Liga MX side Club America earned its first league victory since July 15 on Wednesday night with U.S. men’s national team attacker Alex Zendejas delivering a positive offensive performance.
Zendejas registered two assists in a 3-2 home triumph over Necaxa, moving Club America on seven points through four matches. The 25-year-old started and played 87 minutes in the match, assisting on goals scored by Diego Valdes and Brian Rodriguez. It marked the first goal involvements of the Apertura season for Zendejas, who will be fighting to make the USMNT squad for September international duty. He has two final league matches against Club Leon and Cruz Azul before the FIFA break.
In South America, Johnny Cardoso and Internacional took a key first step towards booking their place in the Copa Libertadores semifinals.
In Europe, Sergino Dest made his PSV debut in a 2-2 first leg draw with Rangers. Sam Vines helped Royal Antwerp earn a first leg victory over AEK Athens. Mark McKenzie registered a game-winning assist for Genk in UEFA Europa Conference League Qualifying.
Here is a closer look at this weekend’s Americans Abroad:
Europe
UEFA Champions League Qualifying
Sergino Dest started and played 81 minutes in PSV’s 2-2 first leg draw with Rangers on Tuesday.
Ricardo Pepi, Malik Tillman dressed but did not play for PSV.
Sam Vines came off the bench and played 34 minutes in Royal Antwerp’s 1-0 first leg win over AEK Athens on Tuesday.
Erik Palmer-Brown did not dress in Panathinaikos 2-1 first leg loss to Braga on Wednesday.
UEFA Europa League Qualifying
George Bello dressed but did not play in LASK’s 2-1 first leg win over Zrinjski Mostar on Thursday.
UEFA Europa Conference League Qualifying
Mark McKenzie started, registered ONE ASSIST, and played 90 minutes in Genk’s 2-1 first leg win over Adana Demirspor on Thursday.
Djordje Mihailovic started and played 60 minutes in AZ Alkmaar’s 1-1 first leg draw with Brann on Thursday.
Paxten Aaronson, Timmy Chandler dressed but did not play in Eintracht Frankfurt’s 1-1 first leg draw with Levski Sofia on Thursday.
Henry Wingo dressed but did not play in Ferencvaros 4-0 first leg win over Zalgiris Vilnius on Thursday.
Sweden
Cup
Joe Gyau did not dress in Degerfors 3-0 win over Katrineholms SK on Tuesday.
South America
Copa Libertadores
Johnny Cardoso started and played 90 minutes in Internacional’s 1-0 first leg win over Bolivar on Tuesday.
Mexico
Liga MX
Alex Zendejas started, registered TWO ASSISTS, and played 87 minutes in Club America’s 3-2 win over Necaxa on Wednesday.
Sebastian Saucedo dressed but did not play in FC Juarez’s 4-1 win over Pumas on Tuesday.
Mr. Space,
“There are some players, for no discernable reason, just cannot replicate their Club performances with their National Teams. Maybe its confidence, maybe it’s the increased speed of play; but for whatever reason it just never translates”
There are discernable reasons. Some players just aren’t good enough to transfer their games. There are a lot of players who do well with one club, get sold or traded and you never hear from them again. It is no different with the USMNT.
Here are some intangible reasons:
A) You cap a guy because he’s doing well and showing promise at , in this case , Club America. I know nothing about Club America. But Alex gets imported into Greggs’ setup and:
1. The players and the coaches are all different.
2. Gregg’s scheme may not match up at all with what Zendejas does at America.
3. Alex may have a great relationship with his America teammates. Given his success, it’s clear they know just how best to play with him. Maybe his USMNT playmates are not as good or not as understanding.
4. The team culture is not one of success.
Just scraping by at the World Cup level by beating up on weaklings and then hoping a better team has an off day or needs to rotate their starters on you is not inspirational stuff. If your game plan for beating the Chiefs is to hope that Mahomes misses the game, you need a better team.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
In 2010 Arjen Robben said before a game with the USMNT that the the US was an honest hard working team that had no quality but were difficult to beat. Today we have a lot more quality but I’m not so sure we are as difficult to beat as Bob’s team was. Is Gregg, a decent manager, the kind of charismatic, inspirational leader you would run through brick walls for?
