American Abroad
A tough Saturday for National Team players in Mexico. Herculez Gomez came on for Pachuca as a 66th
minute substitute with Pachuca already trailing by two goals to Santos. Pachuca ended up losing
3-0. Jose Francisco Torres wasn't in the squad. Edgar Castillo subbed in for San Luis in the 34th
minute, but the score was already settled in the 1-0 loss to Chivas.
Both of Pachuca's Americans got time in their 3-0 win over Club America to open their Apertura
schedule. Jose Francisco Torres got the start and Herculez Gomez was a 58th minute substitute. Club
America put the ball in the back of their own net to open the scoring in the 13th minute. Edgar
Benitez converted a penalty to make it 2-0 in the 40th, and it was Benitez again in the 54th.
CONCACAF's Club World Cup representatives feature two Americans, old hand Jose Francisco Torres and
new arrival . Both were part of the United States World Cup squad in South Africa. Though MLS fans
might be discounting their chances in the 2010 Apertura, they're contenders not only in their group
but for the title.
Pachuca lost their Clausura semifinal second-leg 1-0 on the night and the series 3-2 on aggregate
to Toluca at the Nemesio Diez on Saturday. Antonio Rios scored the game's only goal in the 42nd
minute. Toluca went down a man a minute later when Osvaldo Gonzalez was sent off. Jose Francisco
Torres started for Pachuca and played the full ninety.
Jose Francisco Torres started and played 62 minutes in Pachuca's 2-2 draw with Toluca at the Nuevo
Hidalgo. Toluca opened the scoring through Diego Novaretti a minute into the second-half, with
Puebla equalizing in the 59th. The two teams traded goals again, with Toluca scoring in the 80th
and 58th-minute substitute Dario Cvitanich equalizing for Pachuca in the 85th.
Michael Parkhurst and FC Nordsjaelland exited the Europa League at the Third Round qualifying stage
on Thursday, losing 2-1 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate to Sporting Lisbon. Helder Postiga gave
Sporting the lead in the 24th minute, with Rawez Lawan equalizing for Nordsjaelland in the 79th.
Maniche scored for Sporting in stoppage time.
Anderlecht 1 - KAA Gent 0 Sacha Kljestan made his debut for Anderlecht in the Belgian Super Cup on
Sunday. Kljestan started for his new club, with Cheikhou Kouyate getting the game's only goal in
the 30th minute. This is the 9th time Anderlecht have won the Super Cup, with the league champion
facing the Belgian Cup winner.
With the Scandinavian leagues in action over the weekend, Clarence Goodson scored in the 4th minute
for IK Start's 1-0 win over Aalesund in Norway's Tippeligaen. Fellow US national Hunter Freeman had
the assist on the goal, with both players going the full 90 for Start. Freeman was also yellow
carded in the game.
Anderlecht took the second leg of their Champions League third-round qualifying series 3-0 on the
night and 6-1 on aggregate over Welsh club The New Saints. Sacha Kljestan got the start and played
73 minutes at Anderlecht's Constant Vanden Stock Stadium. Tom De Sutter opened the scoring in the
17th minute and Anderlecht got two second-half goals from Romelu Lukaku (69th and 74th) to finish
off the shutout.
Dominic Cervi was on the bench as Celtic's future in the 2010-11 Champions League looks bleak. They
lost the away leg of their qualifying series with Braga 3-0 at the Estadio Municipal de Braga. Alan
converted a 26th minute penalty to open the scoring, Uwa Echiejile made it 2-0 in the 76th, and
66th minute substitute Matheus finished off the scoring in the 89th.
Following his Super Cup goal for new club Anderlecht, Sacha Kljestan has now scored in his first
opportunity in Champions League play. It took 7 minutes. Kljestan had the opening goal in
Anderlecht's 3-1 Third Round Qualifying win over The New Saints on Tuesday. Jonathan Legear made it
2-0 in the 18th before the Welsh club pulled a goal back at the 2,000-capacity Park Hall.
United States National Team forward Herculez Gomez has signed with Pachuca. Gomez was tied for the
scoring lead in the 2010 Clausura as a member of Puebla. With his contract up and his stock on the
rise, he joins reigning CONCACAF Champions League title holder and Club World Cup qualifier
Pachuca. Gomez joins US National Team midfielder Jose Francisco Torres at Pachuca.
Aris beat local rivals PAOK in the Greek League playoffs for the second Champions League place.
