing a cape.
He wasn’t the only Spur to miss a “sitter.” It’s part of the game. If Spurs finished about half their chances it could have been a 3-1 win.
I can’t believe that you would let your United fandom trump your appreciation for an American (let alone THIS American) scoring a game-tying goal at the death against a league leader.
Dempsey worked TREMENDOUSLY hard off the ball and was unlucky to get the ball stuck under his feet on the De Gea save.
Tell your friends / family members in Manchester that it’s gonna be okay. As a ‘Mafia Original’ you should be elated that Dempsey Fergie’d Fergie!
your perspective is revealed, thanks Original
insight would have been to acknowledge how hard he worked all game–and he worked hard all game, kept getting kudos for it from the announcing team. And that his hard work ultimately paid off in extra time as he was, again, in position to score an important goal.
gave ManU what ManU has been giving teams all season, a late dagger to the heart
MOTM was Lennon tho imo, the man all game for Spurs
stoppage time, not extra 🙂
MB pen looked and smelled a little sour. Coulda just been the odor of Totti rolling up his sleeve to flex.
Dempsey should have had a had trick.
i though edu looked decent in his substitute shift for not having been there at all