Season ends on a downer for Hahnemann and Reading

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

England

Premier League

Brad Friedel, Aston Villa: Villa's slump shows no sign of abating with a solitary game remaining this season.

Villa lost 3-1 at Fulham on May 9, with Friedel limiting the damage in goal by stopping Erik Nevland's diving header and Clint Dempsey's long-range effort, and by rushing out to prevent a Bobby Zamora scoring chance.

Friedel had no chance on Tuncay Sanli's overhead kick in a 1-1 tie at Middlesbrough on Saturday that all but relegated the home team.

Villa, which has won once in the past 13 games to relinquish the fifth spot, has another opportunity to send a team from the Northeast down in Sunday's finale, facing beleaguered Newcastle. A loss and the Magpies are down for certain.

Season: 43 games played (0 substitute appearances).

Tim Howard, Everton: Howard set a single-season club record by collecting his 16th shutout against Tottenham in a drab 0-0 affair at home on May 9, eclipsing the mark of Everton legend Neville Southall 13 years ago.

"A game like today was great," Howard said.

He was back in goal Saturday, when the Toffees rallied to beat West Ham 3-1 to overtake Villa. West Ham took an early lead thanks to Radoslav Kovac's stunning 30-yard effort.

Safe to say Everton's mind will be elsewhere when visiting Fulham on Sunday; the FA Cup final against Chelsea at Wembley Stadium is about a week later.

Season: 46 (0)

Clint Dempsey, Fulham: Dempsey played a key role as Fulham beat Newcastle 1-0 on the road Saturday, gaining possession of the ball in midfield to start the move leading to Diomansy Kamara's first-half winner. Earlier he went close from long range.

Dempsey contested the first 85 minutes against Villa.

The Cottagers face Everton next weekend, so they'll be favored to secure the third and final Europa League spot ahead of Tottenham.

Season: 32 (8): 8 goals.

Brad Guzan, Aston Villa: Friedel's consecutive games streak in the Premier League continues, so Guzan remains a backup. Don't expect that to change for the Newcastle game.

Season: 7 (1): 0

Jonathan Spector, West Ham: The defender made his first appearance since suffering a concussion and swallowing his tongue against Sunderland on April 4, entering to start the second half against Everton with the Hammers down to 10 men.

Spector picked up a yellow card for jawing at ref Phil Dowd and was beaten by Steven Pienaar in the buildup to Everton's final goal.

Season: 3 (5): 0

Championship

Marcus Hahnemann, Reading: Call it a bad week for Hahnemann. The Royals failed to advance to the playoff final (third-place teams in the Championship rarely earn promotion through the playoffs) and the keeper was released thereafter.

Burnley beat Reading 3-0 on aggregate, claiming the second leg 2-0 at Reading thanks to brilliant strikes from Martin Paterson and Steven Thompson in the second half.

Manager Steve Coppell resigned and Hahnemann, who first joined Reading on loan in 2001 and made more than 300 appearances, was later one of several veterans let go.

"I knew it was coming," Hahnemann said. "When they didn't offer me a new deal months ago you know it's going to happen. It's still hard to take because everyone knows how much I love the club, and the fans have been so good to me over the years."

Hahnemann, who turns 37 next month, said he intends to find a new club in England rather than join MLS.

Season: 35 (0): 0

Jay DeMerit, Watford: The season is over for Watford with the team finishing in 13th place.

Season: 36 (1): 1

Eddie Johnson, Cardiff City (loan from Fulham): The season ended on a down note for Cardiff as the team finished out of the playoff race in 7th place.

Season: 11 (20): 2

Frankie Simek, Sheffield Wednesday: The season is over for Wednesday with the team finishing in 12th place.

Season: 4 (2): 0

League One

Jemal Johnson, MK Dons: Johnson, out of favor under manager Roberto Di Matteo after not signing a contract extension -- despite being one of the Dons' top offensive threats -- didn't even make the bench as the team lost in the two-leg playoffs to Scunthorpe.

