USMNT Players in Relegation Battles

While the World Cup is getting bigger and bigger on the horizon, USMNT players still have plenty of business to attend to at the club level, particularly those battling it out at the bottom of the table.

This past weekend, a couple of teams that employ Yanks managed to secure safety.  In England, Wolverhampton earned a spot in the Premier League for the 2010-2011 season thanks to a draw with Blackburn and a couple of other results.  After a rough start to the campaign, Mick McCarthy and company were able to climb up out of the drop zone in the past couple of months, thanks in large part to the strong play of Marcus Hahnemann.  After starting the season 2-4-7 (W-D-L) and giving up 2 goals per game, McCarthy benched GK Wayne Hennessey in favor of Hahnemann, who has since led Wolves to a record of 6-7-10 in the matches that followed, allowing just 1.13 goals per game.  Included in that run are two clean sheet victories over Tottenham, as well as clean sheet draws against the likes of Liverpool, Everton, and Fulham.

The strong play has garnered rave reviews from McCarthy, as well as earning Hahnemann an extension on his Wolves contract.   Further, Opta Sports has recognized him as the most outstanding EPL keeper this year, using an extensive statistical approach to determine their selections.  Not too bad for a guy who started the season as a back up and World Cup fringe candidate.

Elsewhere, Watford won this past weekend against Hahnemann's former club, Reading, to clinch safety, as well.  Jay DeMerit didn't feature due to an abdominal injury, but he's been a stalwart in the Hornets' back line for much of the season.  Despite the spot in the Championship next fall, though, DeMerit's days at Vicarage Road may be numbered thanks to the clubs financial issues.  In terms of the here and now, however, Watford's win renders their final match meaningless, which could provide DeMerit with an opportunity to rest up some more ahead of international duty.

Last, but not least, Michael Bradley and Borussia Monchengladbach officially assured themselves that they wouldn't be making the drop by tying Bayern Munich 1-1 last weekend.  To be fair, though, Bradley and company haven't exactly been sweating it out, having remained solidly mid-table for awhile now. 

There are a number of players, however, who are on teams that have not yet secured their spot in the top flight for next season.  The situations vary from all but mathematically safe to doomed to drop.  Falling in the  former category are Sochaux, with Charlie Davies, and West Ham, with Jonathan Spector.  Sochaux, who have four matches left, are 9 points up on 18th place Le Mans, who have just three matches remaining, so it's a safe bet that they'll be in Ligue 1 come next fall.  West Ham, meanwhile, are 6 points up on Hull City with a far superior goal differential and only two matches left.

Conversely, Jozy Altidore and Hull City are all but assured to be in the bottom three after last weekend's results.  Fortunately, Jozy's time at Hull was nothing more than a loan, so he won't be following the Tigers down to the second tier in the English football pyramid.

Falling in between those two extremes are three teams still in the thick of the relegation battles of their respective leagues.  In Germany, Steve Cherundolo and Hannover have been flirting with the drop all year.  They recently finished off an extremely difficult stretch of matches and, all things considered, didn't fare too poorly, keeping themselves in contention for safety.  They have two matches left against Borussia Monchengladbach (who will have nothing to play for) and 16th place Bochum, with the latter likely determining their fate.  While 15th place and guaranteed safety would be nice, Cherundolo and company will be shooting for at least a 16th place finish, as that would give them a shot to stay up in a relegation playoff with the third place side from the 2. Bundesliga. At this point, I would put Hannover's chances of staying up at coin-flips odds.  It all depends on which team shows up; the one that drew Hamburg and beat Schalke earlier this month, or the one that has given up 10 goals and scored 0 in their last two matches.

In Denmark, meanwhile, Benny Feilhaber's team, AGF Aarhus, have been in free fall this spring, dropping down the table all the way into the relegation zone (11th place out of 12 teams).  Their decline has been coupled with a strong run of results from previous relegation candidates Randers, who have risen to temporary safety in part thanks to 5 goals in 9 matches from former Real Salt Lake forward Yura Movsisyan.  Much like Hannover, Aarhus have a big six-pointer coming up against another bottom feeder (Sonderjyske), but it really doesn't look good for the sixth place finisher from '08-'09.  Despite Benny's best efforts, Aarhus have been utterly awful of late, and I'd put my money on them going down this year and Feilhaber moving as a result.

Last, Frank Simek (who remains on the fringes of the national team picture thanks to his March call-up) and Sheffield Wednesday are currently two points adrift of safety with just one match to play.  They control their own destiny, however, as a win against Crystal Palace next Sunday will keep them up.  I don't expect Simek to play a role in the match, however, as he has been rooted to the bench and floating in and out of the match day squad for much of the spring.

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So while Clint Dempsey may be drawing most of USMNT fans' attention at the club level thanks to Fulham's European run, don't forget about the guys battling it out at the bottom.  After all, relegation battles have provided Americans fans with some great memories in recent years, like Deuce's "60 million pound goal" against Liverpool not too long ago:



Have a good evening, everybody.