Getting back to Alex, you have just taken him away from the environment where he has shown success and put him in an alien environment.
Why should he succeed right away or even succeed at all?
B) The expectation is that he produces his best form immediately.
That level of expectation is completely different from what he would face if he were transferred to a new club. He has 7 USMNT caps and at this time is seen as a failure based on him not looking so good in his last couple of USMNT games.
Which is crazy. Except it isn’t.
A National team only plays a handful of games in a cycle that really matter.
Like it or not you have to be counted on to produce on time and on demand. You have to be the real deal immediately( in comparative terms) or they have to move on to someone else.
A lot of players never get comfortable with their national team. Ruud Gullit of the Netherlands, a Balon D’or winner and a legit World Class player had 66 caps and 17 Goals for them. He captained them to their only major trophy, the 1988 Euros. He wrote in his autobiography that he never felt comfortable playing for the National team but he kept going out of a sense of duty. It happens to the best of them.
If you get transferred to a new club, often you get a pre-season camp, maybe a few games on tour and most importantly, a ton more practice than newbies for the USMNT ever get.
It is always a good idea to start off fast like Flo did. In his first two games he clearly showed everyone what all the fuss was about.
It is also a good idea to cost them a lot of money, which always buys you a little more patience from your new owners. We did not buy Flo but did put in quite the campaign to get him to commit.
As a newbie, you get more time to prove yourself with a new club.
With a national team, by and large, getting off to a fast start is always helpful or you might never see another one.
Of course , with the USMNT, the qualifier to all of this is Gregg’s well known fondness for particular players who are of little discernable value, Gregg’s version of Soft Kitty/Warm Kitty.
Zendejas did not do well in the Gold Cup, and he definitely seemed to put entirely too much pressure on himself, and when stuff started to go South for him you could watch his composure and confidence visibly wilt…and then stuff got Not Pretty for him on the field for him. Normally you’d just shrug your shoulders and go: okay, that’s how it is. Some guys handle pressure well, others don’t. Next guy up.
The problem is, we don’t have many guys like Zendejas. America’s good at big strong athletes. Where we really fall down and have never measured up to the likes of Mexico or Argentina – I mean, look at Messi, Lordy – is finesse, precise technical ability, that ability to play in tight spaces and dribble and combine in the final third and especially the box. Zendejas is a guy who can do that, and he’s a lefty to boot, meaning the guy plays as an inverted winger on the right and naturally operates in the middle channels.
Those are unicorns. There are just not many guys out there with that skillset, at all, and it’s exactly what you need to break down low blocks, which I think the US is going to be seeing increasingly more of as more and more teams acknowledge the fact they simply cannot run up and down the field with us in an open game. And while his performances for the USMNT have been highly inconsistent – that’s probably kind – we’ve nonetheless seen him demonstrate his abilities both with us and with Club America and so we know he can do it when his head isn’t getting in the way.
I’d personally be reluctant to give up on him. It’d be hard to make an argument he belongs in our top 23 at the moment, but I still think he has the potential of getting there, and I’d personally continue to give him opportunities when opportunities presented themselves due to injuries or unavailability of other guys.
I really like Zendejas’s game, when he’s on. The dude can do some stuff. And he does offer us something we don’t have much of in the pool when he’s playing well.
I keep saying the same things about him
While everything you wrote is accurate there is an aspect of the international game that you are overlooking. There are some players, for no discernable reason, just cannot replicate their Club performances with their National Teams. Maybe its confidence, maybe it’s the increased speed of play; but for whatever reason it just never translates. Zendejas was given the opportunity to shine and lead during the Gold Cup, but struggled mightily throughout the tournament.
I’m not suggesting throwing Zendejas on the scrap heap just yet. But I do caution giving him too many opportunities at the risk of not trying others who may be able to make that transition from Club to International play. Last cycle Gregg’s continued inclusion of Roldan & Long even after many, many opportunities insured we never found a player who could have actually contributed.