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U.S. men's schedule, results
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 Berhalter is central to Energie Cottbus rise in Bundesliga table.
By Robert Wagman (in Washington, D.C.)
(Monday, February 24, 2003) -- Going into the German Bundesliga's short winter break, Energie Cottbus was in last place and appeared headed for relegation at season's end. Then, coach Eduard Geyer decided to junk what amounted to an experimental formation -- essentially a 3-1-3-1-2 -- and go back to a traditional 4-4-2 with American Gregg Berhalter anchoring the central defense. The change has worked miracles. Cottbus is undefeated since the break and has yet to concede a goal. "Big-Gregg," as he is called by the team's fans, is playing some of the best soccer of his career and has suddenly become one of the most talked about players in German soccer. While Berhalter is enjoying a rebirth in Germany, a year of strong play has earned United States goalkeeper Kasey Keller a one-year extension to his contract with Tottenham Hotspur in England's Premier League. On Saturday, Cottbus rode a strong defensive effort to shut out Werder Bremen 1-0. Marko Topic scored in the fifth minute to put Cottbus ahead and the back line keyed the effort to preserve the lead. It was a tough physical match with each side assessed 20 fouls, but Berhalter along with Brazilian defender Vragel da Silva controlled the Cottbus penalty area. Berhalter received high ratings of "2" and "3" from the German media for the match. Cottbus is 3-0-1 since the break and the club, 6-11-5 with 23 points, has climbed from the basement to a three-way tie for 14th place in the 18-team league. Still only one point above the relegation zone and with the worst goal differential (minus-17) in the league, Cottbus is seven points below the ninth position. In the meantime, Shanghai Shenhua of China, which is spending liberally trying to assemble a world-class team, has expressed interest in acquiring Berhalter. After signing Jorg Albertz from Germany's Hamburg, coach Wu Jingui announced his next two targets are Berhalter and Serbian midfielder Dejan Petkovic from Brazil's Vasco da Gama. Cottbus, which is negotiating financial difficulty, already sold Polish international Radoslav Kaluzny to Bayer Leverkusen and is willing to talk with Shenhua about Berhalter. Keller, who spent most of the 2001-02 season as a backup before becoming the starter late in the season, has been one of the main reasons Hotpsur is battling to qualify for European competition next season. Today, he agreed to stay at White Hart Lane in North London at least through 2004-05. "I will sign the papers midweek, and I expect to be here for the next two years," Keller told SportsTicker. "That will take me through being 35, and we'll see where I go after that." The Washington state native, who played collegiately at Portland, also expressed his intent to join the U.S. men for their March 29 meeting with Japan in Seattle. Keller has appeared in every game this season for Hotspur (12-9-7, 43 points) which is tied for seventh place with Liverpool (11-7-10) and battling to make next year's UEFA Cup. Tonight, Keller's strong effort was only good enough for a 1-1 draw with Fulham. The only ball to get by Keller was an own goal. In the 15th minute, Fulham took a 1-0 lead when Spurs midfielder Ledley King diverted Boa Morte's cross beyond Keller. Tottenham pulled even at 1-1 on Teddy Sheringham's penalty kick in the 40th minute after an infraction that had Fulham goalkeeper Maik Taylor sent off. Spurs, who had not played in 16 days and had six starters, including Robbie Keane, sidelined by injuries, could not exploit the advantage. Tottenham was reduced to 10 men when Darren Anderton received his second yellow in four minutes in the 74th and needed two saves by Keller on late sub Louis Saha to preserve the draw. Also in the Premier League, U.S. keeper Brad Friedel was spectacular Saturday, leading visiting Blackburn Rovers to a 2-1 defeat of Chelsea which feted Gianfranco Zola's 300th appearance. A series of superb reflex saves kept Blackburn in the match until Rovers could manage a pair of late tallies. Reserve striker Dwight Yorke rose to head home a David Dunn corner kick in the 86th minute and Dunn found net from the edge of the box four minutes later for a 2-0 lead before Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink beat Friedel from 25 yards seconds before the final whistle. In the 10th minute, Friedel denied Eidur Gudjohnsen from point-blank range and, in the 