Like a number of veteran Canadian players, Andre Hainault opted not to take part in the CONCACAF Gold Cup as he was sorting out his club future.
The former Houston Dynamo defender found a new home last week after he signed a two-year deal with VfR Aalen of the 2.Bundesliga. Hainault had finished the last European campaign with Ross County of the Scottish Premier League after leaving MLS. And after impressing in a brief trial with Aalen, he now joins Olivier Occean and Kevin McKenna, who also play in Germany’s second division.
In Sweden, goalkeeper Kenny Stamatopoulos now has a two-game shutout streak for Allsvenskan club AIK. Stamatopoulos was in goal on Sunday as AIK beat Hacken 2-0 and are just three points back of first place.
In Finland, defender Roger Thompson and Mariehamn had a busy week as they saw action in both the league and in the Europa League. Thompson played in both games as Mariehamn tied Inter Baku of Azerbaijan in their Europa League first-round qualifier and then followed that up in Veikkausliiga action as his club played Jaro to a scoreless draw. Fellow Canadian Frank Jonke came on in the second half for Jaro. Mariehamn are in fifth place and Jaro in seventh in the Veikkausliiga standings.
READ: Canadian Exports: Olivier Occean joins German 2.Bundesliga club FC Kaiserslautern
Down a league in the Ykkonen, it was an up-and-down week for goalkeeper David Monsalve as his team Oulu had a win and a loss in their two league games. On Saturday, Monsalve kept the clean sheet as Oulu beat cellar-dwellers JIPPO 1-0 but couldn’t keep the momentum going, as they were 2-0 losers to Viikingit on Tuesday. Oulu are in fourth place and nine points back of first.
In Sherif El-Masri’s season of horror with Young Lions of Singapore's S-League, the pleasant moments almost barely happen. But El-Masri gave his team only their second point of the season as he scored in Young Lions’ 1-1 draw with Albirex Niigata S. In 15 league games, Young Lions have just the two points and are in last place by a wide 14-point margin.
Things are going much better for midfielder Jordan Webb and Home United as they’re running a three-game unbeaten streak. Webb played the whole game on Thursday as Home pulled out a 2-1 victory over Geylang International. Home are in fourth place and is 10 points back of first.
Back near the bottom of the S-League table is Jerome Baker’s Hougang United. Baker played the whole game on Thursday but was held off the scoreboard as Hougang dropped a 1-0 decision to Tanjong Pagar for their fourth loss in a row. Hougang are in 10th place in the 12-team league.
