By FRANCO PANIZO
If Aron Johannsson keeps this up, Jozy Altidore’s record of goals scored in a European season by an American will be in serious danger.
Johannsson notched his sixth goal across all competitions on Sunday, converting a game-winning penalty kick that he drew in AZ Alkmaar’s 3-0 triumph against Go Ahead Eagles. Johannsson still has plenty of work to do to come anywhere near Altidore’s 31 goals from last season, but the AZ forward’s start the season has given him as good a chance as any, especially when considering that there are still more than eight months of the season to play.
Two other Americans in good form found the back of the net this weekend. Sacha Kljestan scored the second of RSC Anderlecht’s five goals in a shutout victory over KV Mechelen on Saturday, giving him five on the season across all competitions. Terrence Boyd made up for a missed penalty kick in Rapid Vienna’s 4-0 win vs. FC Wacker Innsbruck on Saturday by netting a second-half insurance goal that raised his season total to five across all competitions as well.
Jozy Altidore had apparently joined in on the scoring fun on Saturday, but he had an impressive equalizing goal taken away from him by the referee in Sunderland’s 3-1 loss to Arsenal. Altidore did well to fight off defender Bacary Sagna, who was draped all over him, before slipping a shot over the goal line from a tight angle. It did not count, however, as main official Martin Atkinson surprisingly chose not to play the advantage and whistled for a free kick instead, a decision that helped Arsenal put the game out of reach with an insurance goal from Aaron Ramsey.
On the other side of the spectrum, Tim Howard helped lead Everton to a surprise win over Chelsea on Saturday. Howard put in a good shift in goal in the match that gave the Toffees their first win of the season, recording his third straight cleansheet of the campaign with six saves in the 1-0 triumph at Goodison Park.
Here is how the Americans Abroad performed this weekend:
ENGLAND
Premiership
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made six saves in Everton’s 1-0 win vs. Chelsea on Saturday.
- Jozy Altidore started, played 90 minutes and had a goal negated by a late foul call in Sunderland’s 3-1 loss vs. Arsenal on Saturday.
- Geoff Cameron started and played 90 minutes in Stoke City’s 0-0 draw vs. Manchester City on Saturday.
- Maurice Edu did not dress for Stoke City. He is recovering from a sports hernia.
- Brek Shea did not dress for Stoke City.
- Brad Guzan started, played 90 minutes and made six saves in Aston Villa’s 2-1 loss vs. Newcastle United on Saturday.
- Brad Friedel dressed but did not play in Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-0 win vs. Norwich City on Saturday.
Championship
- Jonathan Spector started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Birmingham City’s 1-0 loss vs. Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
- Will Packwood did not dress for Birmingham City. He is recovering from a leg injury.
- Tim Ream started and played 90 minutes in Bolton Wanderers’ 1-0 loss vs. Leeds United on Saturday.
- Stuart Holden did not dress for Bolton Wanderers. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Zak Whitbread dressed but did not play in Leicester City’s 2-0 win vs. Wigan Athletic on Saturday.
- Eric Lichaj started and played 90 minutes in Nottingham Forest’s 3-2 win vs. Barnsley on Saturday.
- Danny Williams started and played 90 minutes in Reading’s 0-0 draw vs. Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
ITALY
- Michael Bradley and AS Roma play Parma on Monday.
GERMANY
Bundesliga
- Fabian Johnson started and played 90 minutes in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim’s 2-1 win vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach on Sunday.
- Joe Gyau did not dress for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
- Timmy Chandler started, played 90 minutes and had an ASSIST in FC Nurnberg’s 1-1 draw vs. TSV Eintracht Braunschweig on Sunday.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF0_pUWoeT4]
- Michael Parkhurst did not dress in FC Augsburg’s 2-1 win vs. SC Freiburg on Saturday.
- Jermaine Jones came off the bench and played 21 minutes in Schalke 04’s 1-0 win vs. Mainz on Saturday.
- Steve Cherundolo did not dress in Hannover 96′s 2-0 loss vs. Bayern Munich on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- John Brooks started and played 90 minutes in Hertha Berlin’s 1-0 loss vs. VfB Stuttgart on Friday.
2. Bundesliga
- Alfredo Morales started and played 90 minutes in FC Ingolstadt 04’s 1-0 loss vs. FC Union Berlin on Sunday.
- Andrew Wooten came off the bench and played 28 minutes in Kaiserslautern’s 1-0 loss vs. SV Sandhausen on Saturday.
- Bobby Wood dressed but did not play in TSV 1860 Munich’s 0-0 draw vs. VfR Aalen on Friday.
FRANCE
- Alejandro Bedoya started and played 75 minutes in FC Nantes’ 1-0 win vs. Sochaux on Saturday.
NETHERLANDS
- Aron Johannsson started, played 81 minutes and scored a GOAL via a penalty kick in AZ Alkmaar’s 3-0 win vs. Go Ahead Eagles on Sunday.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT2E9v-Z7Vw]
RUSSIA
- Eugene Starikov did not dress in FK Tom’ Tomsk’s 2-2 draw vs. Anzhi Makhachkala on Sunday.
BELGIUM
- Sacha Kljestan started, played 90 minutes and scored a GOAL in RSC Anderlecht’s 5-0 win vs. KV Mechelen on Saturday.
DENMARK
AUSTRIA
- Terrence Boyd started, played 83 minutes, had a penalty kick saved and scored a GOAL in Rapid Vienna’s 4-0 win vs. FC Wacker Innsbruck on Saturday.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULKYo-eDq94?feature=player_embedded]
SWEDEN
- Brian Span and Djurgarden IF play Malmo FF on Monday.
NORWAY
- Mix Diskerud started and played 90 minutes in Rosenborg BK’s 1-0 loss vs. Tromso on Sunday.
- Josh Gatt did not dress in Molde FK’s 3-1 win vs. Aalesund on Friday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Ben Spencer did not dress for Molde FK.
- Ethan Horvath did not dress for Molde FK.
- Steve Clark started and played 90 minutes in Honefoss BK’s 1-0 loss vs. IK Start on Sunday.
MEXICO
- Michael Orozco started and played 90 minutes in Puebla’s 1-1 draw vs. Toluca on Sunday.
- DaMarcus Beasley started and played 64 minutes for Puebla.
- Jose Torres started and played 90 minutes in Tigres UANL’s 1-0 win vs. Cruz Azul on Saturday.
- Jonathan Bornstein did not dress for Tigres UANL.
- Edgar Castillo started and played 79 minutes in Club Tijuana’s 2-2 draw vs. Chivas de Guadalajara on Sunday.
- Joe Corona dressed but did not play for Club Tijuana.
- Greg Garza came off the bench and played 11 minutes for Club Tijuana.
- Paul Arriola came off the bench and played nine minutes for Club Tijuana.
- Herculez Gomez did not dress for Club Tijuana. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Joaquin Alonso Hernandez did not dress in Monterrey’s 1-0 win vs. Pachuca on Saturday.
BRAZIL
- Freddy Adu did not dress in Bahia’s 2-2 draw vs. Coritiba on Sunday.
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What do you think of these performances? Do you see Johannsson coming anywhere near Altidore’s scoring total from last season? What do you make of Atkinson’s decision to negate Altidore’s goal vs. Arsenal?
Share your thoughts below.