American Players Abroad

With the success so far of Landon Donovan at Everton, there is a lot of excitement surrounding the US men’s national team ahead of the 2010 World Cup. Here is a rundown of how our American players are performing across the sea in Europe.

Goalkeepers
Tim Howard-Everton-English Premier League
Tim Howard has established himself as a top-flight keeper in the Premier Leauge. He is coming off of a season where he set the club record for most league match clean sheets. There has been a bit more of a struggle this season as Howard deals with a pitiful Everton defense, but he is still ranked as the 10th best keeper in the Premier League (by the Premier League itself). He recently captained Everton for the first time ever, in December against Chelsea.

Defenders
Jay DeMerit-Watford-English Premier League
DeMerit has been turning in solid performances as the skipper of the Watford side. He was sidelined for several weeks with an eye injury but is back in the squad and producing, and his side Watford sits in 11th in the Championship.

Oguchi Onyewu-AC Milan-Italian Serie A
Onyewu has been injured with a torn patellar tendon since October, and expects to be back training with Milan by March. It was difficult for him to find playing time before he was injured, and hopefully he can see the field for them and get his form back before June 11 rolls around.

Steve Cherundolo-Hannover 96-German Bundesliga
Cherundolo injured his shoulder at the end of January and will be out for at least all of February.

Carlos Bocanegra-Rennes-French Ligue 1
Bocanegra had a solid campaign last year with Stade Rennes in France, and he saw his playing time dip slightly early in the season. However it appears he has regained his starting spot back recently. He is the captain of choice for Bob Bradley’s men going into South Africa.

Jonathan Spector-West Ham-English Premier League
Spector has been getting a lot of playing time lately as left back for the Clarets after a being an unused substitute for much of December.

Midfielders
Clint Dempsey-Fulham-English Premier League
Dempsey had established himself as one of the best wingers in the Premiership until a knee injury on January 17. Dempsey was even named one of the top 11 players in the Premiership by Italian paper la Gazzetta dello Sport at the end of 2009. Before the injury, Dempsey netted this wonder goal to confirm the Gazzetta’s suspicion that Dempsey is really, really good.

Michael Bradley-Borussia Monchengladbach-German Bundesliga
Bradley has been seeing a lot of the field lately for the mid-table German side, and just this past weekend turned in a man of the match performance in the club’s 2-1 win over FC Nurnberg.

Ricardo Clark-Eintracht Frankfurt-German Bundesliga
Ricardo Clark just signed with Eintracht Frankfurt in January but has not yet played for the club. He needed time to get to top fitness and has recently pulled a muscle in his right leg, delaying his debut further.

Stuart Holden-Bolton-English Premier League
Like Clark, Holden just signed with Bolton in January and has not yet played for the club due to fitness concerns and a thigh strain. Bolton is in need of him as they will be mired in a relegation struggle for the rest of the season.

Benny Feilhaber-Aarhus-Danish Superliga
Feilhaber has recently tweaked an ankle in training for Aarhus (so many injuries…), though he is not expected to miss any action. The Danish Superliga has been on break since early December and Aarhus does not return to action until March 7th, and Feilhaber should see a lot of playing time when action starts up again.

Forwards
Charlie Davies-Sochaux-French Ligue 1
Davies is in the midst of a remarkable recovery since the horrific car accident he was a part of last October. Nobody dared dream that Davies would make it back in time for the World Cup but he has defied the predictions of his doctors so far in his recovery and he is confident he will be healthy in time. Davies provided much-needed spark to the national team and if he can get back to Sochaux before the season is out he will certainly be welcomed back with open arms. The most recent news is that Davies is back in France with Sochaux and hopes to be training within a month, which is fantastic news for all USA fans!

Landon Donovan-Everton-English Premier League
Landon Donovan has been making headlines since his loan deal began with Everton at the beginning of the year. Donovan has turned in great performances against Premier League giants Arsenal, Chelesa, and Manchester City, including an assist against both Arsenal and Chelsea to go with a goal against Sunderland. Even the notoriously hard to please British media has embraced Donovan’s abilities, including a Star Man performance against Chelsea when he was rated an 8 out of 10. This past week Everton supporters voted Donovan player of the month for January. There has been talk of Donovan remaining in the English Premier League on a permanent basis, but Everton captain Phil Neville has said, “"It is what it is, Landon is here for two months and we have just got to accept that and let's just hope we can get him back for another two months next year…He loves living in L.A. and loves playing in the MLS, but we have just got to accept he will not be staying but he has been fantastic for us and let's hope that continues." Clearly Donovan has made an impact in the English Premier League and we can only hope that is an impact that will be felt in South Africa next summer.

Jozy Altidore-Hull City-English Premier League
Altidore has been seeing more of the field for Hull City in the Premier League as of late, starting in their last 7 matches. Altidore scored his first ever EPL goal in a 2-1 win for Hull City over Manchester City on February 6th and his play has been improving all year. It is easy to forget that Jozy is just a 20-year old kid over there (4 months younger than myself) and the performances he has been putting in are really remarkable for a kid his age. He has expressed interest in remaining at Hull beyond his loan deal that expires at the end of the season which would continue the string of solid American play in the Premier League.

Freddy Adu-Aris FC-Greek Super League
While Freddy Adu has seen little of the field for both club and country in the past couple years, he may have found new life at Greek side Aris Thessaloniki. In his first league start for the club he notched a nice game-winning goal and played well in a 2-1 win over Ergotelis.