The German Bundesliga returned on Saturday and John Brooks was the lone American to earn a victory in league play.
Brooks started and played 90 minutes in Wolfsburg’s 2-1 road win over Augsburg. Despite being on the end of an own goal, Brooks put in a fairly strong shift in Wolfsburg’s backline, helping the visitors jump into the top six in the league table. The veteran centerback finished with a 93% passing completion rate in the match, while also winning three of five duels and successfully making two tackles.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPetxc43RAs]
With Freiburg, Schalke, and Hoffenheim all failing to pick up victories in Saturday’s action, Wolfsburg jumped into the final European qualification spot for now. Up next for Wolfsburg is a home date with second place Borussia Dortmund on May 23rd.
Weston McKennie went the distance for Schalke in Saturday’s Rivierderby, but was on the end of a lopsided loss at Borussia Dortmund. McKennie played the full 90 minutes in midfield, but showed signs of sloppiness with overhit passes and a failure to track back prior to one of Dortmund’s goals. He won five of seven duels and completed 81% of his passes, but eventually saw his team ousted out of the top six.
Tyler Adams returned to the RB Leipzig starting lineup, however could not help his team avoid a 1-1 home draw with Freiburg. Adams featured as a right wing back in his 69 minute shift for Julian Nagelsmann’s side. The 21-year-old failed to produce much though, failing to record a shot on goal. He completed 82% of his passes, but ultimately will be seeking better outings than Saturday’s going forward.
Elsewhere, Fabian Johnson missed Borussia Monchengladbach’s match with an injury while Timmy Chandler came off the bench for Eintracht Frankfurt. Alfredo Morales also was reduced to an appearance off the bench, but couldn’t help Fortuna Dusseldorf earn a needed win over fellow strugglers Paderborn.
Here’s a closer look at this weekend’s Americans Abroad action:
Germany
Bundesliga
Weston McKennie started and played 90 minutes in Schalke’s 4-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.
John Brooks started, registered an OWN GOAL, and played 90 minutes in Wolfsburg’s 2-1 win over Augsburg on Saturday.
Tyler Adams started and played 69 minutes in RB Leipzig’s 1-1 draw with Freiburg on Saturday.
Alfredo Morales came off the bench and played 22 minutes in Fortuna Dusseldorf’s 0-0 draw with Paderborn on Saturday.
Timmy Chandler came off the bench and played 16 minutes in Eintracht Frankfurt’s 3-1 loss to Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday.
Giovanni Reyna was scheduled to start for Borussia Dortmund, but suffered an injury in prematch warmups.
Josh Sargent and Werder Bremen face Bayer Leverkusen on Monday.
Fabian Johnson did not dress (Injury) for Borussia Monchengladbach.
Zack Steffen is OUT (Injury) for Fortuna Dusseldorf.
2. Bundesliga
Timothy Tillman started and played 75 minutes in Greuther Furth’s 2-2 draw with Hamburg on Sunday.
Julian Green started and played 57 minutes for Greuther Furth.
Bobby Wood did not dress for Hamburg.
Sebastian Soto and Hannover’s scheduled match with Dynamo Dresden was postponed on Sunday.
Yeah, the lack of a studio show or at least the pundits Skyping in was an odd choice by Fox.
it was certainly Brooks’ fault but technically that own-goal should belong to Casteels, no?
Bundesliga.com registered the goal to Jedvaj so I would think that would be the official scoring, but yes it was definitely caused by Brook’s poor clearance.
i’m assuming Bundesliga will correct that eventually.
from watching the replay several times, it seems clear the touches went Brooks’ head –> Casteels’ fists –> underside of crossbar –> bounced on the ground well over the line –> then Jedvaj ran into it
Wolfsburg has it listed as a Brooks OG. If you think about it if a shot is taken and the keeper gets a hand on it but it goes in the offensive player still gets credit. I’m not sure the criteria for a keeper own goal but Green for England wasn’t given one in 2010 WC or Horvath against Portugal. However, Zoet for PSV was given one for dragging the ball across after stopping the shot against Feyenoord, so maybe it’s all subjective.
The highlight of the day from a USMNT point of view was Reyna being named a starter. It went down hill from there. Reyna injury, Adams playing wide, Brooks own goal, McKennie up and down, Chandler and Morales not starting. As a fan it was great to have real matches even if they were not typical quality. Can we lease get an ambient crowd noise track on the broadcasts, everything echoing off the metal bleachers was rough to listen to. Why does Fox pay hosts/announcers for the eMLS matches but use the international feed guys for actual matches.
Sometimes Fox does use its own announcers for a Bundesliga game. The play by play guy in that case is usually Kieth Costigan. You never know what game it will be and it’s maybe once out of every 3 or 4 games.
But why no studio? If you’re paying Stu Holden to do eMLS and have a full crew in studio for iRacing. It’s kind of like they know ESPN takes over next year so why promote the product.