Howard's heroics grab the headlines

A roundup of notable U.S. players in action in Europe over the past two weeks:

England

Mike Egerton/Empics

Tim Howard haunted former club Man United by saving two penalties in the shootout.

Brad Friedel, Aston Villa: Villa's Champions League hopes are all but over after a 1-1 tie at home against West Ham on Saturday that extended the club's winless streak to 11 games.

If it wasn't for Friedel between the sticks, it might have been a loss instead. Within three minutes he stopped West Ham prospect Junior Stanislas, and later in the opening interval, the Ohio native frustrated Italian veteran David Di Michele.

Still nursing a 1-0 lead, Friedel then denied Portuguese forward Luis Boa Morte from close range; he could do little on Diego Tristan's headed equalizer in the 85th minute.

A week earlier, Villa, which trails Arsenal by seven points with one more game played in the race for fourth, rallied from 3-1 down to draw Everton 3-3, Friedel having no chance on any of the goals.

Season: 40 games played (0 substitute appearances).

Tim Howard, Everton: Howard was one of the heroes in Everton's F.A. Cup semifinal upset win on penalties over his former team, a weakened Manchester United, at Wembley on Sunday.

Howard made a pair of saves in the penalty shootout as the Toffees prevailed 4-2 in the spot kicks to end the Red Devils' quintuple hopes. Howard saved Dimitar Berbatov's shot -- a horrible chipped effort straight at him -- and Rio Ferdinand's shot after studying United's penalty habits for two days.

He refused to badmouth anyone at United, which shipped him off to Everton following a roller-coaster ride at Old Trafford.

"The best thing that ever happened to my career was playing at Manchester United," Howard told reporters. "For good and bad. I learned more from the disappointments than anything else. It's easy to say but it's so true. [Manager] Alex Ferguson was fair, and I've got no bones to pick. I'm better now because I played there."

Everton meets Chelsea in the final at the end of May.

Howard's performance followed a shaky outing against Villa. He was out of position on John Carew's opener and looked nervy on balls in the box.

Season: 40 (0)

Clint Dempsey, Fulham: Dempsey was named man of the match after scoring twice to lead Fulham to a 3-1 win at Manchester City on April 12, only the Cottagers' second away victory of the league campaign.

Dempsey latched on to a loose ball and fired into the far corner to tie the game early in the second half, then took a pass from striker Bobby Zamora to get some insurance in the dying minutes.

His seven league goals make him the fifth highest scoring midfielder in the division, behind the likes of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard (not bad, eh?).

Dempsey almost had No. 8, drilling a shot just wide near the end of Saturday's 0-0 draw at relegation contenders Middlesbrough.

Season: 28 (8): 8 goals.

Brad Guzan, Aston Villa: Guzan, in his first season in England, backed up Friedel against Everton and West Ham.

Now, with Villa virtually guaranteed an Europa League spot and out of Champions League contention, Villa manager Martin O'Neill might be tempted to give him some playing time. Problem is, Friedel is approaching 200 straight Premier League appearances, and O'Neill probably won't yank him.

Season: 7 (1): 0

Jonathan Spector, West Ham: Spector could return to action Saturday when West Ham hosts surging London rivals Chelsea.

The versatile defender, hoping to find a home at right back with the Hammers, suffered a concussion in a collision with Sunderland tank Tal Ben Haim two weeks ago.

Season: 3 (4): 0

Championship

Jay DeMerit, Watford: Two straight losses leave the Hornets in relegation danger slightly -- they're six points and six places above the bottom three.

DeMerit started four games in the center of defense alongside Mike Williamson in a busy fortnight, and couldn't stop Cameron Jerome from racing past him to score Birmingham's 73rd-minute winner in a 1-0 result Saturday.

Birmingham moved a step closer to joining Wolves, who clinched promotion Saturday, in the top flight.

Season: 34 (1): 1

Marcus Hahnemann, Reading: Only a miracle sends Reading up via automatic promotion, and who would have thought that in January?

Worse still, the Royals sit fifth -- the third of four playoff spots -- only three points above Swansea and Preston.

