AMSTERDAM — And eventful Sunday for Americans in Europe was punctuated by Terrence Boyd’s double in Rapid Vienna's 3-0 cruise past Mattersburg.
The forward, who was named to the US national team World Cup qualifying roster later in the day, muscled his way onto the end of cross in the 12th minute to open the scoring and later closed the match with a point-blank header in the 66th. The brace put Boyd on four goals through seven league games, while the win lifted Rapid to second place.
Turning to the English Premier League, Brad Guzan was named Man of the Match in his first league start of the season, a 1-1 draw at Newcastle. The netminder made a terrific kick stop to deny Papiss Cissé near intermission, and then saved Villa's first point of the season by robbing Yohan Cabaye of a late freekick winner.
In Bundesliga action, Steve Cherundolo skippered Hannover 96 to a stunning 4-0 derby demolition of home side Wolfsburg. By snapping a five-game losing streak at the Volkswagen in style, the Reds climbed into third place.
Across the border in the Eredivisie, Jozy Altidore spent much of the day helping on defense as 10-man AZ Alkmaar took a 5-1 whooping at PSV Eindhoven. The Cheese Farmers have now gone winless in six league games away from home, dating back to last season.
Next door in Belgium, Sacha Kljestan was removed at the break of a 2-2 home draw with Genk. The champs rallied from a halftime deficit to remain unbeaten for the term, but dropped four points of the title pace.
Danish Superliga action saw US callup Michael Parkhurst earn Man of the Match honors as defending champs FC Nordsjælland settled for a 0-0 draw against Clarence Goodson and Brøndby. The Wild Tigers carried play, but could not punch a hole in the away defense.
Randers FC sub Charlie Davies worked the final 20 minutes of a 1-0 loss to guests AC Horsens. The forward created a golden chance to equalize near time, only to have Ronnie Schwartz miss the target.
In nearby Norway, Josh Gatt — who later received word of his first US call up — assisted on the opener in a 4-1 loss at Brann. However, the winger has been withdrawn from US consideration after he departed the match in the 64th minute due to a hamstring injury. At that point, the game was tied, but the champs fell apart late to drop to second place on goal differential.
Finally, Hønefoss goalkeeper Steve Clark made six saves in 1-0 defeat at Aalesund FK. Now winless in four, the visitors fell to 10th place.
