Americans Abroad

Sanneh goal lead FC Nürnberg 2-0 win over Wolfsburg; Friedel, Keller excel, Stewart scores, O'Brien is injured.

By Robert Wagman (in Washington, D.C.)
Chris Courtney (in Germany)
John Haydon (in Washington, D.C.)
Joel Lange (in England)
Gary Davidson (in Washington, D.C.)
SoccerTimes

(Tuesday, September 24, 2002) -- United States defender Tony Sanneh scored the opening goal for FC Nürnberg in a 2-0 road victory at VfL Wolfsburg Saturday.

Just as important, Sanneh led a defense that had surrendered 12 goals in its first five matches to a shutout before 14,000 at VFL-Stadion.

Meanwhile in the Netherlands, U.S. attacker Earnie Stewart, easing back into action after a knee injury suffered into the World Cup, came off the bench to score for victorious NAC Breda while there was bad news for American midfielder John O'Brien who has a sore left Achilles heel.

Nürnberg, 1-4 in its first five outings, would have been tied for the Bundesliga basement if it lost. Instead, the club climbed into a tie for 13th place with six points, already 10 points off the pace set by Bayern Munich (5-0-1).

Sanneh has been playing both on the right side of midfield and as a sweeper in the early season as the team has been victimized mostly by a young and inexperienced midfield. Against Wolfsburg (2-3-1, 7 points), Sanneh mostly stayed in the back shoring up the center of the field.

It in the 67th minute, Sanneh shed his defensive posture, advanced into the box and elevated above all others to head home a left-side cross from Lars Muller just inside the near post.

Two minutes later, Wolfsburg goalkeeper Claus Reitmaier stopped Dusan Petkovic on a penalty kick, but the defender pounced on the rebound and put it away for as 2-0 advantage.

Elsewehere in the Bundesliga, U.S. defender Gregg Berhalter made his third straight start in the central defense since joining Energie Cottbus (1-4-1, 4). Berhalter went the distance in a 3-1 loss to Bayern Munich before 43,000 at the Olympiastadion in Munich.

U.S. defender Steve Cherundolo played solidly in the back for Hannover 96 (1-4-1, 6) in a 2-2 draw with VFL Bochum (3-1-2, 11). American striker Conor Casey has yet to play for Hannover since being injured in the preseason.

Friedel led Blackburn Rovers past Leeds United 1-0, stopping an Alan Smith penalty kick midway through the second half. He had several other key saves to preserve the clean sheet.

Keller and Tottenham Hotspur continue their inspired play, but came up short, 1-0 at Manchester United, when Keller could not thwart Ruud van Nistelrooy's penalty kick in the 63rd minute. Keller, however, did make several great saves, including stopping a David Beckham free kick and a blast from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

U.S. midfielder Claudio Reyna continues to excel for Sunderland which has sunk to the bottom of the standings. After suffering its third shutout loss in a row, 2-0 to bitter rival Newcastle United 2-0, the club is 1-4-2 with just five points from seven matches to sit 19th of 20 teams in the Premier League.

At Birmingham City, U.S. attacker Jovan Kirovski finally made his debut for the first team, coming on in the 80th minute in a 1-0 setback to Middlesbrough. He was nearly the hero, producing City's best chance of the afternoon, but his low drive was saved by goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.

Last Wednesday, Kirovski scored a three times for Birmingham's reserves in a 4-3 decision over Everton in Kirovski's first appearance for City since his summer move from Crystal Palace. Kirovski had been sidelined with a thigh injury.

U.S. midfielder Eddie Lewis came on in the 56th minute for Preston North End's in a 2-0 win over Derby County. He added a spark to Preston with his quick movement up and down the left side.

Shortly after entering, he triggered a clean shot which was saved by Mart Poom. Lewis served several dangerous crosses and punctuated his appearance in the 78th minute when he received a yellow card in the physical match.

A week earlier, Lewis who previously played in the Premiership with Fulham, made his league debut for North End in a 2-2 home draw with Sheffield Wednesday. The Times of London referred to his performance as a "stinker," but the Preston web site was kinder, saying "he worked tirelessly down the left."

Breda (2-0-3, 9 points) is in sixth place and Stewart is expected to start Sunday when the opponent is Ajax which shares first place with PSV Eindhoven.

In the meantime, O'Brien went 74 minutes for Ajax (5-0, 15 points) which rolled past RBC Roosendaal 3-2. O'Brien started at left back, but came out because of pain in his left heel. He was ruled out of tomorrow's Champions League match against Inter Milan.

Midweek, O'Brien logged a strong 90 minutes in last week's 2-1 home victory over French champion Olympique Lyonnais in the Champions League.

Troyes, at 1-3-3, already looks headed for relegation from Le Championnat, in a three-way tie for 17th place in a 20-team league.

U.S. defender Greg Vanney still has not earned his way back onto the first side at Bastia which drew 1-1 at Paris-St. Germain. Vanney played the full Bastia reserve team match instead, a 3-1 win over Luzenal.

Robert Wagman is a SoccerTimes senior correspondent and can be e-mailed at bobwagman@soccertimes.com.. Chris Courtney is an American living in Mainz, Germany, and can be e-mailed at yanksgermany@yahoo.com. John Haydon is soccer columnist for the Washington Times and can be e-mailed at jhaydon@washingtontimes.com.. Gary Davidson is SoccerTimes managing editor and can be e-mailed at editor@soccertimes.com.