AMSTERDAM – Though it was not a very successful Saturday afternoon for clubs employing Americans overseas, Stoke City right back Geoff Cameron continued his fine form with the late game-winning assist in a 2-1 Premier League decision over Brad Guzan and visiting Aston Villa.
The Potters defender nearly opened the scoring at the end of a surge down the flank on 38 minutes, but Guzan managed to usher his tricky cross-cum-shot over. Cameron helped set up the eventual first strike of the game on 50 minutes, when Peter Crouch knocked down the American's long free kick for Charlie Adam to net.
Guzan got into the same sort of act in the 66th minute, with his long boot facilitating Libor Kozák's equalizer. However, Cameron was back to playmaking four minutes later, picking out Crouch with a cross for the winner.
The result tentatively pushed Stoke into the top half of the EPL table, while Villa dropped their third straight league match to hit 13th place.
Around the league, Jozy Altidore worked a bland 68-minute shift in Sunderland's 0-0 stalemate against guests Norwich City.
Limited to just 22 touches on the day, Altidore's best chance came when his partially deflected shot bounced just wide shortly before intermission. Now winless in six and without a goal for 233 minutes in league play, Sunderland remained firmly in the league's basement.
Over in the Bundesliga, Fabian Johnson's solid left wing outing went to waste in Hoffenheim's 1-0 loss at Braunschweig. With just one win in their last seven, the visitors slipped to 12th place.
Also, Steve Cherundolo made his first start of the season as Hannover 96 fell 2-1 at Freiburg. The 13th place Reds have lost all eight of their Bundesliga road games this season.
