Americans Abroad

Cherundolo has problems as Hannover 96 falls to Bayer Leverkusen 2-1.

Ryan Coiner scores for Union Berlin in a 4-2 victory over Wuppertaler SV. He also had an assist. -- Union Berlin web site photo --

By Harris King (in Bamberg, Germany)
SoccerTimes

(Wednesday, August 11, 2004) -- Hannover 96, with United States defender Steve Cherundolo in the starting lineup, went down in defeat to Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 on Francoaldo Franca's goal in stoppage time in the 1Bundesliga Saturday.

Leverkusen's winning goal came after Hannover had controlled much of the match.

Cherundolo, wearing a captain's armband, is being expected to pick up where he left off at the end of last season when his play stabilized and improved after coach Ewald Lienen was hired. However, he carried some blame on both Leverkusen goals. Lienen did not fault the defense for either second-half goal, pointing to weak midfield play that left the back four vulnerable on both goals.

Hannover's tally came when Michael Tarnat hammered a free kick into the upper left corner from 30 yards out in the 15th minute. Tarnat transferred to Hannover after a year with U.S. midfielder Claudio Reyna at Manchester City in England's Premier League. Before that, he was a member of Bayern Munich for six seasons.

U.S. striker\midfielder Clint Mathis saw his first action of the season, playing 80 with a mixture of Hannover first- and reserve-team players in an 8-0 exhibition rout of Havelse. Mathis, who sat out the loss to Bayer Leverkusen, has some extra time to get to full speed with the 1Bundesliga taking the upcoming weekend off.

U.S. forward Conor Casey made his debut with FSV Mainz 05 and in the 1Bundesliga as a second-half sub in a 4-2 loss to host VFB Stuttgart before 45,000 at Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion

By the time Casey made it into the road game in the 58th minute, Stuttgart led newly-promoted Mainz 3-1. Casey's entrance didn't produce a comeback, but his athletic presence up front did give the Mainz attack a spark that it had lacked in the first 60 minutes of the game.

Casey came close to scoring in the 75th minute when he and teammate Tamas Bodog were both in position to knock home a rebound after a free kick. The ball ultimately bounced to Bodog and he volleyed the ball home from close range.

Casey replaced Benjamin Auer, who is considered to be his biggest rival up front. Mainz coach Jürgen Klopp was not asked after the game about the status of his two target forwards, but the German broadcaster calling the game was not shy about singing Casey's praises.

The two American players in Germany's 2Bundesliga saw a total of one minute of action for their respective clubs. U.S. defender Gregg Berhalter of Energie Cottbus did not dress for a 0-0 draw at 1.FC Köln. He is still recovering from a serious facial injury suffered at the end of last season.

Cottbus and Köln are the early favorites to be promoted to the 1Bundesliga, and the result was reflective of both team's desire not to lose. Cottbus, however, was forced to play as defensively as possible. Christian Beeck, Vragel da Silva and Berhalter, or three-quarters of last season's Cottbus starting defense, were all out with injuries.

Berhalter's luck has run from bad to worse recently. After receiving the facial injury from a teammate's inadvertent elbow in May, he was operated on in Munich. As he explained in a recent e-mail, a few days after his surgery he experienced complications on his flight back to the U.S. wit the cabin pressure causing problems because the bones were not completely healed.

"As a result, it displaced the tube in my eye and the plate that was inserted under my eye," Berhalter wrote. "So I needed surgery to correct that and was told I couldn't fly for a month. I then went to get my stomach muscle checked by a specialist and he said I needed surgery to correct a torn\thinning abdominal muscle. I got surgery, but also picked up an infection in the hospital so the wounds had to be opened up to help drain the infection."

Berhalter returned to Germany August 3 and hopes to be match fit in a month or so. The injury, however, cost Berhalter any chance to be called in by U.S. men's coach Bruce Arena for the August 18 World Cup qualifying semifinal-round opener at Jamaica.

American striker John van Buskirk of Rot-Weiss Erfurt came in for the last moments in his team's 2-0 victory at 1. FC Saarbrücken. Saarbrücken was the same team that Erfurt defeated in the penultimate game of last season's Regionalliga Süd in order to earn promotion to the 2Bundesliga.

