By FRANCO PANIZO
Seven months after playing in his last competitive match and a week after seeing his new club’s season opener postponed, Freddy Adu stepped back on the field to begin what he hopes is a chapter of consistency.
Adu got the nod in Finnish club Kuopion Palloseura’s season opener against KTP on Sunday, starting on the right wing and playing 66 minutes to help his side to a 1-0 win. The appearance was Adu’s first since seeing time in a cup match for Serbian outfit FK Jagodina on Sept. 24, 2014, and just his second in any competition since July 21, 2013. It is sure to inject plenty of confidence in the 25-year-old Adu, who is aiming to bring stability to a career that many are still keenly following.
While Adu was acclimating to his KuPS teammates and new league, two other Americans made noteworthy contributions for their clubs. Aron Johannsson delivered an assist for the second straight week in AZ Alkmaar’s 3-1 victory against ADO Hen Daag on Saturday, and former MLS midfielder Cole Grossman came through in the clutch to lift Bob Bradley’s Stabaek IF to a 1-0 triumph against Viking. Grossman scored in the 87th minute of the Eliteserien match, giving him his first Stabaek goal and the club its first win of the season.
Another pair of Americans were involved in the FA Cup semifinals, but only one advanced to the championship game. Danny Williams and Reading were eliminated after suffering a heartbreaking 2-1 loss in extra time to Arsenal, while Brad Guzan and Aston Villa advanced with a 2-1 upset of Liverpool. Williams started and played well during the 120 minutes of action at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, and Guzan was an unused substitute for the Villans on Sunday.
Here is how the Americans Abroad performed this weekend:
ENGLAND
Premiership
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made one save in Everton’s 1-0 win vs. Burnley on Saturday.
- Brad Guzan dressed but did not play in Aston Villa’s 2-1 win vs. Liverpool in the FA Cup semifinals on Sunday.
- DeAndre Yedlin dressed but did not play in Tottenham Hotspur’s 3-1 win vs. Newcastle United on Sunday.
- Brad Friedel dressed but did not play for Tottenham Hotspur.
- Geoff Cameron started and played 90 minutes in Stoke City’s 2-1 win vs. Southampton on Saturday.
- Gedion Zelalem did not dress in Arsenal’s 2-1 extra-time win vs. Reading in the FA Cup semifinals on Saturday.
Championship
- Jonathan Spector dressed but did not play in Birmingham City’s 1-0 loss vs. Watford on Saturday.
- Tim Ream started and played 90 minutes in Bolton Wanderers’ 2-2 draw vs. Brentford on Saturday.
- Eric Lichaj started and played 90 minutes in Nottingham Forest’s 3-3 draw vs. Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
- Danny Williams started, played 120 minutes in Reading’s 2-1 extra-time loss vs. Reading in the FA Cup semifinals on Saturday.
- Emerson Hyndman did not dress in Fulham’s 1-0 win vs. Blackpool on Saturday. He is recovering from an ankle injury.
- Zak Whitbread started and played 27 minutes in Derby County’s 4-4 draw vs. Huddersfield Town on Saturday.
- Oguchi Onyewu did not dress in Charlton Athletic’s 2-1 win vs. Leeds United on Saturday.
GERMANY
Bundesliga
- John Brooks started and played 90 minutes in Hertha Berlin’s 0-0 draw vs. FC Cologne on Saturday.
- Fabian Johnson started and played 90 minutes before being substituted in Borussia Moenchengladbach’s 0-0 draw vs. Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday.
- Timmy Chandler came off the bench and played 25 minutes in Eintracht Frankfurt’s 0-0 draw vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach on Friday.
- Julian Green did not dress in Hamburg SV’s 1-0 loss vs. Werdre Bremen on Sunday.
- Joe Gyau did not dress in Borussia Dortmund’s 3-0 win vs. SC Paderborn 07 on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
2. Bundesliga
- Terrence Boyd and RB Leipzig play Kaiserslautern on Monday.
- Alfredo Morales started, played 53 minutes and MISSED a penalty kick in FC Ingolstadt 04’s 3-2 win vs. Fortuna Dusseldorf on Friday.
- Bobby Wood started and played 74 minutes in FC Erzgebirge Aue’s 1-0 win vs. FSV Frankfurt on Sunday.
- Andrew Wooten started and played 90 minutes before being substituted in SV Sandhausen’s 0-0 draw vs. Karlsruhe on Friday.
