Photo by ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
Brad Guzan could not have asked for a much better season opener.
Kicking off the new Premiership campaign with a road test against Stoke City, Guzan posted a cleansheet en route to helping Aston Villa pick up a 1-0 victory on Saturday. The veteran goalkeeper made two saves in the match that saw Geoff Cameron surprisingly omitted from Stoke City’s game-day roster, and the Villans are now one of seven sides to have earned all three points on opening weekend in England’s top division.
Tim Howard and Jozy Altidore were not as fortunate. Both Howard and Altidore saw their respective clubs settle for 2-2 draws on Saturday, but the manner in which they came was entirely different. Howard and Everton frustratingly conceded a late goal to Leicester City to split the points at King Power Stadium while Altidore and Sunderland avoided defeat thanks to an 85th-minute equalizer from Sebastian Larsson. Howard started, went the distance and made one save for the Toffees, and Altidore came off the bench and played nine minutes for the Black Cats.
The search for the first win of the new campaign might go on for those two clubs, but it ended on Friday for Club Tijuana and Joe Corona played a part in making that happen. Corona was given the nod in the 2-1 triumph against Chiapas, and the 24-year-old midfielder played the entire 90 minutes to help Xolos snap their four-game winless start to the Liga MX Apertura season.
Another youngster who grabbed headlines was Under-20 U.S. Men’s National Team forward Rubio Rubin. The 18-year-old Rubin made his professional debut with Utrecht on Saturday, turning in a 90-minute shift that saw him credited with an assist in a 2-1 win over Willem II.
Here is how the Americans Abroad fared this weekend:
ENGLAND
Premiership
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made on save in Everton’s 2-2 draw vs. Leicester City on Saturday.
- Jozy Altidore came off the bench and played nine minutes in Sunderland’s 2-2 draw vs. West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
- Brad Guzan started, played 90 minutes and made two saves in Aston Villa’s 1-0 win vs. Stoke City on Saturday.
- Brad Friedel dressed but did not play in Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-0 win vs. West Ham United on Saturday.
- Geoff Cameron did not dress in Stoke City’s 1-0 loss vs. Aston Villa on Saturday.
- Brek Shea did not dress for Stoke City.
Championship
- Jonathan Spector started and played 90 minutes in Birmingham City’s 1-0 win vs. Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
- Will Packwood did not dress for Birmingham City.
- Tim Ream started and played 90 minutes in Bolton Wanderers’ 2-2 draw vs. Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
- Eric Lichaj came off the bench and played four minutes in Nottingham Forest’s 2-2 draw vs. Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.
- Danny Williams did not dress in Reading’s 1-0 win vs. Ipswich Town on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Duane Holmes did not dress in Huddersfield Town’s 3-1 loss vs. Cardiff City on Saturday.
- Emerson Hyndman started and played 90 minutes in Fulham’s 1-0 loss vs. Millwall on Saturday.
- Zak Whitbread dressed but did not play in Derby County’s 0-0 draw vs. Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
GERMANY
Bundesliga
- Fabian Johnson dressed but did not play in Borussia Moenchengladbach’s 3-1 win vs. FC 08 Homburg in DFB Pokal on Saturday.
- John Brooks dressed but did not play in Hertha Berlin’s 4-2 win vs. Viktoria Koln in DFB Pokal on Saturday.
- Timmy Chandler dressed but did not play in Eintracht Franfkurt’s 2-0 win vs. Viktoria Berlin in DFB Pokal on Saturday.
- David Yelldell did not dress in Bayer Leverkusen’s 6-0 win vs. SV Alemannia Waldalgesheim in DFB Pokal on Friday.
- Julian Green did not dress in Bayern Munich’s 4-1 win vs. Preussen Munster in DFB Pokal on Sunday.
2. Bundesliga
- Alfredo Morales and FC Ingolstadt 04 play OFC Kickers 1902 in DFB Pokal on Monday.
- Terrence Boyd did not dress in RB Leipzig’s 2-1 win vs. SC Paderborn 07 on Sunday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Bobby Wood started and played 84 minutes in TSV 1860 Munich’s 2-1 win vs. Holsten Kiel in DFB Pokal on Sunday.
- Andrew Wooten did not dress in SV Sandhausen’s 4-1 loss vs. Arminia Bielefeld in DFB Pokal on Sunday.
FRANCE
- Alejandro Bedoya came off the bench and played 18 minutes in FC Nantes’ 1-1 draw vs. Metz on Saturday.
NETHERLANDS
- Aron Johannsson did not dress in AZ Alkmaar’s 3-1 loss vs. Ajax on Sunday. He is recovering from an ankle injury.
- Rubio Rubin started, played 90 minutes and had an ASSIST in FC Utrecht’s 2-1 win vs. Willem II on Saturday.
BELGIUM
- Sacha Kljestan came off the bench and played 12 minutes in RSC Anderlecht’s 2-2 draw vs. KVC Westerlo on Sunday.
AUSTRIA
- Conor O’Brien did not dress in FC Magna Wiener Neustadt’s 3-0 loss vs. SV Grodig on Saturday.
NORWAY
- Mix Diskerud started and played 79 minutes in Rosenborg BK’s 3-1 loss vs. Brann on Sunday.
- Andrew Jacobson started and played 90 minutes in Stabaek IF’s 3-1 loss vs. Odd on Sunday.
- Michael Stephens started and played 87 minutes for Stabaek IF.
- Ethan Horvath did not dress in Molde FK’s 2-0 win vs. Sarpsborg 08 on Sunday.
- Josh Gatt did not dress for Molde FK. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Zarek Valentin did not dress in FK Bodo/Glimt’s 1-1 draw vs. Sandnes Ulf on Sunday. He is recovering from an Achilles injury.
SERBIA
- Freddy Adu did not play in FK Jagodina’s 3-0 loss vs. Crvena Zvezda on Saturday.
MEXICO
- Michael Orozco did not dress in Puebla’s 1-1 draw vs. Tigres UANL on Saturday. He was suspended due to the red card he received last week.
- Edgar Castillo started, played 90 minutes and drew the game-winning penalty kick in Atlas’ 1-0 win vs. Club Universidad de Guadalajara on Saturday.
- Jose Torres started and played 62 minutes in Tigres UANL’s 1-1 draw vs. Puebla on Saturday.
- Herculez Gomez came off the bench and played eight minutes for Tigres UANL.
- Ventura Alvarado did not dress in Club America’s 3-2 win vs. Morelia on Saturday.
- Jonathan Bornstein did not dress in Queretaro’s 0-0 draw vs. Veracruz on Friday.
- Joe Corona started and played 90 minutes in Club Tijuana’s 2-1 win vs. Jaguares de Chiapas on Friday.
- Alejandro Guido dressed but did not play for Club Tijuana.
- Greg Garza did not dress for Club Tijuana. He is recovering from a nose injury.
- Paul Arriola did not dress for Club Tijuana.
- Amando Moreno did not dress for Club Tijuana.
- Joaquin Alonso Hernandez dressed but did not play in Monterrey’s 3-1 win vs. Cruz Azul on Saturday.
- Gabriel Farfan did not dress in Jaguares de Chiapas’ 2-1 loss vs. Club Tijuana on Friday.
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What do you think of these performances? How do you see Guzan and the Villans faring this season? Impressed with Corona’s outing? Think Rubin is in store for a big season?
Share your thoughts below.