23rd minute, he turned away at close-in blast by Hasselbaink. Friedel stopped a long-range blast from Celestine Babayaro, a drive from Frank Lampard, and in the dying seconds, a shot by Zola. "Brad once again showed he's a top-class keeper and made some saves look easy, but we also had an experienced back four out there who played like men." Rovers manager Graeme Souness said. U.S. striker Brian McBride could not get on track Saturday and was removed in the 59th minute of Everton's come-from-behind 2-1 win over Southampton. McBride simply had one of those days when he received no service from the midfield and could create little for himself. So with Southampton ahead 1-0, Kevin Campbell replaced him and was joined up top by Wayne Rooney three minutes later. Everton had a new life and won on Tomasz Radzinski goals in the 83rd and 90th minutes. Yesterday, U.S. attacker Jovan Kirovski was not dressed as Birmingham City surprised Liverpool 2-1. In England's First Division, American midfielder Eddie Lewis did his best for Preston North End, but it was a bad day at Deepdale with visiting Wolverhampton winning 2-0. Lewis came very close, forcing Wolves keeper Matt Murray into a full out diving save to prevent Lewis from scoring for the third successive game. It was another masterful performance by American keeper Marcus Hahnemann and the Reading defense as they shut out Rotherham 3-0. James Harper, Andy Hughes and Nicky Forster produced well-taken goals in the first half and Hahnemann registered fine saves on Alan Lee and substitute Andy Monkhouse to preserve the shutout. On Tuesday, Michael Brown beat Hahnemann in the third minute, but Reading used another three-goal outburst and another solid performance by Hahnemann to defeat Sheffield United 3-1. With the score tied at 1-1 following Forster's 35th-minute goal, Hahnemann dove to his left to stop Stuart McCall's low right-footed volley from outside the area. Adrian Williams put Reading ahead 2-1 in the 74th minute and Forster sealed the result with his second seven minutes later. Reading (18-11-4, 58) has won six in a row and moved up to third place, solidly in the running for a spot in the four-team promotion playoff, but still 10 points behind second-place Leicester City (20-5-8) and one of the two automatic promotion slots. In Germany, Hannover 96, with American Steve Cherundolo having less than a stellar match at right back, wasted an early lead and went down to a 2-1 Bundesliga defeat at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen. The story of the match was the goalkeeping of Leverkusen's young Jörg Butt, who parried away numerous Hannover shots. Hannover went ahead 1-0 on Gheorghe Popescu's tally, but Sebastian Schoof tied the game in the 80th minute and Jan Simak victimized Cherundolo, among others, for the winner in stoppage time. American striker Conor Casey entered for Hannover the match in the 64th minute gave indication he is regaining match fitness after his long injury layoff. In France, with David Regis keying the defense, Troyes defeated Strasbourg 1-0 Sunday on Selim Benachour's goal in the sixth minute, continuing its amazing late-season comeback to avoid relegation. Three weeks ago, Troyes (6-14-8, 26) was last in Ligia 1 following six losses in a row and only one draw in eight outings. Now the club is 3-0-1 in its last four, starting with a 1-0 win against red-hot Nice, an impressive 0-0 draw with defending champion Lyon and a 2-0 victory over Lille Wednesday. Against Strasbourg, Regis was issued a yellow card just before the first half ended, but continued his strong effort. Against Lille, he also stood out and Troyes received an early penalty kick from Nicolas Gousse and a tally from Rafik Saifi in the 58th minute. Troyes has jumped a spot into 19th place, two points ahead of Montpellier, only one point from climbing out of the relegation zone and four points from 15th.
U.S. defender John O'Brien finally is back in training after missing the season with an Achilles heel injury. For much of January, all he could do was jog and eventually run wind sprints. Starting about three weeks ago, he began to scrimmage with the reserves. This week, he made the Ajax trip to Arsenal in England with a number of the reserves for training. His first match action, with the reserves, is expected within several weeks.
Robert Wagman is a SoccerTimes senior correspondent and can be
e-mailed at bobwagman@soccertimes.com. Gary Davidson is SoccerTimes managing editor and can be
e-mailed at editor@soccertimes.com.
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