Herculez Gomez was among the many Americans to score this week, slotting home a brace for Pachuca.
The theme for the USMNT heroes abroad this week? Yellow, Mexican league goals galore, and of course, the endless effort to say “Goal” in Turkish. Many cards of that color were handed out, and several goals were scored. That said, Tim Howard’s understudy Brad Guzan of the yellow clad Hull City Tigers is my Player of the Week for his 12 saves in 2 matches.
Timmy Howard and Everton scored a 3-0 victory at Wolves on Saturday. Howard needed only a pair of saves to record his 7th clean sheet, his last coming on February 26th. Howard is staying positive despite a season of what ifs for Everton. TYAC Editor-in-Chief, Neil W Blackmon, aka The Big Boss Man, is wondering the same thing himself. However, as we all know, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts every day would be Christmas.
Brad Friedel made 3 saves and Aston Villa picked up a 1-0 win over Newcastle on Sunday. MB90 was not in the active 18 for some reason that is beyond me. The victory gives Villa a little breathing room as they are 5 points clear of the relegation zone. James Collins joked that he will retire before Friedel does…I don’t get the joke and neither does the Farve of Villa Park.
Jermaine Jones went 90 minutes and earned a 71st minute yellow in a 1-1 draw for Blackburn. The Rovers find themselves only 3 points clear of relegation with Everton, Man City, and Bolton on the horizon…not an easy road.
Jon Spector entered in the 76th minute of a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Holden-less Bolton. West Ham is staring relegation eyeball to eyeball….they have conceded 23 goals since January 1st. This, in part, may have led to the dust up between Robert Green and Mark Noble. Come to think of it—Green could learn a little from Joe Hart, who saw his defense shredded at Anfield Monday but managed to keep his cool and continue encouraging his mates. A goalie that loses his temper is no better in soccer than in say…ice hockey. Don’t believe me—ask Ron Hextall—he won a bunch of championships…oh…wait.
Dempsey ran 90 minutes in Fulham’s 2-0 loss to Man U…can anyone beat the Red Devils right now? Deuce got off 4 shots, none of which troubled the Manchester defense. I want to hate Chicharito…I wanna hate his guts. But damnit if he doesn’t make what he does look good. I’m not really even talking about this match in particular, I just like his game…dude finds ways to score. Jackleg.
Mo Edu went 70 minutes and picked up a first half yellow in a 1-0 win for the Gers. Despite the victory, they remain 5 points behind Celtic for the top spot in the SPL. However, the Gers have 2 very winnable matches coming up against Aberdeen and St. Mirren. Depending upon the time this gets posted, they may have already clobbered Aberdeen with Edu assisting on one of the 3 goals.
Carlos Bocanegra put in 90 minutes for St. Etienne in a 2-2 draw at Auxerre. Also, Boca is a very very pretty man. #NoHomo.
Steve Cherundolo played all 90 and Hannover earned a 2-0 win over Mainz to keep themselves a point ahead of Bayern in the Champion’s League race. Captain Steve was presented with a yellow card in the 40th minute for his “dangerous play” involving knife juggling. As usual, DaMarcus Beasley did not participate in the action.
Timothy Chandler and Nurnberg held Bayern to a 1-1 draw to help out his homie Stevie C. Chandler went all 90 minutes for Nurnberg, who now find themselves a mere 2 points out of Europa League qualifying.
Eric Lichaj played 180 minutes in a pair of Losses for Leeds.
Brad Guzan made 12 saves in 180 minutes in a win and a loss for Hull City. I’m going to make Guzan my player of the week…and what is with Hull’s defense are they that horrible? It seems like Friedel’s ball boy is routinely making 5+ saves per match. Props, broseph.
Eddie Johnson recorded an assist and 2 shots on goal in 152 minutes for Preston in a pair of 1-1 draws.
As I mentioned in my previous piece, both Jozy Altidore and Alejandro Bedoya scored last Friday for their respective clubs. In addition, Herculez Gomez fired home a brace, with two fine goals this weekend for Pachuca. You can see all of those goals here and here.
Finally, if you haven’t seen Edgar Castillo’s golazo from this weekend yet—you are missing out. That ridonculous blast can’t be viewed anymore either, because of copyright issues with Puebla, and that’s a shame. Either way…maybe it is time to call that guy in one more time.
Dru Boyer is a Senior Writer for The Yanks Are Coming. He can be found on Twitter at @SwampJankins. Hit him up, 140 characters or less.