It was a landmark weekend for Americans in Europe. From Brad Friedel record-breaking performance to Jozy Altidore's impressive start for Villarreal, several Americans Abroad enjoyed success across Europe.
Friedel set a new record for consecutive matches played, with 167 in a row in the English Premier League. Clint Dempsey made it tough on his countrymen by testing Friedel with a pair of quality shots in an inspired performance that should keep him in the Fulham starting lineup for the forseeable future.
Altidore earned a rare start for Villarreal and proved a handful for Recreativo Huelva in a 2-1 victory. Sal Zizzo didn't play for Hannover 96, but did make the subs bench for one of the few times this season. Matt Taylor continued his impressive first season in Germany's second division by scoring another goal for TUS Koblenz.
Not all the news was good for Americans this past weekend. Michael Bradley notched an own goal in a Borussia Moenchengladbach loss while Freddy Adu, Danny Szetela, Maurice Edu, Eddie Johnson and Heath Pearce failed to play.
Here is a rundown of how Americans Abroad did this past weekend:
ENGLAND
PREMIER LEAGUE
- Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made two saves in Aston Villa's 0-0 tie vs. Fulham on Saturday.
- Clint Dempsey started, played 90 minutes, drew a yellow card and forced both of Friedel's saves for Fulham.
- Brad Guzan dressed but did not play for Aston Villa.
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made three saves in Everton's 1-0 win vs. Tottenham on Sunday.
- Jonathan Spector and West Ham face Liverpool on Monday.
COCA COLA CHAMPIONSHIP
- Jay DeMerit started and played 90 minutes in Watford's 1-1 tie vs. Doncaster on Saturday.
- Frank Simek dressed but did not play in Sheffield Wednesday's 3-2 win vs. Norwich on Saturday.
- Eddie!Johnson did not dress in Cardiff City's 2-2 tie vs. Swansea City on Sunday.
- Marcus Hahnemann, Bobby Convey and Reading face Coventry on Monday.
SCOTLAND
- Maurice Edu dressed but did not play in Rangers' 2-1 loss to Hearts on Saturday.
- DaMarcus Beasley did not dress for Rangers.
GERMANY
BUNDESLIGA
- Steve Cherundolo started and played 45 minutes in Hannover 96's 3-2 win Karlsruhe on Saturday.
- Sal Zizzo dressed but did not play for Hannover 96.
- Michael Bradley started,played 69 minutes and scored an own goal in Borussia Moenchengladbach's 3-1 loss to Energie Cottbus on Saturday.
- Neven Subotic started and played 90 minutes in Borussia Dortmund's 0-0 tie vs. VfL Wolfsberg on Sunday.
BUNDESLIGA 2
- Matt Taylor started, played 90 minutes and scored a goal in TUS Koblenz's 4-1 win vs. Ahlen on Saturday.
- David Yelldell started, played 90 minutes and made one save for TUS Koblenz.
- Grover Gibson started and played 45 minutes for Ahlen.
- Gregg Berhalter started and played 90 minutes in 1860 Munich's 3-3 tie vs. SV Wehen on Sunday.
- Heath Pearce did not dress in Hansa Rostock's 2-0 loss to FC Augsburg on Sunday.
- Luis Robles started, played 90 minutes and made no saves in Kaiserslautern's 1-1 tie vs. Alemania Aachen on Friday.
SPAIN
- Jozy Altidore started and played 77 minutes in Villarreal's 2-1 win vs. Recreativo Huelva on Sunday.
ITALY
SERIE B
- Danny Szetela dressed but did not play in Brescia's 2-0 win vs. Mantova on Saturday.
FRANCE
LIGUE 1
- Carlos Bocanegra started and played 90 minutes in Rennes' 1-0 win vs. Paris St. Germain on Sunday.
- Freddy Adu dressed but did not play in Monaco's 1-0 win vs. Auxerre on Saturday.
LIGUE 2
- Quentin Westberg dressed but did not play in Troyes' 1-0 win vs. Stade de Reims on Friday.