Coiner's goal came in the 58th minute and put the game out of reach when he broke from midfield, slipped behind the defense and scored at a severe angle on the right side. Coiner also provided the assist for Berlin's second goal when he headed the ball into the box to Hajrudin Catic who directed the ball into net.

Coiner transferred from the Oberliga Westfalen Arminia Bielefeld Amateurs to Union Berlin this season. Before his year-long stay in Bielfeld, he played for the Portland Timbers of the U.S. A-League (second division) and the University of San Diego.

The game was Berlin's second of the season. Last week, Union Berlin drew 1-1 to Herta BSC Berlin in a derby to open the season. Coiner also started and played 90 minutes in that game. The Regionalliga Nord started a week earlier than the rest of Germany as the league is comprised of 19 teams, instead of 18, because three of the four 2Bundesliga teams that were relegated last year were from the North. With the odd number of teams, one will have a bye each weekend, extending the season an extra week.

American defender Ian Joy played 90 minutes in both of the season's first two games for of the "young talents" of Hamburg SV. In the first game, Hamburg won 2-0 at Holstein Kiel with Joy starting the play from his left back position that led to the second goal. Then, Hamburg defeated the 1. FC Köln Amateurs 2-0 at home with Joy picking up a yellow card.

American midfielder Joe Enochs and VfL Osnabrück returned to the Regionalliga with a 1-1 draw on the road to the Köln Amateurs. Enochs started the game and receieved a yellow card before being replaced in the 74th minute. Osnabrück had a bye this week and will host Joy's Hamburg team next.

American striker Jacob Thomas moved from Eintracht Braunschweig to recently-relegated VfB Lübeck in the offseason. Lübeck lost to Werder Bremen Amateurs 2-1 in the first week and then defeated Preussen Münster 3-0 at home. Thomas did not see action in either game.

In the Regionalliga Süd, American defender Pellegrino Matarazzo made a triumphant return to SV Wehen by putting his team on top 1-0 early in the game against American midfielder Grover Gibson and SSV Regensburg. Wehen won the game 3-2 on a goal in the 88th minute by Thomas Brendel.

Matarazzo's goal came in the 18th minute off of a corner kick. He was lurking above the penalty area and volleyed a ball into the net after a header had been sent toward him from the near post by Brendel. "I am always happy to get the win and it is super to be playing in front of these loyal fans again," Matarazzo said.

Before moving to Münster last year, Matarazzo had played for Wehen for two seasons. Gibson played 90 minutes for the Mario Basler-coached Regensburg.

Despite losing Gibson in the transfer market this season, there is still a large American presence at Elversberg this season. Former U.S. international Michael Mason and American attacker Tim Lawson are still on the roster and the team is being coached by American Brent Goulet. Lawson, however, is reportedly about to sign with D.C. United of Major League Soccer.

Goulet, the 1987 U.S. Soccer Federation "Male Athlete of the Year," made eight international appearances with the U.S. men and scored seven goals in nine appearances with the American Olympic team.

In weekend action, Elversberg drew 2-2 at FC Augsburg. After falling behind 2-0 by halftime, Elversberg pulled even with 20 minutes to play. After that, Elversberg goalkeeper Thomas Richter took over to preserve the draw. Mason started and played a half for Elversberg.

American defender Josh Grenier has moved to TuS Koblenz this season and played 90 minutes the teams first game, a 2-0 victory over visiting Nottingen. Grenier played for Clayton State University in Morrow, Ga., where he was named an NCAA Divison II All-American in 2000 before moving to Germany. American defender Eric Lukin, who moved from Sportfreunde Siegen, did not see action for Koblenz.

American striker Jonathan Cummings did not play for VfR Aalen's in a 2-0 loss at home to TSG Hoffenheim.

The German season got off to a rocky start in the 1Bundesliga when several million viewers were left looking at a blank TV screen shortly before the nationally-televised game between Werder Bremen and Schalke 04 was to kick off. Apparently, a worker at a nearby construction site cut through the main electricity cable leading to Bremen's Weser Stadion and the game didn't get started until a new source of electricity -- from an indoor swimming pool next to the stadium -- could be redirected to the stadium.

Despite the 70-minute blackout, the 42,000 fans took it in stride on the warm night and no unlawful incidents were reported. After the game started, the TV commentary had the feel of radio broadcast from Germany's 1954 World Cup victory with the first 30 minutes of the play-by-play called in on a cellular phone.

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.