It was an eventful weekend for Yanks overseas and south of the border, and there’s plenty of in-depth reading around if you’ve missed any of these stories.
– WATCH: Aron Johannsson scores, reaches second base with Roda defender
– Julian Green undergoes medical exam on injured left shoulder
So, yeah, things were going on. Let’s get to it.
Geoff Cameron left Stoke City’s 3-0 loss to Chelsea at halftime with an apparent lower-body injury, one that ends the right back’s streak of 24-straight matches going the distance for the Potters. He was not to blame on either of the Blues’ first-half tallies.
Over at Aston Villa, Brad Guzan can’t be thrilled with the defending in front of him. He surrendered multiple goals for the third-straight week and the Villans fell to relegation struggling Fulham 2-1 at home.
Elsewhere in the Premier League:
– Jozy Altidore not in Sunderland’s 18-man squad, with U-21s
– Tim Howard, Everton blank Arsenal to keep pressure on Gunners
– Rich get richer? Toronto GM would be “100%” interested in Brek Shea
Down in the Championship, an American scored a match-winner to give Reading some breathing room in its race for the final playoff spot. Their sixth-place standing is fairly secure after Danny Williams scored in the 73rd minute. There’s some great field-level video here, plus the news that Reading have signed US U-18 player Andrija Novakovich to join their academy this summer.
Jonathan Spector will be sitting out Birmingham City’s next match after picking up his fifth yellow card in Brum’s 3-1 win at Doncaster. Will Packwood did not play in the match, and Spector was strong by many accounts.
Staying with Championship backs, Tim Ream manned the left side for Bolton as they beat Huddersfield Town by a 1-0 scoreline. The Wanderers are all but safe, sitting 12 points above the drop. Duane Holmes played 10 minutes in the Terriers loss.
Oguchi Onyewu was injured, but it wasn’t the Sheffield Wednesday defender’s back this time around. Onyewu left at halftime of the club’s loss to Leicester City with a rib injury.
Germany saw Fabian Johnson‘s Hoffenheim side square off with John Anthony Brooks and Hertha Berlin. Johnson played the duration of the 1-1 draw, while Brooks left the match after 61 minutes and a yellow card.
In Turkey, Jermaine Jones picked up a yellow card in Besiktas’ 2-1 win over Kayserispor. On-loan to the club, Jones sees his team level on points with No. 2 Galatasaray but losing out by five goals in differential. Sacha Kljestan played the final 15 minutes of Anderlecht’s 3-0 win over Club Brugge.
Mix Diskerud did not play for Rosenborg in its 1-1 draw at Aalesund, but two other Americans in Norway did quite well. Coach Bob Bradley led Stabaek to a 2-1 win at Brann, with former L.A. Galaxy man Michael Stephens playing 72 minutes.
France was the spot for Ale Bedoya‘s return to the scoresheet, albeit in Nantes’ 3-1 loss to AS Monaco. His headed goal was a late highlight for the Canaries. See it here:
The Netherlands was the spot where FC Utrecht sunk to 10-men before calling on Juan Agudelo, who did not score in 45 minutes of work.
MLSSoccer.com has some solid reporting on the Yanks at work in Mexico’s Liga MX, and was hailing Joe Corona and Edgar Castillo for the jobs they did for Tijuana this weekend. Puebla played to a scoreless draw with Atlas, and DaMarcus Beasley went 90 minutes though Michael Orozco Fiscal was injured early on to complicate his already disappointing week after the Mexican club denied both players a trip to join the USMNT in Arizona. Jose Torres saw red in Tigres 2-0 win over Atlante, apparently tossing a punch in the later stages of the match.