BELGIUM
- Oguchi Onyewu started and played 90 minutes in Standard Liege's 0-0 tie vs. KV Mechelen on Sunday.
DENMARK
- Jeremiah White, Benny Feilhaber and AGF Aarhus face Odense BK on Monday.
- Danny Califf started and played 90 minutes in FC Midtjylland's 3-0 win vs. FC Nordsjaelland on Sunday..
- Lee Nguyen did not play in Randers' 2-2 vs. Ejsberg on Sunday.
- Tally Hall dressed did not play for Ejsberg.
AUSTRIA
- Preston Zimmerman started and played 90 minutes in Kapfenberg SV's 2-1 loss to Austria Vienna on Saturday.
MEXICO
- Michael Orozco dressed but did not play in San Luis' 2-1 loss to Santos Laguna on Saturday. The loss eliminated San Luis from the Mexican Apertura playoffs.
American-born Players Playing for Other Countries
- Giuseppe Rossi (Italy) started and played 89 minutes in Villarreal's 2-1 win vs. Recreativo Huelva on Sunday.
- Edgar Castillo (Mexico) started and played 90 minutes in Santos Laguna's 2-1 win vs. San Luis on Saturday.
- Brede Hangeland (Norway) started and played 90 minutes in Fulham's 0-0 tie vs. Aston Villa on Saturday.
- Boaz Myhill (Wales) started, played 90 minutes and made four saves in Hull City's 1-1 tie vs. Stoke on Saturday.
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What do you think of these performances? Were you impressed with Jozy Altidore's start? Did Clint Dempsey's performance make you start thinking about what he could do during next year's busy U.S. national team schedule? Having visions of an Altidore-Dempsey strike force at Confederations Cup? Are you starting to wonder if you will see Freddy Adu get any significant playing time for Monaco this year?
Share your thoughts below.
Torres came in for Blanco in the 77th minute for Santos
Adu’s lack of progress is starting to worry me. He’s on a mediocre club in France and not playing. Ives, can you catch up with the Monaco staff and give us a report on his development? Maybe what Benefica plans on doing with him as the loan to Monaco isn’t working, and he’s obviously not going to play in Portugal?
His international play has been anywhere from OK to great, but he will peak sooner if he doesn’t play.
I hope he transfers again, as playing time matters.
Heath Pearce was serving his 2nd game suspension. He’ll be back next week. Maybe.
Could you do a more extensive write up when players like Jozy, Bradley, or any other very noteworthy players get playing time. That would be helpful and entertaining for those of us that weren’t able to catch the games
Sorry my mistake Torres is on Pachuca duh!
It’s great that our top players are all some of the best players for their clubs: Dempsey, Bocanegra, Howard, Bradley, Cherundolo, Onyewu, and hopefully Donovan in January.
Altidore and Dempsey’s form of late has been outstanding. Was Villareal showcasing Jozy? Or testing to see if he can cut it with their team?
Club situations with Pearce, Edu, Beasley, and Adu are worrisome though.
I have never been able to get an answer from anywhere, but I was wondering how hard it is for 23 and under players (Altidore, Edu, Bradley, Zizzo, Szetela, Adu, etc) from other countries to get playing time in big European leagues. They all usually play very well when given the chance with the national team, but aren’t getting playing time for their club.
What’s up with Beasley??? Is he having injury problems again? He went from starting to not dressing for 4 or 5, started one game, and disappeared again.
If it is just a straight benching, then I’m glad Rangers have been worse without him.
Like the change in font/size of characters. Nicely done…
…Are we sure Clint started? cause it looks like he spent the night on the bench in that picture.
Altidore is our star striker
Damn, i cant wait to see which team Cooper heads to in Germany come January. Hopefully a mid level Bundesliga team.
The best Edu can do for the season is perform consistently so he can make the bench and become a super-sub. Beasley should be starting and providing goals for Rangers. If not, he probably will only be a sub come World Cup.
no big plays by our guys this weak, but the final video in the J Series (a trailer for the CC Series) includes most of the best plays from the US Soccer players over the last year or so.
link to youtube.com
Cooper and Altidore up top with Donovan/Dempsey on the wings and Bradley/Kljestan being our holding midfielders.
