Hex Foes Abroad
Hex Preview: Costa Rica and Mexico Player Updates
From Bryan Ruiz and Michael Barrantes to Javier Hernandez and Javier Aquino, Jon Arnold has the latest updates on players who are likely to face the United States this week and beyond.
THE HEX IS BACK, and that means that Hex Foes Abroad is back too.
You may already know how American players fared outside of CONCACAF this week. American Soccer Now goes the extra mile and updates you on the progress of players likely to face the U.S. in World Cup qualifying. That's what this recurring column is all about.
Also, don’t forget to check out our section dedicated to all things Hex.We just put a fresh coat of paint on it. Did wonders for the decor.
It looked as though the qualifier against the United States would be Bryan Ruiz's first competitive match in months, but the attacker started and went the full 90 for Fulham in a 1-0 loss to Newcastle United.
Bryan Oviedo, however, will be coming in cold after another match spent on the bench, this time in Everton's scoreless draw with Cardiff.
Goalkeeper Keylor Navas put in a strong performance Friday with Levante, grabbing a late goal to win 2-1.
Joel Campbell started but came off in the 58th minute before Olympiakos got a goal-scoring party started in a 5-0 dismantling of Levadiakos.
No goal this week, but Michael Barrantes went the distance for Aalesund in a 2-1 loss to Mix Diskerud and Rosenborg. His fellow Tico, Cristian Gamboa, went the full 90 for the victors.
Things went even worse for Giancarlo Gonzalez, who didn't play for his club, Valerengen, which took a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Molde.
Oscar Duarte won't be joined by Oguchi Onyewu after transfer gossip indicated the American would head for Club Brugge. No matter. Duarte did enough to help his club to a 2-1 win. He played all 90 minutes.
Mainz is yet to feature Junior Diaz this season.
Celso Borges scored the second of three AIK goals as the Swedish side got back on the winning track.
Cristian Bolaños continues to start for, and get substituted by, Copenhagen. He went 81 minutes in a win Saturday.
Javier Aquino put in a Man of the Match performance on the right wing for Villarreal and scored his first La Liga goal in a 3-0 win against Osasuna. (Brace yourself, DaMarcus Beasley.) Gio dos Santos alleviated injury concerns with his substitute appearance in the 63rd minute. Not only did he get on the pitch, he helped set up the third tally.
Center back Hector Moreno and Espanyol played to a scoreless draw with Real Betis. Moreno played the whole match.
One Mexican not playing whole matches is Chicharito, who finally got onto the pitch for Manchester United. He played the final 15 minutes but couldn't score in a 1-0 loss to Liverpool.
Hector Herrera was an unused substitute for Porto in a 1-0 win against Pacos de Ferreira. Diego Reyes didn't make the team. He did play for Porto B, and was booked in a 1-0 win.
Guillermo Ochoa kept another clean sheet, but he doesn't really qualify as a Hex Foe Abroad. Neither does Carlos Vela, who mixed it up by not scoring in a 2-1 loss to Atletico Madrid.
Lloyd Doyley has been called up by new manager Winfried Schafer but missed the two most-recent Watford matches with a thigh issue.
Adrian Mariappa has transferred from Reading to Hull, but have no fear, fans of trios. Garath McCleary and Jobi McAnuff are still on the English club, while Royals man Shaun Cummings was called into the Jamaica team that will face Panama. Cummings is seeking his first Reggae Boyz cap. McCleary started and was removed in the first half of Reading's 1-0 win against Yeovil Town while McAnuff missed because of a back injury. Cummings played the full 90.
Wes Morgan, like Cummings, will hope to make his Jamaica debut in the September qualifiers. He played 90 minutes in Leicester City's defense during a 2-1 loss.
Luton Shelton still isn't off the mark for Volga. He started and played the first half of a loss to Krasnodar.
Marvin Elliott scored Bristol City's only goal in a League One tie with Gillingham, heading in a cross.
Chris Humphrey earned his first call-up of 2013 after successful play with Motherwell that continued after his summer move to Preston North End. He scored in the club's 3-0 win this weekend.
Daniel Gordon played the full 90 in midfield for Karlsruher in a 1-1 2.Bundesliga draw. (That's actually the exact same sentence we used for Gordon last week. Convenient!)
Jermaine Beckford went the full 90 but went home disappointed, not scoring for Bolton in a 4-1 defeat at Blackburn Rovers.
Doncaster Rovers dropped a result at home against Bournemouth. Theo Robinson started and made way in the 68th minute.
Jermaine Johnson went 60 minutes for Sheffield Wednesday in his return from a red card suspension. The club tied Middlesbrough, 1-1.
Rodolph Austin went the distance but couldn't keep QPR from beating his Leeds United team, 1-0 at Elland Road.
Roberto Chen was an unused substitute for Malaga in its 2-2 draw at Sevilla.
Luis Henriquez had an eventful day for Lech Poznan in a win against Zawisza Bydgoszcz. (Do our club names look like arbitrary sequences of letters to Poles?) He had one goal and two yellow cards, getting sent off in the 55th minute. All I can find is video of the fans cheering (doping in Polish) and Henriquez apparently getting married. Please comment if you want to translate Polish or just have match highlights.
I did find video Roman Torres' midweek goal for Millonarios , which helped the club to a 1-0 win against Cucuta Deportivo.
He was back to normal form, getting his name in the book this weekend.
Also in Colombia, Amilcar Henriquez did the double with full 90s in a loss and a draw for Medellin.
Jairo Jimenez didn't play for Elche II this weekend.
Fénix's woes continue with a fourth straight loss to Racing this weekend. Luis Mejia played goalkeeper while forward Cecilio Waterman came on in the 59th minute in a fruitless search for a goal.
As a friendly reminder, Honduran players will make sporadic appearances in the CONCACF Report but not in Hex foes abroad since the U.S. won't see them again in the Hex.
Whose performance strikes the most fear in your heart? Wait. Don’t tell us. We already know: nobody's. Maybe you want somebody to sign for your MLS team? Let us know in the comments.
Jon Arnold is ASN’s CONCACAF correspondent and a contributing editor. Follow him on Twitter, dammit.
