Carlos Bocanegra is our player of the week, along with teammate Mo Edu.
By Dru Boyer
Welcome back to your (nearly) weekly update on America’s footy heroes abroad. This week saw Timmy Howard get paired with an American sidekick, Friedel chase out the competition, and the AmeriGers on fire. POTW honors go to the two-headed goal scoring monster of Carlos Bocanegra and Maurice Edu
for their performance this past week. Amerigers!!!
Tim Howard made 5 saves in Everton’s 2-0 loss v. Man City. Howard joined at Everton by fellow American, Marcus Hahnemann. The Toffees signed Soul Patch Hahnemann to a
deal through January to provide a third option between the posts. It was Everton’s first defeat to Manchester City in five years.
Dempsey played 90 in Fulham’s 0-0 draw with West Brom. Deuce shot 5 times, put 2 on goal, and drew a pair of fouls. Dempsey and the Cottagers had multiple opportunities to come away with three points, but 5 saves from Ben Foster and at least one by West Brom’s post helped to keep the match scoreless….that was really more coverage than this match deserved.
Brad Friedel made 2 saves in a 2-1 Tottenham win. After being supplanted by Friedel, Heurelho Gomes will be looking for a new club once the January transfer window hits. Could Everton look to Gomes if they are concerned with keeper depth and/or results?
Carlos Bocanegra and Mo Edu both scored in a 4-0 win for the AmeriGers. The goals came a mere 8 minutes apart and both inside the first 20 minutes, as the Gers quickly put Dunfermline to bed…Edu’s goal was an absolute blast. Bedoya came off the bench for the final 17 minutes. TheGers were right back at it on Tuesday, following up the weekend blowout with a solid 2-0 win v. Kilmarnock. Boca went the full 90 and Bedoya again came on late, at the 75 minute mark. Edu was given the evening off.
Tim Chandler went all 90 in a 1-0 loss to M’gladbach. A penalty kick in the 75th minute decided this match, after one of Chandler’s fellow defensemen took down an outside midfielder. Chandler has
played 90 minutes in all of Nurnberg’s Bundesliga matches to this point.
MB90 played the full 90 minutes and had an assist in Chievo’s 2-1 win. The Flying Donkeys got a 90th minute goal after Genoa had been reduced to 10 men with half an hour to go. The Flying Donkeys is a nickname that I can get behind. The nickname originated when supporters of rival club, Hellas Verona, would chantthat donkeys would fly before Chievo would make it to Serie A…Hellas Verona is currently in Serie B, and have been since 2002. Fly donkeys fly, put that in your pipe and smoke it, Hellas Verona.
Jozy Altidore played all but the final half hour in Alkmaar’s 2-1 win. Jozy’s recent form would indicate that he has found a home in the Netherlands and he is taking major strides toward
become the player many Americans envision. Look- we all know there is goal inflation in Holland—how else do you explain double-digit goals from Michael Bradley—but if you watch Altidore play you can see his development and his improvement, and a strong performance against Honduras in a couple of weeks just might be the first sure-fire indicator it isn’t a fluke…
Onyewu put in 90 minutes and picked up a yellow as Sporting CP cruised 3-0. Not a bad follow up effort to his 74th minute game winning header the week before. There has been a large Twitter debate about whether Gooch will earn another call-up to the national team. My guess is that he won’t. We should all pull for Gooch because he’s a Yank and he’s served admirably for the national team. But his international days are likely over- especially under Klinsmann, who demands sound distribution from his central defenders. Plus there’s the little concern about Gooch’s ability to mark top-class strikers.
Sacha Kljestan went 90 as Anderlecht pulled out a 3-2 victory. Anderlecht let a two goal lead slip away before Guillaume Gillet netted a winner with about 2 minutes left in the match. It was a solid game for Kljestan, whose distribution continues to improve on longer passes and whose short and intermediate balls helped unlock the defense on the opening goal build-up.
Mix Diskerud played 90 minutes in a 1-0 loss for Stabaek.
Jon Spector started and played 56 minutes of a 1-1 draw. Spector and Birmingham next match comes on Thursday night in the Europa League.
Robbie Findley went 73 minutes in Nottingham Forest’s 1-0 win. Findley followed this performance up with 63 minutes in a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of Burnley.
Stu Holden may never play for the USA. That's a shame.
Additional Yanks
Brad Guzan dressed but did not play in Aston Villa’s 1-1 draw with QPR.
Stu Holden was not in Bolton’s 18 for their 3-0 loss to Arsenal. Holden is expected to miss six weeks after suffering a setback on his knee injury recovery. One can only hope that he isn’t a fading star at this point.
Zak Whitbread sat out Norwich City’s match with his hamstring issue.
Jermaine Jones didn’t dress for Schalke’s 4-2 win.
Cherundolo was in uniform but did not appear in Hannover’s 0-0 draw. The captain was given a breather after a busy Europa week prior to this match.
Europa League action resumes this week…so you have that to look forward to, in addition to this weekend’s games. What matches are you looking forward to most? Will Tevez make it to the stadium for Man City’s league game or refuse to leave his couch? That was a first-class beating the Citizens took against Bayern– nice of Tevez to come off the bench… I do the twitter, @SwampJankins.