Aris went up in the 12th minute through an own goal, with PAOK equalizing ten minutes later. Aris
took the lead in the 32nd, but PAOK equalized again when Cirillo Bruno converted a penalty just
before halftime.
In what seem like the never-ending playoffs for Greece's other Champions League spot, Freddy Adu
was on the bench for Aris in their 0-0 draw with Olympiakos. Eddie Johnson is in National Team camp
where he is day-to-day with an injured hamstring. Norway, and Clarence Goodson and Hunter Freeman
went the distance for IK Start, beating Kongsvinger 3-0.
MLSSoccer.com is now reporting that Johnson's injury might not prevent him from participating in
the World Cup camp starting this weekend. Johnson's agent Richard Motzkin is quoted as saying: "He
doesn't think it's going to be that long. As planned, he'll join the US team shortly, and he won't
play any more matches for Aris.
First Star: We already covered Steve Cherundolo and Hannover 96's dramatic end to the Bundesliga
season. For those of you that missed it, Hannover 96 3 - VfL Bochum 0. So instead of repeating
ourselves, this week's first star is Eddie Johnson. He played 90 minutes for Aris in the playoffs
for the Greek League's other Champions League slot, scoring Aris's second goal in a 4-2 loss to
Olympiakos.
Alejandro Bedoya started and played 82 minutes for Orebro on Monday in their 2-0 win over
Atvidabergs FF at the Kopparvallen Stadium. Nordin Gerzic put Orebro up in the 9th minute and
Paulinho Guara finished off the scoring in the 66th. John Alvbage picked up the shutout.
With the Allsvenskan following a March - October schedule, Alejandro Bedoya went the full ninety on
Monday in Orebro's 2-0 win over Trelleborgs in front of 7.034 at Behrn Arena. Roni Porokara opened
the scoring in the 22nd minute and Samuel Wowoah followed in the 31st. Orebro are currently 3rd in
the table.
Alejandro Bedoya and Orebro drew 0-0 with IFK in the Swedish Allsvenskanliga on Thursday. Bedoya
was yellow carded in the 32nd minute. Orebro are 3rd with 22 points from 13 games. Helsingborg is
top of the table with 32 points from 12 games.
On Thursday, Alejandro Bedoya went the full ninety for Orebro in their 2-1 loss to Helsingborg.
Orebro had the assist on Paulinho Guara's 61st minute goal, with Orebro already trailing 2-0.
Ricardo Clark's move to Eintracht Frankfurt has paid off. Similar to former Houston Dynamo teammate
Stuart Holden's move to Bolotn Wanderers, Clark was on a short-term deal scheduled to run out at
the end of the season.
United States National Team player takes the captain's armband at Hannover 96. Cherundolo has
previously served as vice-captain. He replaces Hanno Ballitsch who transferred to Bayer Leverkusen.
United States National Team captain Carlos Bocanegra will be joining Saint Etienne after completing
a transfer from Rennes. The transfer fee was reportedly a little over $600,000 dollars. Bocanegra
joined Rennes from Fulham for the 2008-09 season and had 64 appearances and two goals.
United States National Team defender Steve Cherundolo has agreed in principle to a contract
extension with Hannover 96. Hannover 96 sporting director Joerg Schmadtke confirmed on the club's
website that Cherundolo's contract will be extended through the 2011-12 season with an additional
one-year option.
Milan and United States National Team defender Oguchi Onyewu has added a season to his contract.
Onyewu will be with Milan through the 2012-13 Serie A season, and according to the club they have
accepted his offer to play without compensation in 2012-13. "This is an exemplary gesture that
deserves our sincere congratulations," the club said in a statement.
Toronto 1 – Bolton 1 (3-4 on penalties) Stuart Holden was a 61st minute substitute in Bolton's
draw with Toronto at BMO Field. On a night when Toronto decided to see how deep their bench was,
they fell behind to a 28th minute Matt Taylor goal. Maicon Santos brought Toronto level in
first-half stoppage time, finishing of a Mista cross.
United States National Team and Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein will be joining Tigres for
the Clausura season in January, 2010. Bornstein has signed a pre-contract with Tigres. "First and
foremost, I remain focused on finishing this season with Chivas USA," Bornstein said in a press
release. "There is a lot we can accomplish, from SuperLiga this week to the Open Cup semifinals in
September, getting into the playoffs and making a run at MLS.
