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U.S. men's schedule, results
Lewis continues strong play, assists late goal to give Preston a 1-1 draw with Portsmouth.
On separate continents in disparate leagues, American goalkeepers shine in shutouts.
Walker returns to Chile and quickly minds Colo Colo net.
O'Brien returns to Ajax lineup; Friedel logs another strong effort.
Berhalter is central to Energie Cottbus rise in Bundesliga table.
Hahnemann, Berhalter are central to Reading, Cottbus victories.
Sanneh to undergo procedure for ailing back; Gibbs breaks ribs.
Americans shine in England while U.S. men come up short against Argentina.
McBride continues to spark Everton rise to top of Premier League table.
Rovers, Friedel rally to remain in FA Cup; O'Brien remains injured.
Sanneh courtship with West Brom is over after exchange of barbs.
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Americans Abroad Keller boots Tottenham to past Birmingham City 2-1; Friedel has easy time in Rovers 4-0 rout of Fulham.
By Robert Wagman (in Washington, D.C.)
(Monday, April 7, 2003) -- United States goalkeeper Kasey Keller's booming right foot paid dividends for Tottenham Hotspur Saturday. With time running down, Keller banged a long punt well past the center stripe. Spurs midfielder Gustavo Poyet latched on the ball and smacked a hard shot past unfortunate keeper Andy Marriot in the 88th minute and Tottenham had a 2-1 home victory over Birmingham City before 36,058 who witnessed the English Premier League match at White Hart Lane. Marriott's gaffe in the seventh minute allowed Spurs to take a 1-0 lead. After collecting a weak shot, Marriott dropped the ball at his feet to clear, unaware that Irish striker Robbie Keane lurked behind him. Keane, mourning the death of his father last week, stole possession and slipped the ball into an empty net. Keller made a spectacular first-half reaction save on Christophe Dugarry, but his work appeared headed for naught when Dugarry was pulled down by Mauricio Taricco in the Spurs' box. With Keller diving for a corner, Dugarry drilled his penalty kick down the vacated middle for a 1-1 tie in the 77th minute. United States striker Jovan Kirovski replaced Dugarrry, possibly feeling the effects of of Taricco's foul, in the 86th minute. Two minutes later, Spurs took the lead. U.S. keeper Brad Friedel came up big when the match was still in doubt and Blackburn Rovers then coasted to a comfortable 4-0 win this afternoon over Fulham, a team in turmoil. Friedel recorded his 11th shutout of the season. With the match scoreless in the 30th minute, Frenchmen Steed Malbranque took a pass from Steve Marlet and let loose a stinging first time shot that Friedel parried away with a dive. Two minutes later, Malbranque beat Spurs defender Craig Short, but his left-footed shot was handled by Friedel. Rovers took the lead on David Dunn's penalty kick in the 37th minute and took a 2-0 advantage into the break after Hakan Sukur scored in the 42nd. Damien Duff and Sukur scored a minute apart early in the second half and the rout was on. Friedel kept his clean sheet with saves on Martin Djetou and Malbranque. Fulham manager Jean Tigana, his club in 13th place, has been fired, but is finishing out the season. His probable replacement, Gianluca Vialli watched the match from the directors' box. In England's First Division, U.S. midfielder Eddie Lewis had another strong match, assiting the first goal for Preston North End which used a goal by Pawel Abbott in stoppage time goal for a 2-2 draw with Coventry. Lewis had a terrific first half. He almost scored early when he got under a Simon Lynch cross and sent a header barely over the crossbar. After picking up a yellow card in the 19th minute, he broke free down the left wing eight minutes later, beat a defender and sent in a well placed cross to Richard Cresswell who headed it past Coventry keeper Gary Montgomery for a 1-0 lead. Coventry went ahead 2-1 on goals by Craig Pead in the 52nd minute and David Pipe 10 minutes later. A rare error by American Marcus Hahnemann in goal helped Brighton past Reading 2-1 Friday. The match got off to a good start with end-to-end action when in the 17th minute, Reading defender Graeme Murty, under pressure from Bobby Zamora, nudged the ball back to Hahnemann. He thought the ball had come off a Brighton player and picked it up. The referee disagreed and without hesitation awarded an indirect free kick to Brighton from the penalty spot. Zamora, quickly restarted the play, while Reading were still arguing, sent the ball over to an unmarked Paul Brooker who easily scored into an open net. Brighton substitute Paul Kitson made it 2-0 in the 77th minute with a breakaway against the run of play. Jamie Cureton found net for Reading in the 84th minute. In a rarity for France, two Americans faced each other, if only for 20 minutes, as Bastia and Troyes struggled to a 1-1 draw Saturday. David Regis, fresh off another one-match yellow-card suspension, started for Troyes and played well until he was replaced by attacking midfielder Benjamin Nivet in the 81st minute. That move paid off when Nivet netted the equalizer four minutes later. Greg Vanney came on as a reserve in the 60th minute in an attempt to hold a 1-0 lead for Bastia, compliments of Florian Maurice's penalty kick in the 38th minute. Only 