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Americans Abroad: Weekend Rewind

Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard

Photo by Joe Toth/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

Tim Howard and Everton just cannot stop riding the wave of good form they are currently on.

The Toffees picked up their latest victory of the Premiership season on Saturday, defeating Norwich City, 2-0, to finish the weekend in fifth place in the league standings. Howard made two saves in the game for Everton, who have now lost just once in their last 14 Premiership matches and are one point off of claiming the UEFA Champions League qualifier spot that England’s top tier possesses.

Sunderland may be nowhere near the high end of the league table, but they did take another step forward in their attempt to avoid relegation. The Black Cats handed Fulham a humbling 4-1 defeat to move into 19th place and one point away from safety in what was Clint Dempsey’s return match to the Premiership. Jozy Altidore played a part in the game’s final goal, drawing the penalty kick that Adam Johnson converted.

Michael Orozco also found a way to make an impact for his club. Orozco assisted on the equalizer in Puebla’s 1-1 draw with Monterrey on Sunday, hitting a sublime ball over the top that was nodded deftly into the back of the net. Orozco started and went the distance in the game while teammate DaMarcus Beasley lasted until the 76th minute before being removed.

Here is how the Americans Abroad performed this weekend:

ENGLAND

Premiership 

  • Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made two saves in Everton’s 2-0 win vs. Norwich City on Saturday.
  • Clint Dempsey started and played 79 minutes in Fulham’s 4-1 loss vs. Sunderland on Saturday.
  • Jozy Altidore came off the bench, played 24 minutes and drew a penalty kick in Sunderland’s 4-1 win vs. Fulham on Saturday.
  • Geoff Cameron started and played 90 minutes in Stoke City’s 5-3 loss vs. Liverpool on Sunday.
  • Maurice Edu did not dress for Stoke City.
  • Brad Guzan and Aston Villa play Arsenal on Monday.
  • Brad Friedel dressed but did not play in Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-0 win vs. Crystal Palace on Saturday.
  • Cody Cropper did not dress in Southampton’s 1-0 win vs. West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. He is recovering from an injury.
  • Sebastian Lletget did not dress in West Ham United’s 2-0 win vs. Cardiff City on Saturday.

Championship

  • Jonathan Spector did not dress in Birmingham City’s 1-0 loss vs. Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday. He is recovering from an injury.
  • Will Packwood dressed but did not play for Birmingham City.
  • Tim Ream started and played 90 minutes in Bolton Wanderers’ 1-1 draw vs. Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
  • Stuart Holden did not dress for Bolton Wanderers. He is recovering from a knee injury.
  • Zak Whitbread did not dress in Derby County’s 4-1 loss vs. Leicester City on Friday.
  • Eric Lichaj did not dress in Nottingham Forest’s 1-1 draw vs. Bolton Wanderers on Saturday. He is recovering from an injury.
  • Danny Williams started and played 90 minutes in Reading’s 1-0 win vs. Watford on Saturday.
  • Brek Shea and Barnsley’s match vs. Charlton Athletic on Saturday was postponed due to a waterlogged field.
  • Duane Holmes came off the bench and played 34 minutes in Huddersfield Town’s 1-0 win vs. Millwall on Saturday.
  • Gboly Ariyibi did not dress in Leeds United’s 6-0 loss vs. Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.

FRANCE

  • Alejandro Bedoya started and played 70 minutes in FC Nantes’ 1-0 win vs. Lorient on Sunday.

MEXICO

  • Michael Orozco started, played 90 minutes and had an ASSIST in Puebla’s 1-1 draw vs. Monterrey on Sunday.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8V6B8Qy2r8?feature=player_detailpage]

  • DaMarcus Beasley started and played 76 minutes for Puebla.
  • Jose Torres dressed but did not play in Tigres UANL’s 0-0 draw vs. Pachuca on Saturday.
  • Jonathan Bornstein did not dress in Atlante’s 2-1 loss vs. Veracruz on Saturday.
  • Edgar Castillo started and played 90 minutes in Club Tijuana’s 1-0 win vs. Club America on Friday.
  • Joe Corona started and played 80 minutes for Club Tijuana.
  • Herculez Gomez started and played 68 minutes for Club Tijuana.
  • Paul Arriola came off the bench, played 10 minutes and received a yellow card for Club Tijuana.
  • Greg Garza dressed but did not play for Club Tijuana.
  • Joaquin Alonso Hernandez did not dress in Monterrey’s 1-1 draw vs. Puebla on Sunday.

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What do you think of these performances? Do you see Howard and Everton earning a UEFA Champions League place this season? Impressed by Orozco’s assist?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Its funny how we still see Bornstein’s name up there…I can’t remember the last time it said he even dressed before this week. Definitely my least favorite USMNT of all time.

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  2. Now, I’m as big a Jozy fan as there is. But that dive for the PK was embarrassing. And worse than that, it shows a forward who has zero confidence in himself. Senderos was giving Altidore hell from the moment Jozy entered the game. (Jozy may have been unwise to get chippy with him; defenders are always going to win the physical battles.)

    Anyway, Altidore was fouled for sure, but if Senderos hadn’t been stupid enough to put out his leg, Jozy would have fallen to the carpet anyway. Made me cringe.

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  3. I would think Klinsmann would be on the phone with Bradley and possibly even Parkhurst, telling them to jump on the next plane to Brazil and join the USMNT camp. Just because they missed the first week isn’t any reason to not have them for the rest of the camp – especially Bradley. Is there any FIFA rule that says they can’t join late?

