Yanks in Europe: Cherundolo and Hannover Complete a Great Escape

As usual, here is your Saturday edition of Yanks in Europe:

Coming into today's match, Steve Cherundolo and Hannover needed an away result against fellow bottom dwellers Bochum to avoid relegation.  A win would guarantee them safety and send their opponents down, while a loss would lead to the opposite outcome.

Hannover have been a team of extremes over the past month (if not the whole season), earning some fantastic results while also turning in a couple of embarrassing performances.  Fortunately for Hannover fans, the right team showed up today, as Cherundolo and company jumped out to a 3-0 first half lead that they would not relinquish.  The match would finish with that same scoreline, earning Hannover the win and capping off what has truly been a great escape.  Highlights of the match are below:



Cherundolo was solid throughout, turning in a composed performance in his team's biggest match of the year to help preserve the clean sheet.  He wore the captain's armband late in the second half, and more than a few "USA" chants could be heard from the hordes of Hannover fans that made the trip, showing their appreciation for the work of their long-time defender.  Heading into the international break, Cherundolo is on an upswing of form; at this point, he has the edge on the starting right back spot, particularly with Jonathan Spector's struggles at West ham.

Ricardo Clark got his third consecutive start for Frankfurt today in their final match of the season, going the distance in what would end up being a 3-1 loss to Wolfsburg.  He went box to box, turning in some solid defensive work while also making several good attacking runs that resulted in a handful of shots, none of which troubled the keeper.  Rico appears to be settling in nicely with his new team, with his resurgence surely boosting his hopes of earning a spot on Bob Bradley's World Cup roster. 

The last of the USMNT's Bundesliga contingent that was in action today was Michael Bradley, who started and played 90 minutes for Borussia Monchengladbach in their 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen.  The match was pretty one-sided, but BMG managed to hang on for the point, pushing them up to 12th place in the final standings. 

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Injured/Did Not Play

Charlie Davies was not in the match day squad for Sochaux, leaving him with just one more opportunity to get some competitive minutes in prior to the national team camp.  Tune in next Saturday when Les Lionceaux host third place Auxerre (3:00 PM ET) to see if Charlie makes an appearance.

Carlos Bocanegra, meanwhile, missed his second straight game with an abdominal injury.  Being as we haven't heard too much about it over on this side of the pond, I'm assuming it's minor, and that Rennes aren't risking anything given that their final matches are ultimately meaningless.  If any news comes out with regards to Boca, I'll be sure to update this.

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Also, something worth keeping an eye on is AC Milan's bench tomorrow, as Oguchi Onyewu has been included in the 24 man preliminary roster for tomorrow's match against Genoa.  Obviously, it's far from a guarantee that Gooch will be in the match day squad, but it is a legitimate possibility given the status of several of Milan's other center backs.  The match can be seen on ESPN3.com at 9 AM ET.