Weekend Rewind: Jozy's Goal, Gooch's Groin, Bradley's Win, & More

Another weekend of footy in the books, another USSD weekend rewind. Here's a recap of the big news items from the last couple of days:


Altidore Scores Again

In league play yesterday, Jozy Altidore scored his first goal since a September 29th tally v. Metalist Kharkiv in the Europa League. The goal, AZ's third in a 3-0 win over ADO Den Haag, is Jozy's 8th on the season in all competitions, putting him just one short of his career high for output (he scored 9 goals for New York in 2007). Considering it's still just November, it's a safe bet that he'll blow past that mark in the months to come.

Check out the goal below, which comes as the result of some gorgeous off the ball movement from Jozy. After making a quick pass, he broke towards goal, showing good composure on the end of the combination as he rounded the keeper and finished:



The goal also happened to come on Jozy's 22nd birthday, as AZ maintained a six point advantage atop the Eredivisie table.


Apertura Ends; No Liguilla for Beasley, Gomez

The initial round of the Mexican Apertura ended over the weekend, as the eight-team playoffs took shape. DaMarcus Beasley and Puebla needed a miracle to advance, but it didn't come, with a 1-0 loss to Tigres sealing their fate.

Herculez Gomez and Tecos, meanwhile, knew going into the final weekend that they had no shot at advancing. Ultimately, they fell to Queretaro, with Gomez starting and playing 63 minutes.

Despite the lack of team success, both Beasley and Gomez had positive campaigns individually. Gomez ended the Apertura as Tecos' leading scorer, with seven goals, while Beasley revived his career thanks to a smooth transition and strong play south of the border.

A neat stat worth noting (and one that reflects his fine form since moving to Mexico): Herculez Gomez has finished as the leading or joint-leading scorer for his team in three of the four torneos that he has played (2010 Clausura with Puebla, 2011 Clausura with Pachuca, 2011 Apertura with Tecos). Not too shabby, especially considering a lot of his appearances have come as a substitute.


MLS Cup Playoffs; No Donovan v. Slovenia

In a fantastic match last night, the LA Galaxy beat Real Salt Lake 3-1 to advance to the MLS Cup Final. The result means that Landon Donovan will return to the Galaxy following the France friendly to prepare for the final.

What does that mean, in turn? Well, just another game in which we won't get to see Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey on the field together, something that has yet to happen during the Klinsmann era. Barring any freak setback or tactical decision, we should at least get to see that tandem take the field against France. USSD will have something later in the week on what I'm calling the "Donovan effect"; stay tuned for that.

On a related note, the result means that Kyle Beckerman will be available for both friendlies. RSL's loss and Sporting Kansas City's defeat at the hands of Houston also means that there will be two more guys headed to the U-23 camp in Germany, as Caleb Porter added Luis Gil and Teal Bunbury to the mix.


Gooch's Groin?

Oguchi Onyewu, who was included in Jurgen Klinsmann's 22-man roster for the upcoming friendlies, was not in the match day squad for Sporting Lisbon this past weekend, with reports indicating that he was dealing with some groin issues. This is something to keep an eye on during the international break, as it very well could limit Onyewu's availability if the problem flairs up again.


Bradley, Chievo Snap Winless Skid

Michael Bradley played the full 90 for Chievo Verona, as they knocked off Fiorentina at home by the score of 1-0. The win (and the lead, for that matter) was Chievo's first since September 25th, snapping a five match drought.

The result pushes the Flying Donkeys, who have scored just 8 goals in 10 games, four points clear of the relegation zone.

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