Americans Abroad

Oneywu scores in draw, but Standard drops from Jupiler lead.

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

(Tuesday, February 28, 2006) - United States defender Oguchi Onyewu scored the equalizing goal for Standard de Liege in a 1-1 draw Sunday with rival Club Brugge that dropped both participants from a three-way tie for first place in Belgium's Jupiler League.

Anderlecht, with a 2-0 road victory over Roeselare, took over the top spot at 14-3-7 with 49 points, two better that Standard (14-5-5) and Club Brugge (13-3-8).

In a physical match with eight cautions handed out, Onyewu dueled throughout with veteran Brugge striker Gert Verheyen. Twelve minutes after Brugge went ahead 1-0 on a goal by Ivan Leko in the 31st minute, Onyewu and Verheyen clashed and the American not only came away the winner in the battle of bodies, but put away the tying goal on the process. Standard midfielder Milan Rapaic sent a free kick toward the far post where Onyewu and Verheyen fought for it with the Brugge striker ending up on the ground while Onyewu beat keeper Stijn Stijnen with a header to make the score 1-1.

Verheyen's plea for a foul was in vain.

Onyewu stifled Verheven with his in-your-face marking, but he was booked in the 47th minute, his accumulation of yellow cards leaving him suspended for Saturday's home game with Germinal Beerschot. Onyewu has already missed four outings this season as penalties for three red cards.

On Wednesday, Onyewu also went the distance in another physical struggle, a 1-1 draw with La Louviere, his former team. La Louviere (4-11-9, 21 points) has fallen on hard times, tied for last place in the 18-team league.

A visit to second-place Werder Bremen was not exactly what Borussia Mönchengladbach needed to get out of its second-half-funk and the hosts dutifully dumped G'ladbach 2-0 in the German Bundesliga Saturday.

Mönchengladbach (7-7-9, 30) is 1-3-2 since the six-week winter break ended January 27, but the Foals are still in a three-way tie for seventh place with Hannover 96 (6-5-12) and Hertha Berlin (7-7-9). The three clubs are just three points behind VfB Stuttgart (7-4-12) for fifth place which brings an automatic berth in the UEFA Cup, Europe's second-tier tournament.

Mönchengladbach had gone winless, managing only three draws, in its last 17 trips to Weserstadion where 39,900 were in attendance to see G'ladbach and its U.S. keeper Kasey Keller. Werder Bremen (15-4-4, 49) is easily the highest scoring team in the Bundesliga with 54 goals and was coming off Wednesday's impressive 3-2 triumph over Italian power Juventus in the European Champions League.

Bremen is a very good team in the air, and over the past weeks, G'ladbach's defense has shown not to have very good leapers. That advantage proved to be the difference for the hosts.

After G'ladbach forward Oliver Neuville had an early goal disallowed by a questionable offside call, Bremen took over. In the 16th minute, Johan Micaoud sent a long cross to the far post where Miroslav Klose rose high over a pair of defenders and, as Keller was scrambled to defend one post, sharply headed the ball back across the net, behind the keeper, to make it 1-0.

Bremen continued to press forward and, in the 26th minute, Micoud place a corner kick into the middle of the box where Frank Fahrenhorst rocketed a header on goal. Keller stretched and got a hand on the ball, deflecting it off the crossbar, but the rebound went straight to Ivan Klasnic who headed it into the net for a 2-0 lead.

In the second half, Keller kept G'ladbach somewhat in the match with a good save on Klose in the 67th minute and forced Klasnic to shoot wide on a one-on-one in the two minutes later. But G'ladbach could not solve the Bremen defense.

Striker Conor Casey has resumed hard training with FSV Mainz 05 and could be only a couple of weeks away from making his season debut after offseason surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament. He was not dressed Saturday for relegation-threatened Mainz's 2-0 loss to visiting Kaiserslautern.

Mainz occupies the top of three spots in the relegation zone, sitting 16th at 5-13-5 with 20 points after Kaiserslautern climbed out of a tie between the two teams to 6-12-5 with 23 points.

U.S. defender Gregg Berhalter, who was recently promoted to captain of Energie Cottbus in the 2Bundesliga, did not dress for Sunday's 4-1 victory over Burghausen. He had picked up his fifth yellow card of the season Monday in a 0-0 draw with Aachen and was dealt a one-match suspension.

Cottbus, which started the season so well, then fell on hard times, is playing much better lately. With its four points for the past week, Cottbus improved to 10-6-6, one of four teams tied for fourth place with 36 points. The top three teams are promoted and Cottbus, owning a game in hand, trails third-place Freiburg (11-7-5) by only two points.

Both Kone and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink scored in the first six minutes to put PSV ahead 2-0. Stijn Schaarsof narrowed AZ's deficit to 2-1 in the 61st minute. Beasley replaced a tiring Vennegoor of Hesselink in the 78th minute and played some solid defense to help preserve the win.

After not playing in PSV's 1-0 loss to Lyon of France in the Champions League Wednesday, Beasley gave an interview to a Dutch sports magazine where he repeated his oft-stated dream of playing some day in either Spain or England. That was interpreted by the local media as meaning he is unhappy with coach Guus Hiddink's decision not to start him.

Beasley, however, insisted his words were taken out of context and he is not unhappy with his situation at PSV.

American striker Lee Nguyen played the first 79 minutes of Young PSV's 2-0 decision over Young Willem II in the Beloftencompetitie reserve league.

U.S. defender Cory Gibbs, out since knee surgery in June for a torn meniscus, appears close to joining the ADO Den Haag first team for the first time since he was acquired from Feyenoord Rotterdam via loan February 1. On January 24, Feyenoord had dropped Gibbs from its active roster.

Last night in the Beloftencompetitie, he played in his third match for Young ADO, the second team, going the full 90 minutes in a 2-0 win over Young FC Emmen and earning the only yellow card of the match.

Gibbs could see action Sunday night when ADO travels to RKC Waalwijk. ADO can use the defensive help, having conceded the second-most goals in the Eredivisie at 51, one less than Willem II Tilburg. ADO (7-16-3, 24) is only one point from escaping the relegation zone where it resides with Tilburg (4-17-5, 17) and dreadful RBC Roosendaal (1-20-5, 8).

American midfielder Michael Bradley did not dress for Heerenveen's 2-1 win over NAC Breda Saturday. He was expected to start for Young Heerenveen in a reserve match last night against AZ Alkmaar, but the game was postponed because of a scheduling conflict.

Robert Wagman is SoccerTimes senior correspondent. E-mail Robert Wagman.

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