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Horvath starts, leads Club Brugge to UCL win

Ethan Horvath returned to the Club Brugge starting lineup on Tuesday in UEFA Champions League play and picked up his first win since August 2019 in the process.

Horvath filled in for Simon Mignolet who remains sidelined with COVID-19 and helped Club Brugge pick up a 2-1 Matchday 1 win over Zenit St. Petersburg. It was the American’s second Champions League win as a starter with Brugge and his fourth appearance in the competition overall with the club.

After making one save in the first half, Horvath watched his teammates break the deadlock in the 63rd minute. Emmanuel Dennis handed Brugge a 1-0 advantage after an error from Wilmar Barrios allowed the striker to rush on goal and poke past Mikhail Kerzhakov.

Horvath was unfortunate to concede an equalizing goal in the 74th minute after a long-range strike from Dejan Lovren ricocheted off the post and in off Horvath’s back.

Zenit continued to pressure for a winning goal, but Horvath came up with his biggest save in the 79th minute to keep things tied at 1-1.

However, Brugge would save its best moment for stoppage time as Charles De Ketelaere scored the winning goal. Ruud Vormer crossed a pass in the box to a wide open De Ketelaere, who poked home to earn the Belgian side all three points.

As for Horvath, he made two saves in the match to preserve an important Group F in Russia.

Brugge returns to league play on Saturday at OH Leuven before hosting Lazio on Oct. 28th on Matchday 2 of the European competition.

Comments

    • if you are judging a keeper by a no-fault ricochet fluke instead of the full game you have a fanboy myopia problem already.

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      • He didnā€™t let the play get him done he bounced back from the bad luck. Completely appropriate use of the term and not a dig at his last 12 months.

  1. “how you bounce back” is such trash. i think he’s played 4 games in 2 years, but when he plays, i think he’s given up 2 goals. ie, 0.5 GAA. this is not bouncing back. it’s not his fault how brugge chooses to use him. it is our fault when we pretend like it reflects on his talent or what he has shown in prior NT games. i am bored with snobs that get the 2 confused.

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  2. I still think Horvath is an excellent option for the USMNT Keeper. If he could just find a way to move away from Brugge to a club where he’d have a chance for 1st team minutes. He’s nearly equal to Steffen….and is right there in the hunt with Sean Johnson and the others. Hopefully he’ll get some time in the November Friendlies.

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    • sorry but at a point you are just being stubborn in pretending like something is wrong with him when he shows well when he does play. what, should we instead bring in some 1.5 GAA MLS keeper “because club minutes?” he just showed you that doesn’t matter, ie, dial his number and he will perform. quit trying to force your malfunctioning theories on his effective efforts.

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  3. Horvath had a very respectable game. The own goal is a write off… just FIFA physics. His save on that wicked deflected shot in the 79th could end up being a “six pointer” in the context of the group.
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    As for his situation, it’s odd. I have to imagine there are at least a few people at Club Brugge who wonder why they are among the few teams in top class soccer for whom the goalkeeper is their highest paid player (about 20% of the aggregate team salary wages, and over 10x Horvath’s salary). Particularly in a depressed pandemic economy, Mignolet would be the first guy most clubs would look to move/monetize (he’s still just 31 and would attract interest in most any global league). Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Mignolet has any interest in leaving, and the club seems to have signed him with a mutual understanding.

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    • It appears they spend money on veteran defensive players and make money on young attackers. Vanaken being one of their few veteran attackers but heā€™s been there forever. Mignolet just signed an extension this month according to Transfermkt so I donā€™t think management is too concerned about having the keeper making the most money. Brugge benched Horvath a couple times before Mignolet came along so it seems they donā€™t think heā€™s good enough to win league titles and compete once they drop to the Europa League. Donā€™t get me wrong Iā€™m not saying Ethan isnā€™t a good keeper Iā€™m just saying Mignolet was a regular starter in the EPL and if not for Courtois would have about 50 caps instead of 20.

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    • What is strange is Horvath has had multiple nice performances in European play for both Brugge and Molde why hasnā€™t a bigger league club come along. Maybe they have but we havenā€™t heard, you would think heā€™d be perfect for a mid table German side.

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      • JR: dude, if you were struggling for playing time I do not think the sensible career path is expect some even bigger team to swoop you up and then start you. no, since GB’s excuse is playing time, you go later or down and find someplace that wants to start you. the amusing thing is watching snobs tout big club choices and then punish bobby wood and ethan horvath for how their choices turn out. clearly it’s not the panacea you suggest. to be blunt, even a move to one of the middling teams in MLS — if they played him — would probably improve his NT standing because the coach would have to acknowledge talent and lose his excuses.

    • i am lost how sitting behind mignolet reflects negatively on his utilty to the NT. that is getting into politics as opposed to performance. i have shown 20 times that club minutes for proven NT players do not correlate to NT performance. you are having cognitive dissonance that he seems to be better than his situation. instead of fighting for your theories how about accepting what you see in the concrete.

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    • I donā€™t think anyone said sitting behind Mignolet is bad for Horvath and the NT. Not even Berhalter has said that in fact he mentioned him as an important part of the pool of GKs awhile back. I thin some people think there is some sort of back room deal to keep Mignolet on the field when he just better than Ethan, heā€™s probably better than Steffen too just because Klopp didnā€™t doesnā€™t mean heā€™s rubbish. I think thereā€™s a big difference with keepers just because only one plays a game and they donā€™t typically need rest like field players so you donā€™t rotate them much. Itā€™s also different sitting behind a EPL vet to some journeyman striker in the 2Bundesliga. Horvath was hurt for the GC and then I think they didnā€™t want to fly him to the US to back up Zach when he could be in Belgium training with first team while Mignolet is off with their NT.

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    • What not making a move to a different club suggests is that scouts see something in his game they donā€™t like. Heā€™s had big games in the CL where he played well that should have gotten him interest from a team in the lower half of the Bundesliga but it hasnā€™t. Iā€™m guessing your not tuning into Brugge or Molde matches so the scouts might have a better inkling than you or I.

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  4. Didnā€™t look rusty at all. So unlucky on the own goal. Not his fault. He looked shaky with his distribution in the first half, but it also seemed like his teammates werenā€™t getting open.

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