- Jann George did not dress in SpVgg Greuther Furth’s 2-2 draw vs. FC Union Berlin on Sunday.
FRANCE
- Alejandro Bedoya started and played 90 minutes in FC Nantes’ 1-0 win vs. Marseille on Friday.
NETHERLANDS
- Aron Johannsson started, played 90 minutes and had an ASSIST in AZ Alkmaar’s 3-1 win vs. ADO Den Haag on Saturday.
- Rubio Rubin started and played 90 minutes in FC Utrecht’s 1-0 win vs. FC Twente on Sunday.
- Desevio Payne dressed but did not play in FC Groningen’s 4-1 win vs. Willem II Tilburg on Saturday.
AUSTRIA
- Conor O’Brien started and played 90 minutes in FC Magna Wiener Neustadt’s 6-0 loss vs. Red Bull Salzburg on Saturday.
SWEDEN
- Heath Pearce dressed but did not play in IFK Goteborg’s 2-1 win vs. BK Hacken on Sunday.
NORWAY
- Zarek Valentin dressed but did not play in FK Bodo/Glimt’s 4-2 loss vs. Odd on Sunday.
- Ethan Horvath dressed but did not play in Molde FK’s 5-1 win vs. Aalesund on Sunday.
- Josh Gatt did not dress for Molde FK. He is recovering from an injury.
- Cole Grossman started, played 90 minutes, received a yellow card and scored a GOAL in Stabaek IF’s 1-0 win vs. Viking on Sunday.
FINLAND
- Freddy Adu started and played 66 minutes in Kuopion Palloseura’s 1-0 win vs. KTP on Sunday.
- Stephen McCarthy did not dress for Kuopion Palloseura.
MEXICO
- Greg Garza started and played 90 minutes in Club Tijuana’s 1-1 draw vs. Chivas de Guadalajara on Friday.
- Joe Corona started and played 67 minutes for Club Tijuana.
- Alejandro Guido did not dress for Club Tijuana. He was serving a one-game suspension for the ejection he received last game.
- Paul Arriola did not dress for Club Tijuana.
- Ventura Alvarado dressed but did not play in Club America’s 4-0 loss vs. Queretaro on Saturday.
- William Yarbrough started, played 90 minutes and made four saves in Club Leon’s 1-1 draw vs. Toluca on Saturday.
- Michael Orozco started and played 90 minutes in Puebla’s 1-0 loss vs. Atlas on Saturday.
- Herculez Gomez came off the bench, played 37 minutes and received a yellow card for Puebla.
- Jose Torres did not dress in Tigres UANL’s 3-0 win vs. Monterrey on Saturday. He is recovering from a herniated disk.
- Edgar Castillo did not dress in Atlas’ 1-0 win vs. Puebla on Saturday.
- Jonathan Bornstein started and played 90 minutes in Queretaro’s 4-0 win vs. Club America on Saturday.
- Gabriel Farfan dressed but did not play in Jaguares de Chiapas’ 1-1 draw vs. Veracruz on Friday.
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What do you think of these performances? Do you see Adu finding stability with KuPs? Should Guzan start for Aston Villa in the FA Cup final?
Share your thoughts below.
Question 1….how long before Freddy leaves this team? Question 2…..how obscure will the next team be? Question 3…..how long before everyone finally gives up on signing this guy?
Question 4: How many stories can SBI make out of Questions 1-3?
Question 5: I don’t know. Let’s find out!
Maybe Freddy is just chillin at home and SBI just photoshps him smiling with any weird jersey from time to time for the lols?
This list is the”Who’s Not Who” of world football. It would make a great middle school geography lesson
At what point do the Jonathan Spector to Chicago rumors start? That would be a nice addition.
Call up Lichaj!
Corona had the assist for TJ from a corner…
Bunbury with a good game, 1 score 1 assist in less than 45 minutes of playing time. If he keeps it up he may end up bumping off Green from the team come GC invites.
Louis Z –
I don’t think many fans would actually call for Green to be part of the GC. Unfortunately that decision is up to the Manager who for some reason keeps calling him up to the Sr. Level, when we all know he’d be better served dropping back to the U-23s and working his way back up the ladder.
He played 30 minutes plus stoppage time. New England dominated the second half but Teal was the difference maker (along with Fagundez) that half.
