Americans Abroad

Sanneh scores for Nürnberg in wild 5-3 triumph over Union Berlin.

Tony Sanneh (left) celebrates scoring, helping FC Nürnberg hold onto first place in a 5-3 decision over Union Berlin. -- 1. FC Nürnberg web site photo --

By Harris King (in Bamberg, Germany)
Special to SoccerTimes

(Monday, April 19, 2004) -- American Tony Sanneh returned to the starting lineup and put in 90 minutes in central defense for league-leading 1. FC Nürnberg and celebrated the occasion by scoring his team's opening goal in a wild 5-3 triumph over Union Berlin yesterday in Germany's 2Bundesliga.

In the 26th minute, Sanneh was able outmaneuver and outjump a defender to send home a header from 15 yards to put Nürnberg ahead 1-0.

Nürnberg led 3-1 at halftime, but Berlin knotted the match at 3-3 with 15 minutes to play before Marek Mintal and Robert Vittek each scored their second goals of the game to produce the victory. Nürnberg (15-7-7, 52 points) solidified its position at the top of the table, four points ahead of Bielefeld (14-8-6), which has a game in hand and five up on Energie Cottbus (13-8-8), which was defeated 1-0 on the road to sixth-place Erzgebirge Aue (11-9-9).

Cottbus, with U.S. defender Gregg Berhalter playing 90 minutes, continued its slide, losing a highly emotional match between the two former East Germany Oberliga teams. The game was decided in the 68th minute when Aue's Ronny Jank was able to catch the Cottbus defense sleeping and knock home a rebound after a free kick was sent off a post.

If Alemannia Aachen (13-8-7, 46) can beat Bielfeld tonight, it will pass Cottbus for third place.

U.S. striker Conor Casey ignited a comeback with his 13th goal of the season and was considered by many the best man on the pitch for Karlsruher SC in a 2-2 draw with host VfB Lübeck.

With Karlsruhe down 2-0, Casey was able to free himself in the box to head home a free kick in the 71st minute. It was his seventh goal in the second half of the season. Marco Eggiman scored in the 82nd minute to give Karlsruhe a 2-2 tie.

Karlsruhe (10-11-8, 38) is in 10th place, but only four points clear of the relegation zone with five games left.

American midfielder Joe Enochs completed his two-game suspension for a red card by watching his team, VfL Osnabrück draw 0-0 on the road with Eintracht Trier. With fives games to play, cellar-dwelling Osnabrück (7-16-6, 27) has to hop over four teams and make up eight points, a daunting and probably impossible task unless the team wins at least four of its remaining contests.

Adding insult to injury, Osnabrück president Dirk Rasch announced before the game that the players' wages would be reduced by 30 percent for the rest of the season, citing lower attendance at home games.

Cherundolo went the distance and Mathis played 87 minutes for Hannover (8-12-9, 33) which is now in 12th place and four points clear of the relegation zone. Hannover hosts third-place VfB Stuttgart Saturday.

The game against Saarbrücken was a makeup game and Siegen followed by losing 5-2 on the road against Kickers Offenbach Saturday. Van Buskirk went the whole way in both games for Siegen, while American defender Eric Lukin did not see action in either. Lukin has been playing with the Siegen reserves recently.

Former U.S. international Michael Mason scored in the 36th minute while Americans Grover Gibson and Tim Lawson were also back in action for SV Elversberg which drew 1-1 with VfR Aalen Friday. Christian Seeber equalized for Aalen in the 64th minute. American striker Jonathan Cummings did not play for Aalen.

In the Regionalliga Nord, American defender Pellegrino Matarazzo of Preussen Münster was suffering from the flu and did not dress for his team's 2-1 victory over Holsten Kiel.

American defender Ian Joy was back in the starting lineup for the Hamburger SV Amateurs and the relegation-challenged side was routed 4-0 by Rot-Weiss Essen. Joy received a yellow card for his efforts.

American striker Jacob Thomas of Eintracht Braunschweig did not dress for his team's 1-0 home victory over visiting FC Sachsen Leipzig Saturday.

Harris King, an American from South Carolina, has lived in Germany for five years. He is a Business English lecturer at the University of Bamberg. E-mail Harris King.