As of the submission of this post, we are about 11 hours from the announcement of the host country of the 2022 World Cup. I’m excited as crap about the potential of the cup returning to the states, but it is mind boggling to think that the U-17 guys I watched tonight defeat Korea will be 28…and I’ll be pushing 40, like pushing 40 really hard. Whatevs, I hope I’m celebrating the big Four-Oh with all of you in the land of baseball and apple pie.
Schalke v. Lyon 11/24/10
Jermaine Jones and Schalke picked up a big 3-0 Champion’s League victory. The slow to anger and quick to forgive Jones earned himself his 3rd yellow card in 4 games. More on this below.
Aston Villa v. Arsenal 11/27/10
Friedel allowed four goals from four different Gunners in a 4-2 loss. The Farve of Villa Park has given up 10 goals in his last four starts. Villa scored both of their goals in the second half, but it was not enough to trouble one of the EPL’s top contenders.
Everton v. West Brom 11/27/10
Timmy H did not have a day to remember, giving up 3 goals to West Brom and an 87th minute own goal in the 4-1 defeat. Everton look like dump this year, sorry Mr. Seco. Between Howard and Friedel, that is 8 goals conceded over the weekend by our men between the pipes…at least Guzan didn’t get scored on.
Fulham v. Birmingham 11/27/10
Dempsey scored a 53rd minute equalizer in a 1-1 draw at the Cottage. Deuce is now Fulham’s leading scorer on the season with 6 goals, 5 of which have occurred in EPL matches. Eddie Johnson came on in the 73rd minute and had an excellent chance to win the game, but slid his attempt into the side netting. The Cottagers are 0-2-3 in their last 5 matches.
Hannover v. SC Freiburg 11/27/10
Steve Cherundolo played the full 90 and Beasley made an appearance in a 3-0 victory. Hannover has worked themselves up to fourth place in the Bundesliga behind the power of Captain Steve. Beasley has played roughly 55 minutes in 64 days.
Schalke @ Kaiserslautern 11/27/10
Jermaine Jones found himself with another yellow in a 5-0 loss. After the match Jones was demoted to the reserve club, Schalke’s coach cited a lack of effort and the fact that Jermaine had more yellow cards than an Uno deck.
M’gladbach @ Dortmund 11/27/10
In the result you can count on every week, MB90 and crew got destroyed again. The table leaders feasted on the bottom feeders for a 4-1 victory. Bradley played the full 90 after only seeing 88 minutes of action last week. Those 2 minutes represent the only 2 minutes he has missed in regular time all season…workhorse. Three of Dortmund’s goals came in the second half
St. Etienne @ Nancy 11/27/10
Carlos Bocanegra went all 90 in the 1-1 draw. Carlos put a shot on goal, but he was unable to cash in on either of his shot attempts. After getting off to a hot start, Boca and St. Etienne find themselves like many Americans nowadays…in the lower half of the middle class.
Anderlecht v. Royal Charle 11/27/10
Sacha Kljestan picked up a 71st minute yellow in his 90 minutes of action in a 4-1 win. Anderlecht is now a point clear of the top spot in the Belgian Jupiler League.
West Ham v. Man Utd 11/30/10
Jon Spector, remember him, had a first half brace and the Hammers pounded Man U 4-0. Spectors’ goals encompass his entire scoring portfolio in top tier English football…not too bad for a guy that had not played in forever. Jon said that he was inspired by Barca’s rout of Real Madrid earlier in the week. Carlton Cole also scored a pair of goals in the match.
Aston Villa @ Birmingham 12/1/10
Papa Friedel allowed a 84th minute goal off of a deflection and Villa dropped the Carling Cup match 2-1. After the game the fans fired missiles, actually they threw them…and missiles is British talk for rose petals, how adorable. Unfortunately, Brad Guzan has not been impressive enough to warrant serious consideration to replace the 40 year old Friedel.
St. Etienne v. Valenciennes 12/1/10
Bocanegra again played all 90 minutes and again came away with a 1-1 draw. St. Etienne got off to a 1-0 lead before giving up a 76th minute equalizer. Boca has evidently worked himself back into fitness as he played all 180 minutes over a 5 day stretch. Over a similar 5 day stretch last week, I gained approximately 6 pounds.
Anderlecht @ Zenit St. Petersburg 12/1/10
Kljestan earned his second yellow card in 5 days as his club dropped the Europa League match on the road 3-1. Anderlect will now need a win against the Croatian club, Hajduk Split to advance to the knockout stage.
Mo Edu could be ready to go by the weekend.
I hope everyone had a delicious Thanksgiving and didn’t make any mistakes with that one chick from high school that was way drunk at the bar on Wednesday night. I know that I hate it when that happens.
Dru Boyer is a staff writer for The Yanks Are Coming. He can be reached at dru@yanksarecoming.com and you can follow him on Twitter at @SwampJankins.