Yanks in Europe: DeMerit, Bedoya, and More

Here's a look at how a couple of USMNT players fared on Monday, with a little look ahead to some other midweek action and a (comical) update on a certain injured English striker:

After missing out on Saturday's match due to a slight injury, Jay DeMerit featured in Watford's match today against West Brom.  He came on as a 10th minute substitute, helping the Hornets keep their opponents off the board with some solid defensive play and a goal line clearance.  His side looked to be headed to a vital 1-0 win, but deep into stoppage time, West Brom spoiled the clean sheet by heading home the equalizer and securing a 1-1 draw.

Alejandro Bedoya, meanwhile, started and played 90 minutes in Orebro's 1-0 road victory over AIK.  He was involved in the build up of the lone goal, and by all accounts had another quality appearance.  Bedoya still has a shot at South Africa, but regardless of his World Cup prospects, it's just nice to see him earning consistent starts at the club level and playing well to boot. 

Last, Clarence Goodson went the distance for IK Start in their 5-3 victory over Valerenga.  I would give more info on how he played, but streams or any kind of English recap of Norwegian club play are pretty hard to come by.

----

In terms of other midweek Yanks in Europe, Rangers (DaMarcus Beasley, Maurice Edu) will be in action on Wednesday, Clint Dempsey and Fulham will look to advance to the Europa league semifinals with the second leg of their quarterfinal against Wolfsburg on Thursday, and Ricardo Clark will be looking to finally make his debut with Frankfurt on Friday against Michael Bradley and Borussia Monchengladbach.

----

There have been reports today that Wayne Rooney may be available for the Manchester derby on April 17, much earlier than most people expected.  That may be good or bad for the USMNT, it's hard to say at this point.  This past weekend, however, Rooney was up in the box for United's match against Chelsea, where this happened:



Hopefully that poor form in the box carries over to the playing field in a couple of weeks.