The top two teams in the Scottish Premiership squared off at Ibrox Stadium on Monday with three U.S. men’s national team players featuring in the heated rivalry showdown.
Cameron Carter-Vickers, Malik Tillman, and James Sands all featured in Monday’s 2-2 Old Firm draw between Celtic and Rangers, a result that keeps Celtic nine points clear at the top of the Premiership table. Carter-Vickers and Tillman both started in the match while James Sands featured off the bench late in the second half.
Daizen Maeda’s fifth-minute opener helped Ange Postecogolou’s squad take an early 1-0 as the Japanese international netted his first Old Firm goal. However, Rangers would flip momentum in its favor in the second half with a pair of goals in quick succession.
Ryan Kent’s equalizer came in the 47th minute for Rangers before James Tavernier’s penalty kick goal in the 53rd minute sprung Michael Beale’s squad in front 2-1.
Tillman created a golden opportunity late in the second half to ice the victory for Rangers, but saw his shot blocked by the sprawling Carter-Vickers. The 20-year-old attack left the match in the 85th minute as Sands replaced him in midfield.
Celtic would snatch a late equalizer through Kyogo Furuhashi’s goal in the 88th minute, helping the league-leaders avoid a first league defeat since Sept. 18.
Carter-Vickers won six of his 10 duels, while making five clearances, two blocks, and eight recoveries. Tillman was quiet for majority of the day for Rangers, failing to register any of his three shots on goal. Sands won two duels and made one tackle in his five minutes off the bench.
Canadian defender Alistair Johnston logged 90 minutes in his debut for the club following his transfer from CF Montreal.
Celtic remains nine points clear of Rangers in the table heading into back-to-back matches with Kilmarnock in league and cup play. Rangers will travel to Dundee United on Sunday before hosting Aberdeen in league cup action on Jan. 15.
on the delayed berhalter decision USSF just issued a cryptic press release saying he’s been under investigation since roughly 12/11 re “the matter” which was then expanded to cover “potential inappropriate behavior” towards “members of our staff” by “individuals outside our organization.” on the former berhalter has made a social media post admitting 31 years ago before they were married he once had a heated argument with his wife and kicked her in the leg in the parking lot of a bar. on the latter it is unclear who or what the “expanded investigation” is about. if i had to guess, USSF would likely have done due diligence and was this found out at the time.
he was hired by a man and former teammate during cordeiro’s term. cordeiro is gone and replaced by a former women’s NT player who settled the WNT pay lawsuit 180 degrees from where cordeiro was. between mediocre performance, the reyna situation, and this, i wouldn’t assume he’s back in. that being said USSF’s cryptic press release says they will announce who will lead the team in january camp in the coming days. GB’s contract has already expired and i find that language ominous.
Damn, Japan lucked out on their two players, Daizen Maeda and Kyogo, developing a sound attacking partnership and comradery at Celtic. I wish the starting USMNT players had more of those partnerships
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpznJj8ZXMY
i wonder if the fact US players are more broadly in demand now, less subject to bias and skepticism, complicates things. i think the selling team has a lot of say in where you go at what price. there was a point when we would typically be leaving MLS on a free and in limited demand certain spots where americans were favorites eg fulham. you might then have players clustered where they are wanted. right now, we are in demand and if juve wants to sell you to someplace else UCL for a bank trunk of money how much do the players fight it? the fanboys certainly don’t even if they end up sitting. as a result the clusters seem to be in places like fulham, with an americanized owner, or leeds and venezia, owned by americans.
personal experience playing time is huge. i wish they cared more about that. i don’t think it would hurt if we had clusters at teams who developed a rapport and could be used together. but then i thought bradenton was useful for this as well, and it’s gone. and then we look like a team who hasn’t played together much, no sort of intuitive tricks and flicks understanding of where to expect each other, what kind of passes they like……