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Americans Abroad

Wood Is Good and Fabian Glad to Be Back at Gladbach

In his weekly roundup of Americans playing outside the U.S. Border, ASN’s Brian Sciaretta highlights a few strong performances and shares an update on a former U.S. men's national team coach.
BY Brian Sciaretta Posted
September 28, 2015
10:40 AM

LAST TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY American players in Europe enjoyed some of their best performances of 2015. This past weekend’s slate didn’t come close to matching that midweek success, but it still had its share of noteworthy moments.

Here are some of the top stories from Americans playing abroad this past weekend.

Johannsson’s injury latest concern

The Bundesliga is becoming a black hole for American players in terms of injuries. Timothy Chandler and John Brooks missed Bundesliga games this weekend with nagging injuries, and as soon as Fabian Johnson returned from his own injury layoff, another American went down.

This time it was Aron Johannsson, who was ruled out of Werder Bremen’s game on Saturday with an adductor injury. Sources told ASN that while the situation did not appear to be serious, a more concrete diagnosis is expected early in the week.

Visiting Bayer Leverkusen went on to throttle the Johannsson-less Werder Bremen side 3-0.

Johnson continues to spark Gladbach

At the start of this week, Borussia Monchengladbach was in the Bundesliga basement without a single point and with a league-worst 10-goal differential. Fortunately for the club, Johnson returned from his hamstring injury and was promptly reinserted into the starting lineup in his preferred midfield role.

After scoring a goal in a 4-2 midweek win over Augsburg, Johnson was again sharp on Saturday in a 3-1 win over Stuttgart. The German-born Johnson completed 77% of his passes on the day—many of which came in an attacking position.

Monchengladbach is playing like a completely different team with Johnson back, and American fans will certainly be hoping Johnson brings a similar fortune to the U.S. team for the CONCACAF Cup on October 10.

Bobby Wood remains hot

While Johannsson may be injured and few American forwards are truly raising their games in MLS, Bobby Wood is providing a much-needed bright spot. The 22-year-old Honolulu native scored for Union Berlin on Saturday in its 3-2 win over Duisburg. His 4th-minute goal marked both his fourth of the season and his third in four games.

Wood seems to be peaking at the right time, and you better believe that Jurgen Klinsmann has noticed.

Cameron and Stoke notch first win

It’s been a rough start to the season for Stoke City but on Saturday the club earned its first Premier League win of the 2015-16 campaign with a 2-1 result against Bournemouth. U.S. national team veteran Geoff Cameron started and went the distance in central defense.

Cameron was particularly strong in the air, where he won nearly every 50-50 battle and had a game-high 11 clearances to help preserve the victory.

Guzan under siege in loss

It was a rough day at the office for U.S. goalkeeper Brad Guzan, whose Aston Villa side fell to Liverpool, 3-2, on Saturday to drop into the English Premier League relegation zone. Even though he allowed three goals, Guzan made nine saves to help give Villa a chance at stealing a result it didn’t deserve.

Despite recent reports in England speculating that Villa is looking to replace Guzan, it would be a stretch to think that he is among the team’s many problems right now.

Williams and Reading rise in standings

In the 2005-06 Championship season, Reading earned promotion with a staggering 106 points in 46 games to earn its first berth in the Premier League. That team featured American Bobby Convey, who was a key part of the team’s midfield.

It is unlikely that Reading will be that strong again in 2015-16, but early signs indicate that it should at least be a legitimate contender for promotion. This year another U.S. midfielder, Danny Williams, will be an important part of Reading’s push toward the Premier League, and the team’s impressive 2-1 win at sixth-place Burnley was evidence that the club should have plenty of reasons for optimism.

Williams, 26, completed 82% of his passes and had a game-high five shots on the afternoon. The three points from the victory moved Reading into third place in the Championship, and next week it will host second-place Middlesbrough in a very important early-season test.

Ream anchors Fulham backline

Tim Ream is turning out to be a huge asset for Fulham. The St. Louis native was acquired at the end of the summer transfer window from a cash-strapped Bolton team and stepped right into the starting Ream has made four consecutive starts in the Championship and Fulham has won all four contests, outscoring opponents 12-4 in the process.

Named Bolton’s player of the year the past two season, Ream is now part of a surging Fulham team that has moved into 13th place with 11 points and is just three points out of eighth place despite having played fewer games than most teams above it.

Rubin earns start for Utrecht

Rubio Rubin’s playing time at Utrecht has diminished from last season, his first as a professional. To his credit, however, the 19-year-old forward has kept his chin up and performed well coming off the bench. On Wednesday he started and scored in a 2-0 win over third-division ONS Sneek in the Dutch Cup.

That performance might have been just the boost he needed, as the Oregon native who earned his first Eredivisie start of the season against Cambuur. While Rubin did not score in this contest, he was part of an offense that generated three goals in a 3-3 draw.

Rubin was tidy with the ball during his 90-minute outing, in which he completed 82% of his passes—with most of those coming in the attacking third. On the downside, however, he only had 20 touches and managed just one shot in the match.

Bornstein and Queretaro win

Times are pretty dismal for Americans in Mexico. Greg Garza is injured while others—including Joe Corona, Jose Torres, William Yarbrough, Miguel Ibarra, Gabriel Farfan and Ventura Alvarado—have lost their starting positions. The Americans who are earning regular minutes tend to be on teams that are struggling.

Jonathan Bornstein’s performance on Friday night proved an exception to the rule. The former U.S. international lined up on the backline for 14th-place Queretaro and went the distance at home in a resounding 3-0 win over league leaders Leon. Leon had a 61%-39% advantage in possession but Bornstein and the rest of Queretaro’s backline did not break.

Followed by an appearance in the Liga MX final last season, Bornstein has quietly been impressing south of the border.

Stabaek inches closer to Europa League

With just five games remaining in Norway’s Tippeligaen season, Stabaek is closing in on a berth in 2016 Europa League qualifying.

When he took the job at the start of 2013, Bob Bradley inherited a young team and modest few expectations. But as the 2015 season draws to a close, he has the team in second place—eight points behind leaders Rosenborg and five points clear of fourth-place Odd Grenland for the league’s final Europa spot.

Bradley’s coaching skills have always been underrated. After nearly a decade as an MLS coach, he took over the U.S. men’s national team under difficult circumstances and led it to its first-ever FIFA tournament final at the 2009 Confederations Cup. Bradley also won the Gold Cup in 2007, as well as CONCACAF’s Hexagonal World Cup qualifying tournament ahead of the 2010 World Cup. From there, he guided the U.S. to its first group win at the World Cup.

Since then? He nearly qualified an Egyptian national team for the 2014 Cup political turmoil, and has now rebuilt a lowly Stabaek team into one of the best in the country in less than two seasons.

Brian Sciaretta is an American Soccer Now columnist and an ASN 100 panelist. Follow him on Twitter. 

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