EPL Americans

Aston Villa 1- Fiorentina 0

Americans Brad Friedel and young Eirc Lichaj both started for Villa and Frieldel combined with American Brad Guzan who stopped (with help from the post) a PK seen below, for the clean sheet. From EPL site:

Villa victory

Aston Villa’s pre-season preparations concluded on a high note with a 1-0 victory over Serie A side Fiorentina at Villa Park.

Villa boss Martin O’Neill handed a debut to new £6million signing Fabian Delph but it was experienced campaigner Emile Heskey who hit winner for the hosts after 14 minutes, the striker reacting quickest to Ashley Young’s cross to prod home at the near post.

Fiorentina spurned a great chance to pull level with 15 minutes remaining when Curtis Davies handled in the area, Alberto Gilardino crashing the resulting penalty against the upright.

West Ham 0- Napoli 1

Johnathan Spector came in as a sub for West Ham.

West Ham woe

A late goal from Fabio Quagliarella condemned West Ham United to a 1-0 defeat in their Bobby Moore Cup match against Napoli.

A keenly-contested encounter at Upton Park ultimately went the way of the Italians after Quagliarella looped home a superb flicked header over Hammers goalkeeper Robert Green after 78 minutes.

The visitors were on the back foot moments later, however, when Manuele Blasi was sent off for a second yellow card just 26 minutes after entering the fray as a substitute.

The hosts pushed for an equalizer in the final minutes and came close through Junior Stanislas in stoppage time, but Napoli’s 10 men held on for the win.

ESPN to show Jozy/EPL?

EPL Talk is reporting that ESPN may have reached a deal with the EPL to show two games a week on ESPN here in the US.

“ESPN has acquired the TV rights to two of the weekly Premier League slots on US television for the 2009-2010 season. Beginning on August 15, 2009, each week ESPN will feature the 7:45am ET Saturday game and the 3pm ET Monday game.”

The first game to be shown by ESPN? Presumably Chelsea v Hull City on August 15th, Jozy Altidore’s first game in the EPL for Hull.  There will also be games featuring teams with American players including: Fulham (Clint Dempsey and Eddie Johnson), Aston Villa (Fridel, Guzan), Everton (Tim Howard) on the prospective schedule.

However ESPN’s Ives Galarcep says not to get too excited yet as the deal is in the works and not yet official.

“UPDATE-Sources tell me no deal is finalized yet, but that talks are underway. In other words, you might want to hold off on the celebration until something official is announced.”

Hopefully this works out becuase it would be great to see Americans suceeding with their European Club teams, especially as it seems that more and more players are entering the top European Leagues.