Tied 1-1, penalties were needed to produce a winner, and Scunthorpe advanced 7-6 on the spot kicks.

Season: 23 (14): 6

Spain, Primera Liga

Jozy Altidore, Xerez (loan from Villarreal): Altidore, who recently underwent toe surgery, has yet to make his debut for the second-division leaders.

Season: 3 (4): 1

Italy, Serie B

Danny Szetela, Brescia (loan from Racing Santander): Szetela, still being linked with Poland's Wisla Krakow, failed to see action as Brescia lost 2-1 at Grosseto on Monday.

The holding midfielder was also an unused substitute in Brescia's 0-0 draw against relegation threatened Cittadella on May 9. Brescia clings to a playoff spot with two rounds remaining.

Season: 8 (5): 1

Season: 8 (5): 1

Serie C1

Gabriel Ferrari, Perugia (loan from Sampdoria): The forward didn't make the squad against Crotone on May 10 but played the last 10 minutes against Lanciano on Sunday, Perugia's final game of the season.

Not much playing time translated to a less-than-productive loan spell at Perugia, which comfortably missed the playoffs.

Season: 3 (12): 1

Germany, Bundesliga

Steve Cherundolo, Hannover 96: Cherundolo, Hannover's regular at right back, underwent hip surgery in late April and hopes to be ready for July's Gold Cup in the U.S.

Season: 16 (2): 0

Michael Bradley, Borussia Moenchengladbach: Two last-minute wins mean that only a huge loss against Borussia Dortmund this weekend and big victories for either Energie Cottbus or Arminia Bielefeld can send Bradley -- one of the team's best performers down the stretch -- and Moenchengladbach down.

Moenchengladbach missed a penalty, then narrowly recovered to beat Schalke 1-0 on May 10, and three days later in a true six-pointer, edged Cottbus 1-0 away, again benefiting from late heroics. What followed Saturday was a 5-0 thumping at Bayer Leverkusen.

Bradley played in every minute of all three games in midfield.

Season: 25 (2): 5

Bryan Arguez, Hertha Berlin: Hertha's title hopes ended with a 0-0 draw versus Schalke on Saturday, and there was no action for Arguez. He also didn't dress against Cologne midweek.

With nothing left to play for, maybe Arguez can land a spot on the bench against Karlsruhe on Saturday as the league concludes.

Season: No appearances

Sal Zizzo, Hannover 96: Zizzo, a midfielder, made a sixth appearance this season when he played the final five minutes against Eintracht Frankfurt on May 9. He wasn't on the bench when Hannover registered a rare away win May 12 at Karlsruhe and suffered a rare defeat at home -- 5-0 -- to probable champions Wolfsburg on Saturday.

Season: 0 (6): 0

France, Ligue 1

Freddy Adu, Monaco (loan from Benfica): Adu still can't get a game. The much-hyped forward was on the bench against Sochaux on May 13 and Valenciennes three days later.

Reports emanating from Portugal indicate Adu will be returning to Benfica, and not staying at Monaco, when the season ends.

Season: 1 (9): 0

Carlos Bocanegra, Rennes: Bocanegra was on the verge of becoming a Rennes legend -- then second-tier side Guingamp rallied to win the French Cup final in Paris 2-1 on May 9.

Bocanegra, in his first season in France, put a header into the corner from a Bruno Cheyrou free kick to give Rennes a 1-0 lead in the 70th minute. Two minutes later, though, the Rennes defense failed to clear a ball and Eduardo pounced to make it 1-1. Eduardo turned hero when he scored a second in the 83rd minute to ensure Rennes's 38-year wait for a major trophy continues.

The loss probably means no European soccer for Rennes next season.

Rennes bounced back to beat Caen 1-0 on May 13 and picked up a point at Nantes on Sunday; Bocanegra started both games despite picking up a left thigh injury that threatened to sideline him against Nantes.

