Americans Abroad

Four U.S. goalkeepers shine in England; three come away victorious.

By Robert Wagman (in Washington, D.C.),
Christopher Courtney (in Germany and Switzerland)
and Mark Flannery (in France)
SoccerTimes

(Monday, August 18, 2003) -- All three American keepers represented themselves well on the opening day of the English Premier League, but only two showed victories for their labors.

Tim Howard had an easy day in his first Premier League start for Manchester United in an easy 4-0 home victory over Bolton Wanderers Saturday at Old Trafford. Howard was only called on to make a few saves, one which was an acrobatic effort in which he used his fingertips to push a chip over the top with the score still 0-0 midway through the first half. His only other difficult chance was on a misplayed defensive header from teammate Mikael Silvestre.

Howard won his starting job after French international Fabien Barthez, the incumbent, had a miserable preseason midweek match against Stoke in which he gave up three soft goals. He also gave up three goals to Portugal's Sporting Lisbon a week earlier in a 3-1 exhibition loss.

Blackburn Rovers, with Brad Friedel, also got off to a fast start, crushing Wolverhampton 5-1. Friedel did what was required on a relatively easy Saturday.

With Rovers up 2-0 near the half, he was sharp in denying Dean Sturridge and Colin Cameron. The only goal he gave up was to Steffen Iversen who put back a rebound of his own header in the 71st minute to narrow the deficit to 3-1.

Kasey Keller also had a good day, but Tottenham Hotspur's attack was anemic in an opening 1-0 setback to host Birmingham City. David Dunn's penalty kick in the 34th minute gave City its margin of victory.

Keller did well in turning away a rocket from Christophe Dugarry.

United States striker Jovan Kirovski did not dress for Birmingham. He did not play in any of City's preseason matches, but did well in a reserve team exhibition match last week.

Hahnemann did not have a busy day with the action mostly in the Forest defensive end. Hahnemann was not busy earlier in the week either when Reading easily downed Boston United 3-1 in a Carling Cup early-round match. The only goal he gave up was on a penalty kick.

U.S. midfielder Eddie Lewis played 81 minutes for Preston North End in a 1-1 draw with Wigan. He took a knock last week and did not play Tuesday when North End was eliminated 7-6 in penalty kicks after playing a 0-0 draw with Notts County of the Second Division

Sunderland is still working to transfer U.S. midfielder Claudio Reyna to Fulham of the Premier League with recent press reports indicating the decision is up to Reyna.

Fulham is a team with problems and a prime early candidate for relegation, thus Reyna, which was relegated with Sunderland last season, might not want to relive that experience.

Fulham wants Reyna to replace England midfielder Sean Davis who has blasted his teammates for their attitude and is moving on. Interestingly, both Davis and Reyna have the same agent, Paul Stretford. He told reporters that meetings continue, but no progress has been made in Reyna`s move.

Meanwhile, Reyna sat out Sunderland's 1-0 loss Saturday to Millwall which dropped the club to 0-2.

In England's Second Division, U.S. midfielder John Thorrington went 90 minutes in a 2-2 draw with Boston United.

In the German Bundesliga, a bruised foot forced American defender Steve Cherundolo to sit out Saturday's 4-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen after he had started the season with two strong outings.

In Bundelisga 2, American striker Conor Casey went the distance and was issued a yellow card for Karlsruhe in a 2-1 loss to Oberhausen.

U.S. defender Gregg Berhalter went 90 minutes for Energie Cottbus which earned a well-deserved 3-1 win over Alemannia Aachen.

In the third division, FC St. Pauli, with U.S. defender Cory Gibbs playing 90 minutes on defense, gave up a two-goal lead and settled for a 2-2 draw against Dynamo Dresden, the fourth straight tie for St. Pauli which is 0-0-4.

Gibbs' situation with the club is confused, to say the least. The club rejected a $55,000 transfer offer for him saying it was insufficient. Several clubs have looked at him and, according to press reports, St. Pauli is now in talks with FC Köln about Gibbs. Gibbs' agent reportedly is pushing him towards Köln, but its level of interest in unclear.

At the same time, St. Pauli's manager told reporters this past week that if no satisfactory transfer offer comes through soon, the club will sign Gibbs to a new two-year contract and a substantial salary hike.

American defender Oguchi Onyewu's loan from Metz to Belgium's La Louvière is now official. After a short trial, Onyewu signed a one-year contract.

Robert Wagman is a SoccerTimes senior correspondent and can be e-mailed at bobwagman@soccertimes.com.