Danny Williams could not have asked for a much better way to ring in the new year.
Reading snapped a two-game losing streak by beating Bristol City at the death in their first game of 2016 on Saturday, and it was Williams who helped make the difference. Williams assisted on the winner in the 91st minute of the home game, setting up teammate Nick Blackman for the 1-0 victory that left Royals fans in a frenzy. The helper is the latest positive contribution the U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder has had for Reading, which slipped a spot to 13th place in the English Championship despite picking up maximum points.
Williams was not the only player to help create a late goal. Gedion Zelalem dished out an assist in visiting Rangers’ 6-0 mauling of Dumbarton on Saturday, finding James Tavernier to cap the scoring in the 88th minute. Zelalem made an impact in the lopsided affair even though he saw limited time on the field, as he came off the bench in the 72nd minute for the Scottish Championship leader.
While Williams and Zelalem enjoyed good starts to the year with their respective clubs, Geoff Cameron certainly did not. Stoke City was on the wrong end of a 2-1 road defeat to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, and Cameron was partially responsible for the result. Stoke found an 81st-minute equalizer in the match, but Cameron was sent off with a controversial straight red card two minutes later. The 10-man Potters fought hard to try and close the game out from there, but wound up conceding a deflating 93rd-minute equalizer.
Here are how the Americans Abroad did this weekend:
ENGLAND
Premiership
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes, and made three saves in Everton’s 1-1 draw vs. Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
- Brad Guzan started, played 90 minutes, and made three saves in Aston Villa’s 3-1 loss vs. Sunderland on Saturday.
- Geoff Cameron started, played 83 minutes, and received a RED CARD in Stoke City’s 2-1 loss vs. West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
- DeAndre Yedlin dressed but did not play in Sunderland’s 3-1 win vs. Aston Villa on Saturday.
Championship
- Jonathan Spector dressed but did not play in Birmingham City’s 2-1 win vs. Brentford on Saturday.
- Eric Lichaj started and played 90 minutes in Nottingham Forest’s 1-1 draw vs. Charlton Athletic on Saturday.
- Danny Williams started, played 90 minutes, and had an ASSIST in Reading’s 1-0 win vs. Bristol City on Saturday.
- Tim Ream started and played 90 minutes in Fulham’s 1-0 loss vs. Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
- Emerson Hyndman started and played 90 minutes for Fulham.
- Cody Cropper dressed but did not play in Milton Keynes Dons’ 1-1 draw vs. Leeds United on Saturday.
SCOTLAND
- Gedion Zelalem came off the bench, played 18 minutes, and had an ASSIST in Rangers’ 6-0 win vs. Dumbarton on Saturday.
FRANCE
- Alejandro Bedoya did not dress in FC Nantes’ 2-0 win vs. Blanc Mesnil in the Coupe de France on Saturday.
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What do you think of these performances? How impressive is Williams’ run of form? Surprised to see Cameron have such a negative impact for Stoke?
Share your thoughts below.
Ten years ago reading this post was exciting. Now, it’s just sad…
Most leagues are on winter break this week. Anyway, now we can actually see more top American players at home here every week. That isn’t automatically a bad thing.
very stupid by cameron, he cost them the game
Cameron’s good play has made him a fixture in Stoke’s game day squad. And this is with a manager, who in my opinion, has shown anti-American bias against Dempsey at Fulham and Cameron initially at Stoke. In both situations, the players responded to early benchings with good play and forcing Hughes to keep them in the line up.
That being said, the red card seemed harsh on replays, and apparently the competition committee agreed because they rescinded the suspension that normally follows.
Red card was nonsense, as demonstrated by the fact it was rescinded after the fact. Geoff won’t be suspended.
Just not to much to get excited about, at the moment.