Back on the scoresheet but not in the win column. That was Fabian Johnson’s Valentine’s Day.
Johnson ended a personal scoring drought that dated back to Dec. 5 and stretched over six games when he netted the opener in Borussia Moenchengladbach’s clash with Hamburg on Sunday. Johnson struck 14 minutes in, doing well to track a deflected cross at the back post and one-time it home. Unfortunately for the veteran midfielder and his club, his seventh goal across all competitions this season was not enough to help Moenchengladbach grab a result. Hamburg prevailed, 3-2, and Moenchengladbach slipped out of the German Bundesliga’s European picture.
Bobby Wood also found the back of the net on Sunday, tallying for the second straight game for FC Union Berlin. Wood capped off a lightning-quick counterattack against his former club, TSV 1860 Munich, in the 80th minute by racing onto a long pass and slotting a shot to the near post. The finish gave FC Union Berlin its first insurance goal en route to picking up a 3-0 win, and was Wood’s team-best ninth goal of the 2. Bundesliga campaign.
Alejandro Bedoya was not the author of one his club’s two strikes on Saturday, but the red-hot midfielder did set up a teammate in FC Nantes’ latest win. Bedoya assisted on the 10th-minute opener in Nantes’ 2-1 triumph over Lorient, and it helped the Canaries extend their current undefeated streak to 15 matches across all competitions. Nantes is now just point off of Ligue 1’s lone UEFA Champions League qualifiers spot, which is currently held by St Etienne.
Here are how the Americans Abroad performed this weekend:
ENGLAND
Premiership
- Tim Howard dressed but did not play in Everton’s 1-0 loss vs. West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
- Brad Guzan dressed but did not play in Aston Villa’s 6-0 loss vs. Liverpool on Sunday.
- Geoff Cameron did not dress in Stoke City’s 3-1 win vs. AFC Bournemouth on Saturday. He is recovering from an ankle injury.
- DeAndre Yedlin started, played 90 minutes, and received a yellow card in Sunderland’s 2-1 win vs. Manchester United on Saturday.
Championship
- Jonathan Spector dressed but did not play in Birmingham City’s 0-0 draw vs. Rotherham United on Saturday.
- Eric Lichaj started and played 90 minutes in Nottingham Forest’s 2-0 loss vs. Huddersfield Town on Saturday.
- Danny Williams did not dress in Reading’s 0-0 draw vs. Burnley on Saturday. He is recovering from a hamstring injury.
- Emerson Hyndman came off the bench and played six minutes in Fulham’s 3-1 win vs. Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
- Tim Ream did not dress for Fulham.
- Cody Cropper dressed but did not play in Milton Keynes Dons’ 1-0 win vs. Derby County on Saturday.
- Duane Holmes did not dress in Huddersfield Town’s 2-0 win vs. Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
League One
- Lynden Gooch started and played 63 minutes in Doncaster Rovers’s 1-0 loss vs. Sheffield United on Saturday.
SCOTLAND
- Gedion Zelalem dressed but did not play in Rangers’ 1-1 draw vs. Alloa Athletic on Saturday.
GERMANY
Bundesliga
- Fabian Johnson started, played 90 minutes, and scored a GOAL in Borussia Moenchengladbach’s 3-2 loss vs. Hamburg SV on Sunday.
- Timmy Chandler did not dress in Eintracht Frankfurt’s 3-1 loss vs. FC Cologne on Saturday.
- John Brooks started, played 90 minutes, and received a yellow card in Hertha Berlin’s 2-0 loss vs. VfB Stuttgart on Saturday
- Alfredo Morales came off the bench and played nine minutes in FC Ingolstadt 04’s 2-0 loss vs. VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday.
- Aron Johannsson did not dress in Werder Bremen’s 1-1 draw vs. TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Saturday.
- Christian Pulisic came off the bench and played 26 minutes in Borussia Dortmund’s 1-0 win vs. Hannover 96 on Saturday.