EJ has dropped so low, he couldnt even be our super sub striker for the WC. I see Charlie Davies having that role.
I pray the coach at Monaco gets some sense knocked in him soon or Adu’s stock will really drop. He can be exceptional for Monaco as well as for the national team.
Hej, who are your picks for strikers for the next World Cup? We need 4 or 5 to be safe.
Mine are Cooper, Altidore, Davies and maybe EJ or Brian Ching.
why doesn’t beasely start?
…Are we sure Clint started? cause it looks like he spent the night on the bench in that picture.
Posted by: Isaac
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He started.
It’s been 105 days since Bocanegra’s team has lost a league game. But hey, who’s counting? Let’s focus more on some random obscure 14th Danish division defender who happens to be from the US. Maybe he’s the answer for WC 2018.
you missed a comment of mine to erase. I expect for you to be perfect.
donovan a striker ching will be there. not so sure davies isnt are best striker, also preston zimmerman wil challenge for a world cup spot. also torres needs more of a look as a left or central mid.
Did anyone watch the Auxerre-Monaco game? Only reason I ask is because earlier this morning I went to skyports to check the scores of some of the games this morning and it said differently. The web site says that Adu came infor Monaco in the 54th minute for the only goal scorer goal scorer of the game Nikola Pokrivac. I looked at the commentary but it never says Nikola got subbed out, so maybe not. If this is the case and I made much adu about nothing, my bad… Just trying to help…
Jozy highlights from Villarreal game
link to 101greatgoals.com
Caption:
“Damn Brad your pits smell like you haven’t showered in 167 games.”
“Is that a Banana in your pocket or do you miss getting close to your national team buddies”
It looks like Rennes has a shot at Champions league next year. Seems to be a good move for Bocanegra. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Gooch making a French league move next month.
I felt that if Altidore got any playing time this year at one of the top clubs in the would it would be a bonus. Remember Rossi bounced around and it took him time to be a consistent starter.
Adu is young he needs to stay where he is and work for his opportunity.
When will people finally see that there has been much Adu about nothing?
Ives, are you still doing CONCACAF abroad?
EJ has sunk to a new low. When Cardiff lost both strikers and Eddie got to start, it was impossible to imagine that he could go back to the bench, let alone not even dress. Unless there was an injury issue that we don’t know about, I’d say that Eddie is done in England and on the MNT.
Huricano, the plan is to bring it back in December. It just took too much time to do and I was devoting that time to other things. Whether it’s me, or a new SBI correspondent, CONCACAF Abroad should be back soon.
Not sure what’s up with Beas, I wouldn’t write him off for the WC – he’s clearly one of our top players when healthy. He’ll be fine. He may need to work his way back into Rangers rotation though.
I figure EJ will finagle and find a way to either stay in The Championship or head to Scandinavia and play a few seasons or head back to MLS. Shame, cause he had ton of potential. Could have really excelled in say Holland but not England. His speed couldnt have saved him.
Strikers?
For me Altidore, Cooper, Donovan, Davies. Ching could make it as a super sub but i doubt Coach Bradley will bring him along. He’s like Heskey for England, he can help someone score but won’t score even against the lowest opposition.
I’d like to see Califf get some action in qualifying for next year. He could provide much needed depth for Pearce/Spector. Same with DeMerit. They both need to be called in. I figure Wynne/Orozco will as well but they’re too inexperienced to do anything but ride the bench for now.
I think if Adu was given the start for Benfica this season he could be assured of scoring a goal every 2 or 3games. He has the speed and the eye for the goal. He could do the same for Monaco if the coach would give him a chance.
Too much prejudice still exist for Yanks abroad.
My XI for the WC
Howard
Spector/Pearce Gooch Bocanegra Cherundolo
Bradley Kljestan
Dempsey/Adu Donovan
Cooper Altidore
That lineup could get us easily out of the groupstage.