Reading lost 1-0 to Sheffield United on April 10, when Hahnemann was beaten by Brian Howard from a tight angle, and played to a 0-0 draw against relegation-threatened Barnsley on Saturday, making it no home goals in six of the past seven games.

In between, Reading squandered a two-goal lead and had to settle for a 2-2 draw against Blackpool on April 13.

Season: 31 (0): 0

Eddie Johnson, Cardiff City (loan from Fulham): Johnson scored his second goal of the season (well, second and third) in a 4-1 win over Derby on April 8.

With Cardiff leading 3-0, Johnson intercepted a pass from defender Andy Todd and went in on a breakaway, easily beating Stephen Bywater. In the 90th minute, however, he deflected a corner kick for an own goal.

Johnson made late substitute appearances against Crystal Palace, Burnley and Preston. Cardiff's 6-0 loss against Preston -- which came completely out of the blue over the weekend -- probably won't keep the Bluebirds out of the playoffs.

Season: 11 (18): 2

Frankie Simek, Sheffield Wednesday: A suspension to Tommy Spurr opened up a spot for Simek, and the fullback started in a 1-0 loss to Derby on April 11.

Unfortunately the injuries continued -- a groin problem ruled him out against QPR -- and Simek was an unused sub against Southampton on Saturday.

Season: 4 (2): 0

League One

Jemal Johnson, MK Dons: According to some reports, Johnson's refusal to sign a new contract is contributing to his lack of playing time.

The winger, one of the team's offensive sparks, was an unused substitute in wins over Southend and Bristol Rovers, and didn't make the squad at all in a victory over Scunthorpe on Saturday.

Season: 23 (13): 6

Spain, Primera Liga

Jozy Altidore, Xerez (loan from Villarreal): Altidore, still seeking a maiden appearance with the second division leaders after bagging goals for the national team, underwent minor toenail surgery and will be sidelined for about a month.

Season: 3 (4): 1

Italy, Serie B

Danny Szetela, Brescia (loan from Racing Santander): Brescia edged closer to automatic promotion with a 2-1 win at Vicenza over the weekend; Szetela, though, wasn't in the squad.

Season: 8 (5): 1

Serie C1

Gabriel Ferrari, Perugia (loan from Sampdoria): Ferrari finally scored his first goal of the season in Perugia's 3-2 win over Pistoiese on April 11, and with some style, sending a back-heel into the corner off a free kick in the 43rd minute. He also caused havoc in the box on Perugia's second goal.

Season: 3 (11): 1

Germany, Bundesliga

Steve Cherundolo, Hannover 96: Cherundolo is set to miss the remainder of the season -- and a few World Cup qualifiers -- after it was revealed the right back needs surgery to fix a hip injury.

Season: 16 (2): 0

Michael Bradley, Borussia Moenchengladbach: Moenchengladbach missed a chance to escape the drop zone Saturday, losing 4-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt; Bradley had a game to forget.

Trailing 2-0, the midfielder missed a penalty, and Moenchengladbach scored the next goal.

Bradley also started against surprising league leaders Wolfsburg, which snatched a late winner to prevail 2-1 on April 11.

Season: 20 (2): 5

Bryan Arguez, Hertha Berlin: Arguez didn't dress against Werder Bremen and Hannover, and seeks a first appearance this season.

Season: No appearances

Sal Zizzo, Hannover 96: Zizzo, a winger, played the final four minutes in Sunday's 2-1 loss at title chasing Hamburg. The week before he was on the bench against Hertha Berlin, so that constitutes progress.

Season: 0 (5): 0

France, Ligue 1

Freddy Adu, Monaco (loan from Benfica): Progress, too, for Adu, who at least was on the bench in a 2-2 draw at perennial French champions Lyon and in Saturday's 3-1 win against Rennes.

Season: 1 (9): 0

Carlos Bocanegra, Rennes: Once in contention for the title, Rennes has realistically no chance of landing a European spot now following the defeat to Monaco.

Bocanegra saw 90 minutes of action, and the left back did the same in a narrow 1-0 win over St. Etienne on April 11.