2. Bundesliga
- Bobby Wood started, played 90 minutes, and scored a GOAL in FC Union Berlin’s 3-0 win vs. TSV 1860 Munich on Sunday.
https://dailymotion.com/video/x3s2dvx
- Andrew Wooten started and played 67 minutes in SV Sandhausen’s 1-1 draw vs. Heidenheimer SB on Saturday.
- Terrence Boyd did not dress in RB Leipzig’s 1-0 loss vs. St Pauli on Friday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Caleb Stanko came off the bench and played 16 minutes in SC Freiburg’s 2-1 loss vs. Fortuna Dusseldorf on Sunday.
- Shawn Berry dressed but did not play in FSV Frankfurt’s 2-1 loss vs. SpVgg Greuther Furth on Friday.
FRANCE
- Alejandro Bedoya started, played 90 minutes, and had an ASSIST in FC Nantes’ 2-1 win vs. Lorient on Saturday.
NETHERLANDS
- Rubio Rubin did not dress in FC Utrecht’s 2-0 win vs. Cambuur Leeuwarden on Friday.
- Desevio Payne started, played 77 minutes, and received a yellow card in FC Groningen’s 2-1 loss vs. Ajax on Sunday.
MEXICO
- Paul Arriola came off the bench and played 10 minutes in Club Tijuana’s 2-1 win vs. Tigres UANL on Saturday.
- Michael Orozco dressed but did not play for Club Tijuana.
- Greg Garza did not dress for Club Tijuana.
- Alejandro Guido did not dress for Club Tijuana. He is recovering from an injury.
- Edgar Castillo started and played 66 minutes in Monterrey’s 2-1 win vs. Santos Laguna on Friday.
- Jose Torres dressed but did not play in Tigres UANL’s 2-1 loss vs. Club Tijuana on Saturday.
- Joe Corona dressed but did not play in Dorados de Sinaloa’s 3-2 loss vs. Pumas UNAM on Saturday.
- Sonny Guadarrama did not dress for Dorados de Sinaloa.
- Ventura Alvarado did not dress in Club America’s 1-1 draw vs. Veracruz on Friday.
- Jonathan Bornstein started and played 56 minutes in Queretaro’s 2-1 loss vs. Cruz Azul on Saturday.
- Luis Gil came off the bench and played 26 minutes for Queretaro.
- William Yarbrough started, played 90 minutes, and made two saves in Club Leon’s 1-0 win vs. Chivas de Guadalajara on Sunday.
- Miguel Ibarra did not dress for Club Leon.
- Omar Gonzalez started and played 68 minutes in Pachuca’s 5-2 win vs. Puebla on Sunday.
- Jorge Villafana started and played 90 minutes in Santos Laguna’s 2-1 loss vs. Monterrey on Friday.
- Gabriel Farfan did not dress in Jaguares de Chiapas’ 2-1 loss vs. Cruz Azul on Saturday.
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What do you think of these performances? Impressed with Johnson’s goal? How many more will Wood score this season?
Share your thoughts below.
my XI as of now:
GK: Howard (i guess…)
DEF (R to L): Yedlin, Omar, JAB, Villafana
MID (R to L): Lee, Bedoya, Bradley, FJ
ST: Dempsey, Jozy
Bedoya has been playing CM and killing it. so keep him there. him and Bradley have insane work-rates too, so i wouldn’t be too worried about not having a true #6. on top of that, Lee showed he can play out wider and Yedlin can provide the real width on the right. as for Omar, he starts unless Cameron can come back and get some time. while it’ll be a “4-4-2”, Dempsey would likely sit a bit deeper like he usually does with Jozy making runs off him.
Anyone else notice that Bedoya has helped nantes get to within a point of qualifying for European football? Would be pretty impressive if they could grab a champions league playoff or Europa spot.
Both main keeper on the bench.
So far Johnson, Wood, Bedoya and Williams should be starting.
Crazy how in the past, our goalies in Europe were automatic in playing time and decent performances. Now, our offensive players are really being steady, but the goalies can’t see the field.
