By FRANCO PANIZO
Everton’s stranglehold on Group 5 did not get tighter, but the club is still sitting pretty after grabbing another result on the road.
The Toffees remained atop their UEFA Europa League group after the third round of matches on Thursday, securing a valuable point in a scoreless draw at French club Lille. Tim Howard helped Everton stay undefeated at the midway point of their group stage campaign, making three saves to record his first cleansheet of the 2014-15 competition. The Premiership club now looks like a good bet to advance, as two of their final three matches in this phase of the tournament are at home.
While Howard and Everton’s chances of moving in the Champions League were raised, Jose Torres made sure his team stayed alive in their respective tournament. Torres scored a superb game-winner on Wednesday by bending a free kick into the top near corner of Tigres’ 2-0 Copa MX quarterfinals win against Toluca. The goal was his first of the season.
There was another positive development in England’s second division, as Emerson Hyndman started and played 73 minutes in Fulham’s 3-3 draw with Rotherham United on Tuesday. The appearance was Hyndman’s first in about a month, and ended a three-game spell of inactivity for the young midfielder.
Here is how the Americans Abroad performed during the midweek action:
ENGLAND
Premiership
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made three saves in Everton’s 0-0 draw vs. Lille in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday.
- Brad Friedel did not dress in Tottenham Hotspur’s 5-1 win vs. Asteras Tripolis in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday.
Championship
- Will Packwood dressed but did not play in Birmingham City’s 1-0 loss vs. Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday.
- Brek Shea did not dress for Birmingham City.
- Jonathan Spector did not dress for Birmingham City. He is recovering from a thigh injury.
- Tim Ream came off the bench and played nine minutes in Bolton Wanderers’ 2-1 loss vs. Charlton Athletic on Tuesday.
- Eric Lichaj started and played 90 minutes in Nottingham Forest’s 2-2 draw vs. Watford on Tuesday.
- Danny Williams did not dress in Reading’s 3-0 loss vs. AFC Bournemouth on Tuesday.
- Emerson Hyndman started and played 73 minutes in Fulham’s 3-3 draw vs. Rotherham United on Tuesday.
- Zak Whitbread dressed but did not play in Derby County’s 1-0 win vs. Blackpool on Tuesday.
GERMANY
Bundesliga
- Fabian Johnson dressed but did not play in Borussia Moenchengladbach’s 5-0 win vs. Apollon Limassol in the UEFA Europa League on Wednesday.
- David Yelldell did not dress in Bayer Leverkusen’s 2-0 win vs. Zenit St Petersburg in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.
- Joe Gyau did not dress in Borussia Dortmund’s 4-0 win vs. Galatasaray in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
BELGIUM
- Sacha Kljestan dressed but did not play in RSC Anderlecht’s 2-1 loss vs. Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.
MEXICO
- Edgar Castillo started and played 120 minutes in Atlas’ 4-3 penalty kick shootout win after a 0-0 draw vs. Puebla in the Copa MX quarterfinals on Wednesday.
- Michael Orozco did not dress in Puebla’s 4-3 penalty kick shootout loss after a 0-0 draw vs. Atlas in the Copa MX quarterfinals on Wednesday.
- Jose Torres started, played 90 minutes and scored a GOAL in Tigres UANL’s 2-0 win vs. Toluca in the Copa MX quarterfinals on Wednesday.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOUFAqr8zrs]
- Herculez Gomez started and played 90 minutes for Tigres UANL.
- Ventura Alvarado dressed but did not play in Club America’s 2-0 win vs. Comunicaciones in the CONCACAF Champions League on Tuesday.
—–
What do you think of these performances? How impressed have you been by Rubin this season? Surprised to not see Altidore, Shea and Green receive minutes for their clubs?
Share your thoughts below.
Anyone know what up with Shea? Haven’t seen him in a short while.
there was a game in which after he came on, they gave up two goals. he hasn’t played since, I don’t believe. don’t know if that’s a coincidence.
Check it out, he comes on at halftime against Fulham with Brum up 1:0. They end up losing 2:1 http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29289509
He doesn’t even dress against Millwall in the subsequent game (which Brum win): http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29289509
And again doesn’t dress against Charlton in the game after that: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29388530
All of this happened between late September and early October. They were already out of the League Cup by then.
He was demoted to the developmental squad and has been playing with the U21s including 90 minutes this week. No goals or assists to my knowledge. Not for nothing but Birmingham is crap and it says something that neither Shea or Packwood are getting minutes on the first team. We’ll see what happens when a new manager comes in.
At least Packwood is dressing (and is three years younger). Shea is more concerning…
I’ll tell you what (and anyone who’s watched Shea from his beginnings will tell you the same thing), the guy never fully developed at his time with FC Dallas. He was still inconsistent in MLS and when he left still couldn’t put in a cross continently, nor could he take players one on one consistently, as he tends to run short on ideas pretty quickly and tends to act on moves with the move in mind instead of reacting to the defender.
He’s been figured out and will rot on the benches until he returns to MLS and Dallas, gets signed to a DP contract by Dan Hunt because he’ll go over the top of Oscar Pereja, then will ultimately fan out similarly to Kenny Cooper and get bounded around the league until he retires and does his “art” thing in Dallas for as long as he can until people stop noticing his novelty, junk on canvas
So you’re saying he’s the Todd Marinovich of American soccer.
Some guys just never learn how to train properly and fight their way into a lineup. This is much harder with many European managers who have certain specific expectations of what they want to see in training. Even in MLS, Hyndman benched him on several different occasions. I think he’s like Adu in that regard. He’s just bad on the training pitch.