4,500 witnessed the match at Bastia's Armand-Cesari-Furiani Stadium, indicating why so many French teams are experiencing economic problems. American goalkeeper Joe Cannon was again on the bench for Lens which played to a 1-1 draw at home against Strasbourg. The match was odd in that both goals came in stoppage time. In France's second division , Metz, with several players injured, promoted young American defender Oguchi Onyewu to the first team, if only to watch an easy 4-0 victory over Nancy from the bench. Metz (16-7-9, 57 points), relegated from Ligue 1 after last season, solidified its prospects of being promoted back to the first division, but is in a five-way dog fight for three promotion spots. Toulouse (17-5-9, 60) leads the way with Le Mans (15-6-11, 56), Chateauroux (15-8-9, 54) and Lorient (15-8-8, 53) trailing Metz. John O'Brien, back after a solid effort for the U.S. in its 2-0 victory over Venezuela in Seattle March 29, went 90 minutes at left back for Ajax of Amsterdam which coasted to an easy 5-1 Eredivisie win over RBC Roosendaal. O'Brien started the plays that resulted in two of Ajax's three first-half goals. The match was a prelude to Ajax's Champions League quarterfinal against AC Milan, and kept the team in second place where it must finish to qualify for the Champions League next season. In Germany, Hannover 96 continues its odd up-and-down season, settling for a 2-2 draw with runaway Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich (19-2-6, 63) in a match 11th-place Hannover (9-12-6, 33) should have won. U.S. defender Steve Cherundolo, also back from a start for the U.S. in Seattle, played well on the right side and helped stake the team to a 2-0 lead on goals by Jiri Stajner in the 35th minute and Bergantin Vinicius nine minute later. The Hannover defense gradually were worn down by Bayern and gave up goals to Willy Sagnol in the 77th and Claudio Pizarro in the 86th. Energie Cottbus, with American Gregg Berhalter in the center of its defense, was denied a desperately needed point on Ioan Viorel Ganea's penalty kick in the dying moments gave VfB Stuttgart a 3-2 win. Berhalter played well, but Cottbus (6-16-5, 23) is in the basement, six points below safety from relegation. In Denmark, American defender Wade Barrett did well, but that could not be said about many of his AGF teammates, including the goalkeeper, in a 4-1 loss to Esbjerg FB. American keeper Jonny Walker did his part for Chile's Colo Colo, but it was eliminated from Copa Libertadores despite coming back for a 2-2 draw with Argentina's powerful Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires' legendary La Bombanera Stadium.
The match was terminated after 88 minutes when a fan tossed a flashlight battery that hit Walker in the head. He was not seriously injured. Colo Colo fell instantly behind when a cross found an unmarked Marcolo Delgado at the far post and he headed it in for a 1- lead in the second minute, Walker prevented the deficit from growing a minute later with a strong save on a shot from Guillermo Barros Schelotto. Four minutes later, Walker stopped a strong shot from an essentially unchallenged Delgado. Moments later, a Boca shot rebounded off a Colo Cola defender to Delgado, again unmarked, and he found the far corner of the net, just out of the reach of a frantic Walker dive, to make it 2-0. Walker made several more saves in the first half and Colo Colo began a climb back when Marcelo Espina converted a penalty kick to cut Boca's lead to 2-1 in the 41st minute. Six minutes into the second half, Colo drew level at 1-1 on a goal from Luis Ignacio Quinteros. The match then turned ugly. Walker made several good saves. Colo Colo was reduced to 10 men when Leonardo Ramos was sent off in the 74th minute and the atmosphere became dangerous when fans began throwing things at Colo Colo players. Colo Colo (5 points) was eliminated when Independiente de Medellin of Colombia (0 points) defeated Barcelona of Ecuador (4 points). Copa Libertadores' standings, with one match to go, Boca Juniors is on top of the Group with 10 points, Independiente has 9, followed by Colo Colo with 5 points and Barcelona with 4 points. Colo will face Independiente next week, but even a win will not be enough for them to be one of the two teams who will advance, so a mostly reserve team will travel to the match. Colo Colo warmed up for the match against Boca with a 2-1 loss in a friendly to powerful River Plate in Buenos Aires. After taking an early 1-0 lead, Colo Colo was dominated by River. Walker was strong, especially in the first half, when he kept River off the scoreboard. He was victimized by some less than stellar Colo Colo defending in the second half, giving up the game winner on a breakaway. In Chilean league play yesterday, Walker and Colo Colo easily dispatched Coquimbo Unido 4-0. Walker did not make a save until the 43rd minute when he stopped a shot from Cesar Diaz, his only recorded save of the match. Walker handled a few corners and crosses, but otherwise had a restful afternoon. Colo Colo (3-0-4, 13) sits in third place behind Audax Italiano (6-1-0, 18) and Cobreloa (5-1-1, 16).
Robert Wagman is a SoccerTimes senior correspondent and can be e-mailed at bobwagman@soccertimes.com. Gary Davidson is a SoccerTimes managing editor and can be e-mailed at editor@soccertimes.com. |