Why does Freddy still get press because he’s still only 25 and if has two good club seasons he could be playing midfield in Russia. Chance of that happening .01%, but its still a chance.
Where’s the clamor for Bornstein to get a call up, started 7 of the last 8 for Quetaro and they are 5-2 during that time and are making a run at the playoffs. Apparently, they also have some old guy named Ronald that can really play, but I’m sure the current run of form is the strong play of their left back.
There will never be a clamor for Bornstein. There never was in the first place, then he pretty much single-handedly caused a USMNT defeat to Mexico in a tournament final. Even if he deserves it, any future call-up will be greeted with vast skepticism, at best.
Good job Freddy……brushing aside the haters and keep working kiddo
Bobby Schmurda (aka Freddy Adu) getting minutezz
Zak Whitbread started and only played 27 minutes? This guy cannot catch a break!
I remember when he was with Millwall telling myself that this guy was gonna displace either Bocanegra or Onyewu on the Nats in a couple years.
Damn Shame.
Hamburg SV have gone 6 matches now without a goal, what a mess. Green just needs to get out from Bayern and find a new club. Bouncing around on loan to clubs that have no invested interest isn’t going to help him. He needs a club that’s going to be willing to grow him, even if just in hopes to sell him on. I mean look at how many chances Brooks got at Hertha early on.
4th manger this season Too.
If he continues to bounce around, maybe he can focus more on hitting the weight room.
Happy about Fabian and Brooks. I thought Fabian would break into regular starting for 90 minutes, he’s definitely talented enough.
Field American players in England can best be summed up here for the remainder of the season :
Dressed but did not play
Geoff Cameron, Tim Ream, Eric Lichaj, Danny Williams, Zak Whitebread. All field players in England who played. Hyndman is out injured. So the only field players who “dressed but did not play”were Yedlin (an accomplishment that he’s making the bench), Zalaem (18 year old playing for one of the best teams in England), Spector (who starts intermittently), and Onyewu.
Not sure what you’re talking about….
Give me a well timed tackle over a beautifully weighted ball any day!
The ironic part is that Geoff Cameron, Tim Ream, Eric Lichaj, Danny Williams, and Zak Whitebread have little to no time recently on the USMNT. But somehow we are told that’s the standard for making it on JK’s squad.
Martha is a troll James but thanks for pointing out she’s also inaccurate in her BS
Why does anyone still care about Freddy Adu?
I’m not sure that many still do, but SBI seems to relish in rubbing past uberhype in our noses. I mean of all the Americans abroad, this one getting time in what basically a semi-pro team in a stadium that seats less than many U.S. high school fields is the photo to represent the article?
True, even Bornstein starting and getting a win over America is even more news worthy.
This is pretty much SBI’s version of trolling.
If people didn’t really care or have any real interest then there wouldn’t be anything said. Yet every time his name comes up troves of comments follow.
I personally hope he gets his career back on track because I’ve always loved Freddy. Hopefully if he does well enough with this Finnish team he can catch on somewhere in Norway, Sweden or Denmark and build from there.
Because, “Whatever happened to….” stories are interesting. I’m happy for the guy that he still gets to play soccer for a living and don’t begrudge him for not living up to all of the hype. How many actually do?
…….Because as you can see he’s still a big deal
Why Hodor? Because Freddy always played well in a Nats jersey, including his senior team appearances. There are good players at club level that can’t seem to translate that to their national teams – Freddy is the opposite.
Very fair assessment of his time with the Nats. I also think Paul’s post is merit, too.
This SBI’s version of clickbait.
because he’s the next big thing! Thats why we card. As for Gideon, why didnt he dress? Is he a nudist or something? In some towns, you can get arrested for that kind of behavior. Think of the children man!
care
Sucks for Brad Guzan that he won’t be between the sticks for the cup final. He was the backup keeper for Villa the last time they made it to the final and was the keeper who had gotten them there, and then was told the day of the game by the coach that Friedel would be starting instead. Wonder how he feels going into the final again. Mixed feelings, I would bet.
Is it known that Guzan won’t be starting for the final?
The cards are stacked against Guzan here. Given has done very well to get them to the final, and I wonder if Arsenal is in Guzan’s head a bit. This season’s Arsenal hasn’t been kind to Villa with Guzan in the net (3-0, 5-0).
I’m not the manager, but if you ask me if Guzan starts, I’d say “It’s a Given”