Few Brights for Nats Fans on the Day

With the US U-20s opening up their 2009 U-20 World Cup campaign and with several Nats in action with their European clubs, American fans were hopeful that Saturday would turn out well. Unfortunately, Saturday was hardly memorable.

In Alexandria, Egypt, Thomas Rongen and the US U-20s took on Germany in their opening group match of the U-20 World Cup. The group, which also includes South Korea and Cameroon, is considered the tournament's Group of Death. Fortunately for the US, Germany was without many of its key players, who were not released by their Bundesliga clubs for the tournament. The U-20s were unable to capitalize on this, however, as they fell by a score of 3-0.

The result was a fair one, as the U-20s 4-3-3 formation was very ineffective. Sloppy play and a disorganized attack produced little offensive threat, while the Germans were able to create a number of opportunities. The US was able to keep the score level despite the early German domination. This all changed, however, in the span of three minutes in the first half, when the Germans took a 2-0 lead that they would not relinquish.

The US will take on Cameroon next, who defeated South Korea today, and will need a result to keep their hopes of advancing alive. The team will have to improve on its performance today if they want to replicate the U-20s' deep run in the 2007 edition of this tournament.

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In Europe, a handful of Yanks were in action with their club teams. Much like the U-20s, however, their teams did not end up on the right end of the results. Clint Dempsey played 90 minutes for Fulham, but the Cottagers fell to Arsenal at home by a score of 1-0. Eddie Johnson, who started Fulham's midweek Carling Cup match against Manchester City, did not make the substitutes bench.

In Liverpool, Jozy Altidore's Hull City were embarrassed, losing 6-1 to the Reds. Altidore, who did not feature in Hull's midweek Carling Cup loss, only came on for the final 10 minutes of the match, which by that time was already out of reach. A silver lining for Altidore and Nats fans is that the putrid performances by Hull over the past couple weeks will likely lead to changes in Phil Brown's lineup, potentially meaning more starts for the young striker.

In France, Charlie Davies and Sochaux took on AS Nancy in Ligue 1 play. Once again, however, the American ended up on the wrong end of the score, as Sochaux fell 2-1. Davies played the full 90 minutes, but was unable to find the back of the net for the fourth consecutive match since his debut brace against Bordeaux.

The lone bright spot on the day came in the form of Tim Howard, who recorded his fourth consecutive clean sheet. Howard made three saves in the Toffees' 1-0 win at Portsmouth.