Aaron Schoenfeld scored again in Israel:
http://new.jpost.com/Israel-News/Sports/Beersheba-continues-to-increase-gap-over-Mac-TA-444807
Please forgive me for reposting this, but I fear my thoughts will go unheard in SBI’s new article wasteland.
Bedoya is playing great right now. If we’re picking our best, most proven midfield three, I think he has to be in there with FabJo and Bradley. Although, all of these guys have left us with a few questions about their best international positions.
I get the impression most of us agree that Bradley is best suited as a pragmatic regista–making that late run–but I think JK wants the opposite out of his deeper lying CM. He wants the defensive focused enforcer who’s going to make the quick, simple pass.
Personally, I’d like to play the 442 as a base. I think Jozy and Wood up top should be a thoroughly conducted experiment. Many want to see Jozy in the middle of three up top, but I think our midfield depth is stronger than our options at wide forward, and that Jozy likes having a partner close to play off of.
I know I may have drank the kool-aid a bit prematurely on Nagbe, but I feel like he and Bradley balance each other well when operating centrally, box to box. I really like Nagbe’s defensive work rate and grit. I don’t think I’d switch Nagbe outside or move him to the bench in order to bring Bedoya inside, although the same can be said about his defensive intensity.
We could move Fabian (one of our best players) to fullback (our weakest position). That would mean moving to a 443, or starting someone like Zardes, Nguyen, or Mix, depending on how things shift, which is fine if FabJo can get forward without our backline falling apart. Maybe we do need that pitbull in front of our CBs for the time being.
I’m not at all discounting the contributions we are sure to need and receive from Dempsey and Jones in the near future, I’m just thinking about this year as a whole and moving forward towards developing a team for 2018. I also haven’t mentioned promising prospects like Pulisic, Morris, Keith Sweat, Tchani, etc. because I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, even if I’m a passenger of the hype train.
Good observations! I too think Bobby should start next to Jozy. I think Fabian is showing he has to be played more forward so I keep him and Bedoya on the wings in a 4-4-2. Center pairing of Bradley/Nagbe or Nguyen. On the back line, I’d like to see Castillo given another shot a LB. Has anyone been watching his games at Monterrey? Seems like he is starting every game and they are one of the top teams in Mexico. If he is starting for the top Mexican team I’d like to see him given a chance to lock down LB for us. Maybe Villafana, but I haven’t watched him enough to really say one way or another. I’d then go with Yedlin or Cameron at RB. Then Brooks and Gonzo in the center. Dempsey can come on as a sub if we need a goal.
I don’t really get to watch much MX and rarely do I catch a Leon game, so my impression of Yarbrough is mostly formed by reading recaps. My perception is that he is putting together a great run of results. Any chance he moves up the USA food chain?
With Guzan and Howard not getting minutes now you have wonder if there’s a opportunity for someone to push there way up.
Goal keeping is one position that should not be of concern because Yarbrough has been doing well with Leon and Ethan Horvath doing well with Molde. Also, there are some other solid keepers in MLS like Bill Hamid, Luis Robles, Sean Johnson, and David Bingham.
As for Guzan and Howard, I think one of those guys will be back between the posts soon.
I agree with Mike, while doubting he answered your question. Sorry, haven’t seen much of YB.
So Mexican league, mls, small European teams and the epl bench. The goalkeeping corps looks exactly the same as the test of the team.
I bet Bobby felt really good sticking that knife into 1860. From a USMNT standpoint I’d really like to see him paired up with Josy, Dempsey sitting in the hole and Bradley destroying…
Wood with his 9th goal on the season actually has him 3rd in the 2nd Bundesliga.Certainly been a break out year already.
It feels like our european lull is starting out of it’s recent trough.
Anybody with eyes on Villafaña’s recent play?
Villafana has been doing well with Santos. He can make strong runs towards the box and put in some dangerous crosses. He did fine closing down counters from Monterrey and I saw him a few times take one defenders although that isn’t his strong suit.
With that said, the guy merits a call up.