Americans Abroad

Sanneh, Stewart lead European clubs with key goals for second straight week.

By Robert Wagman (in Washington, D.C.)
Christopher Courtney (in Germany)
and Mark Flannery (in France)
SoccerTimes

(Tuesday, October 1, 2002) -- It was instant replay for United States defender Tony Sanneh and attacker Earnie Stewart. For the second weekend in a row, both scored big goals for their respective European clubs.

Sanneh's goal gave FC Nürnberg its second victory in a row, 1-0 over Kaiserslautern Saturday. Stewart's tally for NAC Breda came on the road in a 2-2 draw with Ajax, the first points Ajax failed to collect this season in Amsterdam.

For the second match in a row, Sanneh was one of Nürnberg's best players. With newcomer Dusan Petkovic now settled into the center of defense, Sanneh has returned to the right side of midfield with instructions to push forward whenever possible, a mandate that produced results in the 68th minute.

Sanneh advanced on a quick counter, took a pass from Tommy Larsen and outran defender Dimitrios Grammozis before rifling home a left-footed 12-yard shot for his second goal of the season for the 1-0 decision in the German Bundeliga.

The World Cup veteran then dropped back and played solid defense over the final 20-plus minutes to preserve the win.

In Amsterdam, the Sunday Ajax-NAC Breda meeting was to have been a match-up between Stewart and his United States national teammate, John O'Brien. However, O'Brien continues to nurse an Achilles' tendon injury he suffered last weekend, keeping him out of Ajax's midweek Champions League tilt against Inter Milan.

So, with O'Brien out of the lineup, Ajax was thwarted in its attempt for a sixth straight league victory in the Netherlands' Eredivisie with Stewart playing a major role for NAC.

After Kevin Bobson put NAC ahead in the third minute, Ajax took control. But then, against the run of play, Stewart pounced on a bad pass, beat two defenders and put the visitors in front 2-0 in the 21st minute.

The goal was Stewart's 50th in his seven years with NAC and he was selected "Man of the Match."

Ajax (5-0-1, 16 points) came back with goals by Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 47th minute and Ahmed Hossam Mido in the 56th minute, but the draw caused it to fall two points behind PSV Eindhoven (6-0). NAC is tied for sixth place at 2-0-4 with 10 points.

O'Brien is listed as doubtful for tomorrow's Champions League Group D match with Ajax (1-1) at Rosenborg (0-1-1) in Denmark.

In Bundesliga action in Germany, U.S. defender Gregg Berhalter started for Energie Cottbus which lost 1-0 to Wolfsburg on an own goal in the 51st minute after a mix-up in the center of the Cottbus back line.

Berhalter was pulled to add another midfielder in 72nd minute for Cottbus (1-5-1, 4) which is only one point ahead of cellar-dwelling Kaiserslautern.

U.S. defender Steve Cherundolo did well on the right side of defense for Hannover 96 (2-4-1, 7) which defeated Hansa Rostock 2-1, but still is only tied for 17th in the 20-team league. American striker Conor Casey is still injured and did not dress for Hannover.

In the 2 Bundesliga, American defender Cory Gibbs does not look like he will be playing for St. Pauli any time soon. Gibbs suffered a hamstring tear in St. Pauli's season opener against Frankfurt and is said to be some time away from resuming training.

American midfielder Grover Gibson continues injured. Neither he or veteran Major League Soccer midfielder Mike Duhaney dressed for Mainz's 0-0 draw Saturday with Freiburg.

U.S. defender David Regis missed his second straight weekend match with an injury for Troyes which drew 1-1 with Lyon.

On Saturday, Hejduk remained wide right and, after spending minutes trying to redirect him, Castella replaced him in the 56th minute against Lucerne. Four minutes later, Lucerne scored its only goal in a 1-0 triumph.

Robert Wagman is a SoccerTimes senior correspondent and can be e-mailed at bobwagman@soccertimes.com. Christopher Courtney is an American living in Mainz, Germany, and can be contacted at yanksgermany@yahoo.com.