AMSTERDAM – Fabian Johnson and Borussia Mönchengladbach secured a place in the group phase of this fall's Champions League with a 2-0 win at Werder Bremen on Saturday afternoon.
The US winger worked 79 minutes on the left flank, completing 31 of 37 passes along the way. Thanks to their 10th win in a 13-game Bundesliga unbeaten run, the Foals punched their first-ever ticket to the Champions League group stage.
Elsewhere, John Anthony Brooks and Hertha Berlin hosted a 0-0 stalemate with Timothy Chandler's Eintracht Frankfurt that all but cemented their place in the top flight next season.
Brooks, who picked up an early yellow card that will see him suspended for the final match of the season, narrowly missed high with a header on 31 minutes. The center back also rung up four clearances and four pass picks to help Hertha post the shutout. Eintracht right back Chandler also intercepted four passes, but his offensive game was a bit lukewarm on the day.
The result all but eliminated Eintracht from the Europa League race.
Over in England, Tim Howard and Everton snapped a two-game slide by completing a 2-1 rally win at West Ham United on a Romelu Lukaku stoppage-time strike.
The Toffees ace pitched in with two saves and two cross claims, with his best stop coming to deny Stewart Downing near intermission. The win allowed Everton to leap-frog their hosts into 10th place.
A Geoff Cameron star show at right back couldn't keep ninth-place Stoke City from settling for a 0-0 draw at Burnley. The Massachusetts native posted a game-high six tackles to go with four clearances, four pass picks and a shot block.
Meanwhile, Brad Guzan watched on as Aston Villa clinched Premier League safety despite being pummeled 6-1 at Southampton, and DeAndre Yedlin went unused as Tottenham narrowly held on to the last Europa League place with a 2-0 blanking of guests Hull City.
Turning to Norway's Tippeligaen, Danny Cruz was very active during his 54 minutes of action as Bodø/Glimt climbed out of the cellar by topping visitors Tromsø, 1-0.
With Zarek Valentin a spectator on the Glimt bench, Cruz both drew and was charged with a bookable offense. He also had a penalty shout ignored after going down in the area shortly before the break, but the hosts still did enough to earn their first win of the season.
Both the scoring streak of Rhett Bernstein and a brief Mjøndalen win streak came to end in a 4-2 away derby loss to third-place Vålerenga.
The center back, whose 87th-minute rebound was buried by Magnus Sylling Olsen to temporarily pull the hosts to within one, also drew his first yellow card in Norway. The defeat pushed the Brown Army back to break-even and down to 10th place.
Switching focus to the relegation race in Austria, Conor O'Brien was robbed twice as Wiener Neustadt squandered an opportunity to go level on points with the last safety slot in a 0-0 draw at FC Admira Wacker Mödling.
The midfielder had his distance drive shoved out of the bottom corner on 18 minutes and saw a close-range header captured by the away netminder shortly after halftime. O'Brien did pile up a game-high five pass interceptions to go with two shot blocks as the visitors remained three points back of their Saturday hosts with three rounds left to play.
Cole Grossman went the distance in midfield as Bob Bradley's Stabæk battled to a see-saw 3-3 share away to defending champs Molde FK, who required 36 minutes of emergency netminding from league debutant Ethan Horvath.
The 19-year-old Molde back-up allowed two goals during his stint as an injury replacement, but also made an important rush off his line to keep Ernest Asante from giving the visitors a two-goal lead in the 70th minute.
Thanks to a late equalizer from former Stabæk forward Ola Kamara, the Blue Ones slipped two points behind leaders Rosenborg, while Molde tentatively grabbed fifth place.