Season: 41 (1): 3

Belgium, Jupiler League

Oguchi Onyewu, Standard Liege: The season persists in Belgium -- barely.

Standard, the defending champions, and Anderlecht will meet in a two-leg affair to decide the title after they finished with 77 points each. (Thankfully, goal difference isn't used in Belgium.)

Onyewu almost went from hero to goat. The towering defender scored in a 2-0 win over Bruges in the penultimate round, but gave away a penalty against La Gantoise in injury time on Saturday with Standard leading 1-0. A draw would have handed Anderlecht -- which beat Genk 2-0 -- the crown, though keeper Sinan Bolat denied Bryan Ruiz.

Onyewu will leave Standard at the end of the season, with Fulham, Wolves, Birmingham, Marseille, Paris Saint-German, Real Betis and Borussia Moenchengladbach all reportedly interested.

Season: 43 (1): 6

Scotland, Premier League

DaMarcus Beasley, Rangers: Beasley will almost certainly be elsewhere next season, too. The winger, back from a rib injury, failed to make the bench against Celtic, Hibernian and Aberdeen.

Season: 7 (5): 0

Maurice Edu, Rangers: Edu got more starts for Rangers, playing a pivotal role in midfield as the blue side of Glasgow battles it out with Celtic -- yet again -- for the league title.

He played all 90 minutes against Celtic, Hibs and Aberdeen, and should see action when Rangers visit fourth-place Dundee United on the final weekend of the season. If Celtic beats third-place Hearts at home, Rangers need to win to end Celtic's three-year reign.

Season: 13 (2): 2

Denmark, Superligaen

Danny Califf, FC Midtjylland: Midtjylland's defensive leader sat out a 3-2 win at Horsens on May 8 because of a suspension, then returned in a 2-1 win over Aalborg on May 14. He also played all 90 minutes in a 1-0 loss at surging Esbjerg on Sunday.

Midtjylland will finish the season in fourth, disappointing considering the club's lofty ambitions.

Season: 25 games played, 0 goals

Jeremiah White, Aarhus: White probably didn't mind getting yanked in favor of Benny Feilhaber in the 65th minute against Odense on May 4 -- Aarhus lost 6-1. The forward played the first 83 minutes against Aalborg on May 11, was rested against Esbjerg three days later, and departed in the 67th minute -- for Feilhaber, again -- against Randers on Sunday.

Aarhus is battling Randers for fifth spot.

Season: 30 games played, 3 goals

Benny Feilhaber, Aarhus: Besides replacing White, Feilhaber, only recently returned from a lengthy knee injury, completed 90 minutes for the first time this year in Aarhus's 3-1 victory over Esbjerg. The midfielder played a role in two of the three goals.

Season: 8 games played, no goals

Michael Parkhurst, Nordsjaelland: Nordsjaelland's 0-0 draw against another relegation contender, Sonderjyske, on May 13 snapped a five-game losing streak.

There was even better news Monday: Nordsjaelland thumped last-place Vejle 4-1 to ensure top-flight status next season.

Parkhurst started in defense against Sonderjyske, Vejle and May 9 in a 3-1 loss at Copenhagen.

Season: 14 games played, 0 goals

Marcus Tracy, Aalborg: Tracy remains sidelined by a nagging leg injury, missing games against Aarhus, Midtjylland and Horsens.

And Aalborg continues to struggle -- it's now nine league games without a win for the defending champions.

Season: 7 games played, 1 goals

Sweden, Allsvenskan

Charlie Davies, Hammarby: Two more goals for Davies, proving last season was no fluke. He scored the second-half winner against Malmo on Sunday and netted a consolation effort in a 4-1 loss to defending champions Kalmar on May 6. In between, he started in a 2-0 loss at Orebro. He's tied for third in league scoring with four goals.

However, it wasn't all good news for Davies as he was also hit with a five-match ban by the league's disciplinary committee for elbowing Orebro's Michael Almeback.

Season: 9 games played, 4 goals

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