The race for the U.S. Men’s National Team’s starting goalkeeper position in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers seemed to be neck and neck as recently as a week ago, but Brad Guzan may have just pushed ahead of Tim Howard.
Guzan was given a second consecutive start at Aston Villa on Saturday, when the club was handed a humbling 4-0 defeat by Manchester City. The loss may have been largely forgettable, but it allowed Guzan to strengthen his case for being the U.S.’s No. 1 option in goal later this month in World Cup qualifying showdowns vs. Guatemala. Howard is still a reserve at Everton, and might need to soon snap his spell of inactivity in order to improve his chances of claiming the Americans’ starting role, especially if Guzan continues to see the field in the coming weeks.
Another notable performance came from fellow goalkeeper William Yarbrough. With seven saves, Yarbrough helped Club Leon record a shutout and grab a road point in Friday’s scoreless draw with Club Tijuana. Yarbrough has now posted two cleansheets in the Liga MX Clausura campaign, and four if you include the Apertura season.
Like Guzan and Yarbrough, Bobby Wood and Fabian Johnson were also given the nod at their respective German clubs. Each of them made an impact, too, as Wood bagged a brace in FC Union Berlin’s 4-0 triumph over FSV Frankfurt while Johnson delivered an assist in Borussia Moenchengladbach’s 2-1 loss to VfL Wolfsburg. Wood now has 12 goals on the season, and Johnson has three assists, including two in his last two games, to go along with his six league tallies.
Here are how the Americans Abroad fared this weekend:
ENGLAND
Premiership
- Tim Howard dressed but did not play in Everton’s 3-2 loss vs. West Ham United on Saturday
- Brad Guzan started, played 90 minutes, and made five saves in Aston Villa’s 4-0 loss vs. Manchester City on Saturday.
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Matt Miazga dressed but did not play in Chelsea’s 1-1 tie vs. Stoke City on Saturday.
- Geoff Cameron started and played 90 minutes in Stoke City’s 1-1 draw vs. Chelsea on Saturday.
- DeAndre Yedlin started and played 90 minutes in Sunderland’s 1-1 draw vs. Southampton on Saturday.
Championship
- Jonathan Spector and Birmingham City did not play this weekend.
- Eric Lichaj started and played 90 minutes in Nottingham Forest’s 1-0 loss vs. Ipswich Town on Saturday.
- Danny Williams dressed but did not play in Reading’s 2-2 draw vs. Fulham on Saturday.
- Emerson Hyndman dressed but did not play in Fulham’s 2-2 draw vs. Reading on Saturday.
- Tim Ream did not dress for Fulham.
- Cody Cropper dressed but did not play in Milton Keynes Dons’ 2-0 win vs. Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
- Duane Holmes dressed but did not play in Huddersfield Town’s 2-0 loss vs. Derby County on Saturday.
League One
- Lynden Gooch started and played 90 minutes in Doncaster Rovers’s 1-0 loss vs. Shrewsbury Town on Saturday.
- Zak Whitbread started and played 27 minutes in Shrewsbury Town’s 1-0 win vs. Doncaster Rovers on Saturday.
SCOTLAND
- Gedion Zelalem did not dress in Rangers’ 4-0 win vs. Dundee in the FA Cup on Saturday.
GERMANY
Bundesliga
- Fabian Johnson started, played 80 minutes, and had an ASSIST in Borussia Moenchengladbach’s 2-1 loss vs. VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday.
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- Timmy Chandler did not dress in Eintracht Frankfurt’s 1-1 draw vs. FC Ingolstadt 04 on Saturday.
- John Brooks started and played 90 minutes in Hertha Berlin’s 2-0 loss vs. Hamburg SV on Sunday
- Alfredo Morales did not dress in FC Ingolstadt 04’s 1-1 draw vs. Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
- Aron Johannsson did not dress in Werder Bremen’s 4-1 win vs. Hannover 96 on Saturday.
- Christian Pulisic did not dress in Borussia Dortmund’s 0-0 draw vs. Bayern Munich on Saturday.
