|
U.S. men's schedule, results
U.S. men's roster
Friedel, Keller play key roles as their Premier League teams open with draws.
With Sanneh still in fold, Nürnberg falls to Vfl Bochum 3-1.
|
Keller, Friedel post shutouts as Tottenham, Blackburn win in England's Premier League. Americans Abroad Hejduk moves to FC St. Gallen in Switzerland; Regis moves up in France.By Robert Wagman
(Tuesday, August 27, 2002) -- United States defender Frankie Hedjuk is leaving the German Bundesliga's Bayer Leverkusen to join FC St. Gallen of Switzerland's first division, the Nationalliga, according to German news reports. Even though Hedjuk received high marks for his play in this summer's World Cup, he was simply not on Bayer head coach Klaus Toppmöller's radar at talent-rich Leverkusen. He will be released from the final year of his Bayer contract and the 29-year-old is expected to sign a one-year deal with Gallen with several options years. Hejduk will likely see immediate action for St. Gallen which is 3-3-3, currently in a three-way tie for sixth place in the 12-team league. Hejduk signed a three-year contract with Leverkusen immediately after the 1998 World Cup, then agreed to an extension in 2001 through the 2002-03 season. It has been all downhill for Hejduk with the German club since 1999-2000 season, when he played in five of six European Champions League matches, starting three and twice earning "Man of the Match" honors. The next season, he played in only four matches, one in the Champions League, leading to a 2001-02 campaign when he appeared with the first team only once. In France, it appears that another U.S. national-team defender, David Regis, has found a new home. He agreed to a buyout of the remaining time on his contract with Metz, which was relegated to the second division, and signed with Troyes in the first division. After training with Troyes and passing a physical, he agreed to a new contract. It will be a free transfer because of a clause in his Metz contract which allowed him to move on should Metz be relegated. Regis' departure was probably good news for another American, young defender Oguchi Onyewu. Onyewu has been with the club since preseason, but Metz is one of several French clubs in such precarious financial shape, its operations have been put under the "récrutement controlé" -- direct control -- of the French Football Association. Essentially its roster has been frozen. Metz, like Marseille, has not been able to sign any new players without releasing a comparable player. With Regis going to Troyes, and Metz no longer responsible for his sizable salary, it will finally be free to sign Onyewu who is projected to move directly into a starting role. In German Bundesliga action, Tony Sanneh helped FC Nürnberg come away with an easy 3-1 decision Saturday in a duel with his U.S. national-team fellow defender Steve Cherundolo and Hannover 96. It was not a memorable match for either player with each conceding a penalty kick with a foul and then watching their errors lead to goals. Cherundolo was also given a yellow card for his 16th-minute foul on Cacau. With Sanneh playing strongly in defense, Nürnberg ran off to a 3-0 lead before Sanneh's 82nd-minute hand ball which led to Babacar N'Diaye's tally. In the 2 Bundesliga, St. Pauli dropped its third straight, a 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Lubeck and then immediately fired its coach, Dietmar Demuth. Assistant coach Joachim Philipkowski was named his replacement on an interim basis, likely not good news for American defender Cory Gibbs. Gibbs has been sidelined with a leg injury and has not played in St. Pauli's last two matches, but was a favorite of Demuth's. The second-year pro might not be held in such favor if, as expected, the club brings in an experienced coach from outside the organization. In the Netherlands, John O'Brien went the distance for Ajax which erased a 1-0 deficit Sunday to beat Vitesse Arnhem 2-1. It was Ajax's first win at Vitesse in five years and ended the host's 21-match home unbeaten streak. O'Brien, who has been playing left back, was moved into the midfield for this match. For the most part, he had a strong afternoon, but was partially to blame in the 16th minute when Matthew Amoah ran past him on his way to scoring Vitesse's only goal. U.S. attacker Earnie Stewart, who has been fighting to recover from his World Cup leg injury, finally made his first appearance for NAC Breda as a second-half substitute in a 1-1 comeback draw with Willem II. In Chile, goalkeeper Jonny Walker made several key stops to help Universidad Católica hold on for a 1-0 shutout of San Felipe and advance in the Copa Sudamericana tournament. Católica faces Cobreola tomorrow to determine one of the two teams that will represent Chile in the 16-team final round Defender Alex Yi, a teammate of Onyewu's on U.S. under-17 and under-20 teams, reportedly signed a three-year deal with FC Antwerp in Belgium. This came as a surprise because he previously said he would return to UCLA for the fall season that starts Friday and was expected to sign with Major League Soccer for 2003. Several clubs coveted him, including D.C. United, his hometown club with which he trained this summer.
Robert Wagman is a senior correspondent for SoccerTimes and can be
e-mailed at bobwagman@soccertimes.com.. |
