Americans Abroad

Casey scores twice to give Karlsruher 2-1 victory over Ahlen in Germany.

Conor Casey was named "Player of the Week" in Germany's Bundesliga 2 after leading Karlsruher to victory -- Karlsruher web site photo --

By Robert Wagman (in Washington, D.C.),
SoccerTimes

(Monday, August 25, 2003) -- American striker Conor Casey was named "Player of the Week" in Germany's Bundesliga 2 after scoring both goals for Karlsruher in a 2-0 victory over Ahlen.

In the 19th minute, he slid into to put a rebound into the net. In the 64th minute, he scored on a crashing header that Ahlen keeper Bernd Meier could not hold.

In a nationally-televised second-division match, U.S. defender Gregg Berhalter started for Energie Cottbus and turned in a solid effort at center back in a 2-2 draw with FC Nürnberg.

In the first division, U.S. defender Steve Cherundolo is sidelined with an injury and did not dress for Hannover 96 which fell to Bayer Leverkusen 4-0. His replacement, Thomas Schneider, played poorly.

In German Regionalliga (third division) play, St. Pauli appears in full collapse, losing to Wuppertal 3-0. American defender Cory Gibbs started and received an early yellow card with a hard foul. He did not have a strong performance and this match likely did little good in his quest for a transfer to a Bundesliga 2 side.

"We're pretty close to signing (Reyna) now," Coleman said. "Hopefully we'll be getting him through the door very shortly. . . Everything is agreed. We've just got one or two details to sort out, but we're very optimistic he'll be a Fulham player shortly."

Reyna did not play for Sunderland in either of its two First Division victories, 2-0 over Preston North End on Saturday and 2-0 over Watford today.

It was a busy weekend for U.S. goalkeeper Brad Friedel, who suffered though an off night tonight in Blackburn Rovers' 3-2 home loss to Manchester City.

Not only was it a rare evening where Friedel saw three balls go by him, the Manchester winner came in a situation where the American is seldom beaten French international Nicolas Anelka gave City a 3-2 advantage in the 86th minute from a sharp angle, outracing two defenders down the side and sliding a shot through Friedel's legs as he came out.

City took a 1-0 lead in the third minute on a magnificent 38-yard free kick from Michael Tarnat that dipped and curved wildly, catching Friedel leaning the wrong way. He got a hand on it, but could only push it inside the post.

After Rovers tied the game in the 43rd minute with an own goal, Manchester went ahead 2-1 in the 58th minute on a goal by Joey Barton who put the ball between two defenders leaving Friedel partially screened and the shot skipped under him. Two minutes later, Rovers tied it again on a tally by Lorenzo Amoruso.

Friedel did better with a solid effort Saturday when Blackburn, after having Steven Reid sent off in the 87th minute, earned a 2-2 draw with host Bolton Wanderers when Dwight Yorke scored in stoppage time.

Youri Djorkaeff scored on a penalty kick in the third minute and Kevin Davies made it 2-0 for Bolton 21 minutes later after he was sent through alone on Friedel.

Twice, Friedel stopped it from becoming 3-0 with two good saves on Henrik Pedersen while still in the first half. Matt Jansen's early second-half strike narrowed Rovers' deficit to 2-1 before Yorke's equalizing header.

Young American keeper David Yeldell, number three at Blackburn, was in net for the Rovers reserves in a 2-0 shutout of Manchester United. He kept his clean sheet with a diving save on United's newest Brazilian signee, Kleberson.

Yeldell has an American father and a German mother, and carries a U.S. passport. When he was in Washington, D.C., with Rovers for the exhibition against D.C. United, he told SoccerTimes he badly wants to play for the U.S. Olympic team next summer. U.S. Olympic coach Glenn Myernick has said he will get a look.

American keeper Tim Howard won his second Premiership match as Manchester United dispatched hot rival Newcastle United 2-1 with a solid second-half comeback. Howard gave up a goal to Newcastle captain Alan Shearer who redirected Laurent Robert's free kick for a 1-0 lead in the 25th minute.

United coach Alex Ferguson was sent to the stands for protesting that Robert had fouled on the play. Man. U. dominated the second half, getting goals from Ruud van Nistlerooy in the 50th minute and the winner from Paul Scholes eight minutes later. Howard was not called on to make a difficult stop until he denied substitute Michael Chopra.

Tottenham Hotspur and its American keeper Kasey Keller evened its record at 1-1 Saturday by defeating Leeds United 2-1. Leeds went ahead 1-0 in the fourth minute after Spurs' Dean Richards fouled Jody Morris. Morris quickly rolled the free kick to Alan Smith who lashed home a long-range shot that dipped away from Keller into the net.

Spurs defender Mauricio Taricco tied the score at 1-1 in the 40th minute and Frederic Kanoute came off the bench to win it in the 70th.

Tottenham officials say the work permit appeal for midfielder Bobby Convey, formerly of Major League Soccer's D.C. United, will be heard this week. If he is approved, he would be eligible to make his first appearance against Fulham. With Keller with Spurs and Reyna about to move to Fulham, that would set up the possibility of three Americans for the first time being on the field in Premier League at the same time.

U.S. forward Jovan Kirovski did not dress for Birmingham City's dreary 0-0 draw with Southampton.

Lewis came up empty on scoring chances in both games. But played solid defense in both outings.

American keeper Marcus Hahnemann and Reading came up with a pair of victories over the holiday weekend. Today, Hahnemann made two good saves to earn a shutout in a 0-0 draw with Rotheram. On Saturday, Hahnemann conceded a penalty kick and a goal to Mattias Svensson, but he made six solid saves and Reading came away with a 3-2 road win over Derby. Hahnemann was given a yellow card for delay of game near the end. In the Second Division, American John Thorrington started and went 72 minutes in the midfield for Huddlersfield Town which lost to York 1-0.

In Denmark, American defender Wade Barrett played well for the full 90 minutes for AGF Aarhus in a 1-0 loss at Viborg yesterday.

La Louvière of Belgium's Jupiler League announced the completion of American defender Oguchi Onyewu's loan from Metz of France. He will likely play for the reserve team this week.

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