2. Bundesliga
- Bobby Wood started, played 90 minutes and scored TWO GOALS in FC Union Berlin’s 4-0 win vs. FSV Frankfurt on Saturday.
https://dailymotion.com/video/x3w170i
https://dailymotion.com/video/x3w1ann
- Andrew Wooten started, played 83 minutes, and received a yellow card in SV Sandhausen’s 3-2 loss vs. TSV 1860 Munich on Friday.
- Terrence Boyd and RB Leipzig play SC Freiburg on Monday.
- Caleb Stanko and SC Freiburg play RB Leipzig on Monday.
- Shawn Barry started, played 90 minutes, and received a yellow card in FSV Frankfurt’s 4-0 loss vs. FC Union Berlin on Saturday.
FRANCE
- Alejandro Bedoya started and played 90 minutes in FC Nantes’ 4-1 loss vs. Stade Rennes on Sunday.
NETHERLANDS
- Rubio Rubin did not dress in FC Utrecht’s 4-0 win vs. Heerenveen on Saturday.
- Desevio Payne did not dress in FC Groningen’s 3-0 loss vs. PSV Eindhoven on Saturday.
MEXICO
- Paul Arriola came off the bench and played 26 minutes in Club Tijuana’s 0-0 draw vs. Club Leon on Friday.
- 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 90 minutes in Monterrey’s 1-0 win vs. Tigres UANL on Saturday.
- Jose Torres did not dress in Tigres UANL’s 1-0 loss vs. Monterrey on Saturday.
- Joe Corona did not dress in Dorados de Sinaloa’s 2-2 draw vs. Pachuca on Saturday.
- Sonny Guadarrama did not dress Dorados de Sinaloa.
- Ventura Alvarado dressed but did not play in Club America’s 4-1 win vs. Morelia on Saturday.
- Jonathan Bornstein started and played 90 minutes in Queretaro’s 2-0 loss vs. Chivas de Guadalajara on Saturday.
- Luis Gil did not dress for Queretaro.
- William Yarbrough started, played 90 minutes, and made seven saves in Club Leon’s 0-0 draw vs. Club Tijuana on Friday.
- Miguel Ibarra did not dress for Club Leon.
- Omar Gonzalez started and played 90 minutes in Pachuca’s 2-2 draw vs. Dorados de Sinaloa on Saturday.
- Jorge Villafana dressed but did not play in Santos Laguna’s 2-1 win vs. Atlas on Saturday.
- Sebastian Saucedo came off the bench and played 20 minutes in Veracruz’s 1-1 draw vs. Puebla on Sunday.
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What do you think of these performances? Should Guzan start in the USMNT’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers? Who is having a better season, Wood or Johnson?
Share your thoughts below.
I am feeling bad for Brad Guzan. What’s was all that nonsense about him losing his job? Is the ‘new #1’ injured,…or are they just torturing Brad?
Cameron, Yedlin and Lichaj,…3/4 of a defense.
What is up with Tim Ream? Trouble in Craven Cottage. Maybe a move to NY Red Bulls is imminent and they don’t want him to get hurt? 😉
The number of players in the Mexican league is exploding! Mexico better get together with Donaald Trump and build that wall pretty fast or there won’t be any Mexican players in Mexico!
Can’t wait until Perry Kitchen laces up his boots for Hearts in Scotland!!!
For anyone interested, while he didn’t dress or play for the first team, Rubin did start today and went 60′ for the Jong Utrecht (u-23’s) and had a goal and assist. Not a bad way to come back from almost 4 months of sitting on the sideline.
Still no word on Ream’s apparent fall from grace?
Been asking for 3 weeks without a response from wahl or bshredder
Lot of did not dressing this week.
If current form holds, I’d love to see this front six for the March qualifiers:
————-Dempsey—-Wood
Johnson—Nagbe/Nguyen—Bedoya
——————Bradley
Personally I’d rather see a 4-3-3:
Johnson—–Wood—–Bedoya
——-Nagbe—Bradley——–
——Williams—–
Ream/ —Brooks—Cameron—Yedlin
Villafana
At the very least, we should dominate possession with this formation.
I really want to see Dempsey transition to a more sub role, not because I think he can’t cut it anymore. But rather I REALLY want to see some other ST’s forcing themselves into the conversation.
Didn’t Miatzga also make the bench for Chelsea? Shouldn’t that be mentioned if others are mentioned for making the bench or for not even dressing?
Yes and yes.
Agreed