Season: 35 (1): 2

Belgium, Jupiler League

Oguchi Onyewu, Standard Liege: The race for the Belgian title is going down to the wire. Anderlecht leads Standard on goal difference.

Both clubs won over the weekend, with Onyewu sparkling in a 3-0 win at Mouscron. The towering central defender opened the scoring with a free header in the first half -- three of his teammates were well-positioned, too -- and connected with another header in the second half.

Onyewu started as Standard blanked Lokeren 1-0 on April 11.

Season: 40 (1): 5

Scotland, Premier League

DaMarcus Beasley, Rangers: It's not known when the attacking midfielder will return following a rib injury sustained against St. Mirren on April 8, though X-rays did rule out broken ribs; Beasley was the recipient of a hefty challenge from John Potter.

Season: 7 (5): 0

Maurice Edu, Rangers: Edu started three games in a row in midfield thanks to an injury to Lee McCulloch and Barry Ferguson's suspension, and sure made the most of it, scoring what turned out to be two game-winning goals.

Edu's first for the club came in the 19th minute against St. Mirren when he headed the ball in from a corner.

"That was a great moment for me, especially because my goal meant the team ended up winning the game as a result," Edu told Rangers' Web site. "It was good to get my first goal under my belt. The fans and my teammates were all supporting me as well, and that was great."

Edu turned 23 on Saturday and celebrated in style, scoring again in a 3-2 victory at Hibs a day later. He pounced on a rebound in the 73rd minute, after Kenny Miller's shot was blocked.

Rangers trail Celtic by a point atop the division, with the Glasgow giants meeting in a title decider May 9.

Season: 8 (2): 2

Denmark, Superligaen

Danny Califf, FC Midtjylland: Midtjylland failed to win a fourth straight game Sunday, losing for only the second time at home this season, 2-0 to Randers -- who've scored the most away goals in the division.

Midtjylland took part in two nail-biters before then, rallying from two goals down to beat Vejle 3-2 on April 10 and blowing a two-goal lead, then going on to down Aarhus 3-2 on April 13.

Fully recovered from a thigh injury, Califf started all three games in his customary center of defense.

Midtjylland, in fourth, sits 13 points behind a European place, so there's much work ahead.

Season: 20 games played, 0 goals

Jeremiah White, Aarhus: Aarhus won its first two games since the resumption of the winter break, topping Horsens 1-0 on April 9 and league leaders Copenhagen by the same score Sunday.

The forward started both games, coming off in the 64th and 79th minutes, respectively, and entering in the 63rd minute against Midtjylland.

Season: 25 games played, 2 goals

Benny Feilhaber, Aarhus: Feilhaber, being introduced slowly in the aftermath of a serious knee injury, didn't feature against Horsens and Midtjylland, but did start against Copenhagen, contesting 64 minutes.

Season: 3 games played, no goals

Michael Parkhurst, Nordsjaelland: Only last-place Sonderjyske has allowed more goals this season than Nordsjaelland, and the latter was showing signs of picking it up by thrashing Randers 6-1 on April 10 and Esbjerg 2-1 away Tuesday.

With Parkhurst lining up in defense for a third game, Nordsjaelland got thumped 3-0 by Odense over the weekend, though. Parkhurst & Co. lie eight points above the relegation zone.

Season: 8 games played, 0 goals

Marcus Tracy, Aalborg: Yes, Tracy scored his first goal recently, but he's being worked in slowly about three months after making the move from Wake Forest University.

The striker played the final 15 minutes in a 2-0 loss at Brondby on April 9 and featured for 11 minutes against Odense three days later.

He's hoping to get more action Monday, when Aalborg hosts second-to-last Vejle.

Season: 4 games played, 1 goals

Sweden, Allsvenskan

Charlie Davies, Hammarby: Davies, one of the division's top scoring threats, netted for the first time this season in a 2-1 loss to Gefle on April 12 and started in a 1-0 loss at Henrik Larsson's Helsingborg four days later.

Hammarby visits Djurgarden on Monday, trying to escape the relegation zone after three games.

Season: 3 games played, 1 goal

Ravi Ubha is a London-based freelance journalist covering Americans abroad for ESPNsoccernet. He also covers tennis for ESPN.com.