    Klinsmann said if guys weren’t playing he wanted them in camp and Parkhurst could certainly use the time to prove if he’s still worthy of consideration.

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  4. JK must have let it be known that sitting on the bench (no matter if it is a bench for a club in the best league in the world) is worse than any situation that includes major playing time. This return to MLS by numerous USMNT players has been exciting for fans of the domestic league, but I sure hope JK knows what he is doing ahead of Brazil.

    Reply
    • Klinsmann won the World Cup and the European championship with the German national team, scored 11 WC goals, won a UEFA championship with AC Milan, was voted among the best living soccer players of all time and, as manager, took Germany to third place in the 2006 WC. If he doesn’t know what he is doing, who would? Sometimes I think Americans forget just how good and important Klinsmann was and is.

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  5. Jozy with the hockey assist as well. Could have had that goal as well as he was sitting wide open on the back post (was Johnson a little gun shy about giving Jozy a sitter to put in?)

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    • Possible, SilverRey. Will say, no doubt about it, Adam Johnson against Fulham over the weekend and last week in the Cup against Man Ur was excellent, MOTM each game. But geez he is an egotistical prima donna. After he made his first goal with the excellent free kick against Fulham he starts hot dogging and pointing to himself (not at the Sunderland insignia but to himself). I am real happy that Johnson is picking up his game, but he needs to tone down his massive ego several levels.

      I will say that after Jozy won the PK, I was hoping Jozy would take the PK, but at the same time would have been worried that he would miss it and the last think Jozy needs right now is a missed PK. And prima donna Adam Johnson is an excellent PK taker.

      Reply
      • A lot of strikers are selfish and egotistical. Defoe is certainly selfish and Dempsey probably could have scored a couple of more goals last year if he wasn’t. One of the great things about Messi is that he isn’t all that selfish. Sometimes I think Altidore should be more selfish; he will pass off when he could turn and shoot.

  6. Why is Edu letting himself waste away? He could easily work his way into the lineup on a championship or mediocre French or Portuguese team.
    After the last world cup he seemed like a vital part of the next cycle or two.

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    • I was about to make a similar comment. Most analysts consider Celtic and old Rangers (before demotion) to be about the same quality as mid table EPL teams and he was a consistent starter for Rangers, so you figure he could start for some decent team. Staying in Turkey would have been better than not even dressing for Stoke. Don’t know why he hasn’t moved elsewhere; he certainly should.

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    • Don’t know but the move really comes at a pretty bad time as I guess he isn’t even even going to be in the US camp now. So most likely he’ll just have off the next 3 weeks or so before MLS camps start. I tried to defend the move saying of coarse he won’t somehow get worse by playing in MLS but if he has nearly a month off and then tries to get back up to speed it could be rough. I’m not even sure he ever really got back to his full sharpness since the injury to start with.

      Reply
      • John,

        Well, if he can’t then JK can just drop him.Did you follow Mikey at Roma this season?

        From what little I saw and the various reports I’ve read, his injury lost him a bunch of time. After he got healthy Roma was on a hot streak so they were probably a little loathe to fix what wasn’t broke and eventually it seemed like Mikey was reduced to playing when the starters got hurt or had card disease. And they bought a new midfielder who is similar to him.

        It seems to me if TFC had not come along Mikey probably would have moved elsewhere anyway. Had he moved to Hellas Verona, Bologna or Bayern Leverkusen, as has been rumored, that might have been useful but I don’t know if they were looking at him to be MB90 or MB30. And they probably weren’t going to give him a 600% salary increase. When you are a pro athlete with a short life expectancy these things matter.

        Mikey is a fine player but the most important qualities he brings to the USMNT are his fitness, his relentlessness, his drive, his confidence, the consistency of his play. These qualities should remain unchanged. If anything he should have a pretty big chip on his shoulder, which will help.

        Even if MB30 had remained at Roma as MB90 the USMNT were not going to make noise in Brazil based just on him alone. By the time WC2014 kicks off I don’t see this move as making all that much difference. If they want to make some noise the USMNT is going to have to come up with a monumental team effort and I expect them to.

        I think it is hilarious that a lot of the same people who were against Clint going on loan to Fulham now think Mikey will drop his form dramatically by moving to TFC.

      • Yeah I understand what his situation was at Roma. My point was really just that Bradley and Jones are the only guys in the US picture that’s not either playing or in this US camp right now. If the deal had gone through a week earlier Bradley could have at least been with other MLS guys. I guess its not really a big deal.

      • MLS games start in early March, so he’ll get some time off in January and get right back to it. Think of it this way: He’ll have two full months of games going into the World Cup, rather than being out of season/form going into WC camp.

      • He won’t really have that lengthy of a layoff.

        He’d been training (when healthy) from august to january. Now he’ll have 3 weeks off in january, then preseason in february. By june he’ll be in midseason form.

        By comparison, the other mls guys had 4 weeks off leading up the camp formerly known as cupcake (depending on when they were eliminated).

    • Theres a pretty clear split in the table. Only 6 points between 10th placed Hull and last placed Crystal Palace, while theres a greater gap between 9th and 10th of 7 points. Should be interesting with the entire bottom half in a relegation fight.

      Reply
    • I don’t count Stoke as part of that Battle. I mean we all know that Stoke will draw their way to safety. I don’t care who the manager is.

      Reply

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