In front of just over 5,000 fans at Robertson Stadium, a mix of regulars and reserves had Houston
in the lead 6 minutes in when Lovel Palmer scored. Chivas USA needed 65 minutes to get that goal
back, with Jesus Padilla equalizing in the 71st. Though Houston outshot Chivas USA 16 to 6, they
only put 4 of those on frame to Chivas USA's 3.
Dominic Cervi got another start in goal for Celtic and this time that came along with the win.
Celtic beat the Sounders 2-1 in front of 45,631 at Qwest Field. Georgios Samaras opened the scoring
in the 32nd from the penalty spot, and Patrick McCourt made it 2-0 in the 64th. Seattle got their
goal when David Estradas scored in the 66th.
Celtic's preseason tour opened with a loss on Wednesday night, but Dominic Cervi got 90 minutes of
work for the visitors at PPL Stadium. With Celtic in the midst of goalkeeping issues after
transferring their #1 keeper Artur Boruc to Fiorentina shortly before the club left for their North
American tour, Cervi got the opportunity in goal.
United States National Team midfielder Sacha Kljestan has joined Anderlecht, according to a report
on the Belgian club's official site. Kljestan has spent his entire career with Chivas USA, joining
the club as a Generation adidas player in 2006. He is expected to be officially introduced as a
member of Anderlecht later this week.
Eddie Johnson got an early highlight on his return to Fulham after his loan spell with Aris in the
Greek League, scoring in a friendly against Brentford. Fulham won 5-0 with Johnson's goal coming in
the 49th minute to give the club a 4-0 lead. Johnson started and played 79 minutes.
English Premier League manager of the year Roy Hodgson is no longer in charge at Fulham. Hodgson
resigned "effective immediately" on Wednesday to take the manager job at Liverpool. Hodgson had
been with the club since the 2007-08 season when they finished 17th. They improved to 7th in
2008-09, finishing 7th again last season and making the Europa League final.
Dominic Cervi's chances at cracking the Celtic starting lineup might have improved. Starting keeper
Artur Boruc was with the team waiting on a flight to Philadelphia where they play the Union on the
15th when his transfer to Serie A club Fiorentina was made official. Boruc left for his new club,
opening up the starting job at Celtic.
Salt Lake, LA, Toronto, and San Jose all grabbed multi-goal wins in Week 7, with Los Angeles,
Toronto, and San Jose scoring four goals. Elsewhere, after grabbing their first win of the season
on Wednesday, DC United lost a close game in Frisco. Salt Lake 3 - Philadelphia 0 The defending
champions took full advantage on Saturday, putting three goals past the Philadelphia Union at Rio
Tinto Stadium.
The Rest
If we had enough games to do our normal star rankings, Edgar Castillo would take the first star.
After coming on as a 55th minute substitute for San Luis against Puebla, Castillo scored in the
64th to cut Puebla's lead in half. Unfortunately for San Luis, that was the extent of their offense
in the 2-1 loss.
1860 Munich forward Kenny Cooper fractured his right ankle in training with the club on Thursday
and is expected to need up to three months to recover. This was Cooper's first training day with
the club after returning from his loan to Plymouth Argyle.
Frank Simek is now a member of Carlisle United in England's League One, the third level of English
professional soccer. Simek's contract with Sheffield Wednesday ended at the end of the 2009-10
season. He signed with the club for the 2005-06 season and made 119 appearances scoring twice. "I
had a couple of conversations with the manager and I liked the things that I heard," Simek told the
club's official site.
US National Team goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann will be spending the 2010-11 season with Wolverhampton
Wanderers, the club has confirmed. Hahnemann has signed a one-year extension to his contract. He
took over the number one keeper spot with the club and helped them to a 15th-place finish in his
first season with the club.
Rangers midfielder DaMarcus Beasley announced he will be leaving the Scottish champions. The
Scottish Premier League season ended on Sunday, and Beasley announced through his twitter feed that
he isn't going to be signing a new contract with the club. With Rangers under severe financial
constraints, next season's squad is expected to undergo an overhaul.
Facing a must-win game in order to avoid relying on other results to stay in the Bundesliga,
Hannover 96 came up big on the last day of the season beating VfL Bochum 3-0. Steve Cherundolo went
the full ninety in a game that capped a run of form that salvaged Hannover's season. Arnold
Bruggink opened the scoring in the 9th minute with Mike Hanke following in the 20th and Sergio
Pinto making it 3-0 just.