Im hoping Michael Bradley and Altidore have an exceptional season.
Adu should probably look to extend his stay at Monaco after his loan period is over. Every time he moves he has to adapt to another system and as we have seen it takes time. I don’t know how much good it would do for him to return to Benfica since they brought in el Payasito Aimar to run the midfield after Rui Costa retired to fill his void. David Suazo, who is now sporting number 30 oddly enought for Benfica was brought in on loan up top, these two alone have been doing well for Benfica. Even before these acquisitions Adu found it hard to see playing time because the coach chose to give Di Maria experience over him. Whether or not he would have stayed in Benfica I don’t think it would be different that it is right now in regards to his playing time situation. Who knows what Benfica has in mind for him…
He should definitely stay put adapt and continue to fight for playing time before he keeps moving all over the place at the end of each season and we see the whole Benny Feilhaber situation all over again.
4 strikers to bring in 2010.
McBride, Donovan, Altidore, Ching.
of course cooper will take mcbride’s place because of early retirement.
bring friedel back and start in front of howard on keep.
friedel, howard, guzan
keller really is too old, but not friedel.
Looks like we can soon add Parkhurst to this list. It seems he is about to sign with a Danish club.
Zach, first of all Friedel retired from the nats. Its not liked he was dropped from our National team. He doesn’t want to come back. Secondly, I’m not a fan of Keller, but he’s only ONE year older than Friedel. That kinda puts a hole in your theory.
Ives, how long do you think it will be before Adu is back in MLS?
My XI for the WC
Howard
Spector/Pearce Gooch Bocanegra Cherundolo
Bradley Kljestan
Dempsey/Adu Donovan
Cooper Altidore
That lineup could get us easily out of the groupstage.
Posted by: IreneIsNotMyGod | November 30, 2008 at 06:55 PM
Whatever you are smoking make sure you still have some left in a year and a half. No one except maybe Brazil “easily” gets out of the group stage in a World Cup. Remember we are ranked 24th for a reason.
@CD, Okay not “easily” but i feel that’s our best option for a starting XI come the time of the WC. We have the players and nearly the depth to get things done.
Only strikers that jump to mind for me would be Altidore (getting better with each game for Villareal, Cooper (should fit in well with a mid-level European side), Donovan and 4th striker should either be Davies or Ching. Davies is alot younger and has his speed and is quite a star in the Swedish league whereas Ching has the experience and can be a great sub.
How has it been for Gooch, Beasley, Edu, Davies, Perkins and Califf to play for 3rd tier Euro leagues in comparison to Boca, Dempsey, Bradley in the bigger elite leagues?
My idea for a 23 man WC lineup would be
GK: Howard, Guzan, Perkins or Hahnemann
DF: Pearce, Spector, Gooch, Boca, Cherundolo, DeMerit, Parkhurst, Wynne
MF: Bradley, Edu, Klejstan, Beasley, Adu, Torres, Dempsey, Rogers
ST: Altidore, Cooper, Donovan, Davies
Jozy can play in La Liga. Villarreal should ditch Guille Franco. Thanks for the highlights.
HenrikSSW -
No califf, holden, feilhaber, convey, simek, zizzo or szetela? not saying i disagree, but why did you make the choices you did?
My darkhorse pick…Eric Lichaj.
It’s official: Jozy is going nowhere (es espanol):
link to elperiodicomediterraneo.com
The reason Freddy Adu doesn’t play for Monaco is because he is a one-way player and often seems disinterested in playing defense, which is key in the midfield. Hell, even wingers defend from time to time. If he was playing up front, that would be fine, but because most of the time he’s in the attacking midfield position or on the wing, he has to defend (sometimes), and he just doesn’t.
As for Jozy, happy to see him get the start and shine. He can play for Villareal right now and probably should consistently be on the bench, if not starting
I wouldn’t rule out Marshall or Ching plus if Gibbs can ever stay healthy he could take one of the last spots
you should start including Gabriel Ferrari on Perugia in Italy.