Perspective on special season for Yanks abroad

On some other season, Jozy Altidore’s mighty goal-scoring campaign for hard-trying AZ Alkmaar in Holland would be the talker for folks who closely watch all Yanks abroad. The U.S. international striker did have a fantastic breakout season.

Or we might be yakking about Michael Bradley’s outstanding debut season for Chievo Verona in Italy’s Serie A – a season so swell that whispers are sprouting that larger clubs might have targeted the U.S. midfielder.

Of course, we could also be examining Herculez Gomez’s season of proficiency at Mexican success story Santos Laguna, tossing that one merrily around the table. Or, same perhaps for Sacha Kljestan’s title-winning campaign at Anderlecht in Belgium.

This surely was a fantastic few months for U.S. internationals playing outside the States. Avi Creditor at put it all in perspective in this SI.com piece. His story is, of course, dominated by the one man whose exploits pushed all the others into the Yanks abroad undercard.

Clint Dempsey’s 23 goals in all competitions for Fulham (and 17 in league play) will be difficult to top.

There are tons of little tidbits about various Yanks abroad in the SI.com piece. Among them, Creditor rightly wonders how Alex McLeish’s dismissal from Aston Villa might affect U.S. international Eric Lichaj?  We’ve certainly seen other Americans get caught in the personnel whirlwind of a managerial change. For some reason, Americans often find themselves odd man out when managers bring in “their guys.”