Promotional hat-trick! Ethan Horvath at Cardiff City FC

*crossing fingers* Bingham and Hamid join him in Europe come the new year.

 

Starts. Leading 1-0 at the half:

Hier zijn jullie Brugse XI voor #CluAnt! pic.twitter.com/qEf42hvynw

— Club Brugge KV (@ClubBrugge) October 22, 2017

 

1-0 victory reinforces their no.1 spot with 30pts after 11 games. 8 pts ahead of no.2

Horvath gets his 4th cleansheet in the league

 

Finishes 1-0.

Club Brugge have an eight point lead at the top of the table.

 

Ethan made two important saves to keep the three points at home. We're doing well at the moment, but the eight point lead is not worth getting too excited upon due to the stupid play off competition.

Better to be in front then to follow, but it is still a very long way to go.

Next up is Genk away from home in midweek, next sunday at home against stvv. Genk should be top five but are struggling this season, coach on the brink of sacking. Stvv are doing really well, normally bottom half team.

 

I was just thinking about that. The play-offs aren't exactly easy.

I wonder if the excellent league play is just the result of being free from European competitions right now.

 

Worst thing about the play offs points are divided by two at the start. So we're only four in front That's why the bad start for most of the other top teams (anderlecht, gent, Genk, standard) is no disaster. But they do have to start winning matches now.

I don't think our eight point lead is caused by lack of european football. European fixtures only now start demanding a toll when pitches get messier and midweek european and cup matches combined make for a packed fixtures list. So maybe the absence of european football will help maintaining or even extending the lead over Anderlecht. Which are still the main competitors, despite trailing by twelve points now

 

Yeah , I am not a fan of playoffs, as I think it diminishes the value of the season. It can have the effect of making some regular season likes an early round minor cup game in the PL. One of the reason I like football because there aren't playoffs in most leagues. Every game matters really.

 

so he kept the cleansheet. did he do really well today or simply a solid job?

 

I was a bit bored and avoiding my Italian homework so I saw on Transfermarkt that their former no.1 is still at the club.

And this time last year he had the same number of cleansheets through 11 games, though Brugge was 5th in the league. He went on to finish with 12 cleansheets for the season. Let's see if Horvath can match or beat this.


Btw it's funny the most successful Yank to play in Belgium was Kljestan and not Gooch. Kljestan won 3 straight league titles with Anderlecht. Plus a few other domestic trophies.

 

Klejstan had an under-appreciated YA career, all things considered

First team player for a top club in a mid level league

 

Bingham had a terrible year and lost his starting spot....

 

Ranked in Everybody Soccer's Top 100 US GKs for the 2022 World Cup:

1. Ethan Horvath, 27 - Club Brugge (Belgium.1)
2. Abraham Romero, 24 - Pachuca (Mexico.1)
3. Zack Steffen, 27 - Columbus Crew (USA.1)
4. Eric Lopez, 23 - Los Angeles Galaxy II (USA.3)
5. Jeff Caldwell, 26 - Virginia (USA.N)
6. Brandon Austin, 23 - Tottenham (England.1)
7. Ben Lundgaard, 26 - Virginia Tech (USA.N)
8. JT Marcinkowski, 25 - Georgetown (USA.N)
9. Tim Melia, 35 - Sporting Kansas City (USA.1)
10. Will Pulisic, 24 - Duke (USA.N)

http://www.everybodysoccer.com/even...0-american-goalkeepers-for-the-2022-world-cup

 

Weird list. Where’s Jesé Gonzalez?

 

#12

 

where is Bill Hamid?

 

Where's Rimando? Ok, sorry.

 

No Brady Scott on the list which has to be an error

Justin Garces too

 

Here are the ones that are either capped or at least been mentioned:
12. Jesse Gonzalez, 27 - FC Dallas (USA.1)
13. Bill Hamid, 31 - DC United (USA.1)
15. Joe Bendik, 33 - Orlando City SC (USA.1)
19. Brad Guzan, 37 - Atlanta United (USA.1)
20. Cody Cropper, 29 - New England Revolution (USA.1)
28. Zac MacMath, 30 - Colorado Rapids (USA.1)
47. David Bingham, 32 - San Jose Earthquakes (USA.1)
53. Jonathan Klinsmann, 25 - Hertha BSC (Germany.1)
58. Sean Johnson, 33 - New York City FC (USA.1)
81. William Yarbrough, 33 - Leon (Mexico.1)

 

Johnson's a reliable winter camp call-up. He can help push the likes of Gonzalez and Steffen until they are ready to fight it out with Horvath/Hamid over the next few years.

 

That's a pretty poor list. Hamid and Gonzalez are WAY too low.
Brandon Austin too low as well.
And, uh, Brady Scott could be in the top 3.

Poor all around.

 

Only so many will pan out. Most might fill out rosters for USL or MLS. The positive is the competition they provide our main guys.

 

Jonathan Klinsmann is 20. Youngest of the group.

 

Look at 1-10 of the list. Klinsito is not the youngest.