[AMERICANS ABROAD] Michael Bradley scored two goals for German club Borussia Moenchengladbach in a 4-2 win over FC Cologne that moved Gladbach into a tie for 15th place in the Bundesliga with Bochum (inside the relegation zone on goal difference). Bradley has scored four of his five Bundesliga goals since the winter break and helped Gladbach escape from the cellar.

Gladbach will host Bochum Friday and move out of the relegation zone with a victory -- quite a comeback for a team that was last at the halfway point of the season.

Bradley, whose two goals gave the USA a 2-0 win over Mexico in their World Cup 2010 qualifier last month, scored Gladbach's first goal from close range on a pass from young star Marko Marin and finished the scoring from the penalty spot.

First goal:


Also in Germany, goalkeeper Luis Robles won the Second Division battle with fellow American keeper David Yelldell as fifth-place Kaiserslautern beat Koblenz, 2-1, on Friday, to remain in the promotion hunt. Forward Matt Taylor came on late for Koblenz.

BELGIUM. Oguchi Onyewu's Standard Liege took advantage of Anderlecht's 2-1 loss to Mechelen to regain the lead in the Juliper League thanks to its 2-0 win over Racing Genk. Onyewu went all the way in the win. Standard, the defending champion, has a one-point lead with eight games to play.

ENGLAND. Brad Friedel was in goal for Aston Villa's 2-1 loss at home to Tottenham that continued the Birmingham club's slide. On the first goal, Friedel couldn't hold on to Aaron Lennon's cross and Jermaine Jenas put away the rebound. Friedel did well to push aside Wilson Palacios' shot but Robbie Keane collected the rebound and fed Darren Bent for the game-winner. The loss extended Villa's winless streak to seven games and dropped it out the top four for the first time since December.

Also ...

-- Tim Howard was in goal for sixth-place Everton's 3-1 win over Stoke City.
-- Clint Dempsey also went the distance in ninth-place Fulham's 3-1 win over Bolton.

FRANCE. Carlos Bocanegra went off in the middle of the second half with Rennes trailing, 2-0, but it rallied to tie Le Mans away, 2-2. Rennes is in seventh place but only six points off the lead held by seven-time champion Lyon in a tight Ligue 1 race.

MEXICO. U.S. internationals Michael Orozco and Jose Francisco Torres went the distance in losses for San Luis (2-1 at Puebla) and Pachuca (2-0 at Monterrey), respectively. New Mexico product Edgar Castillo had better luck with Club America, a 3-1 winner at Cruz Azul in a key Mexico City derby.

NORWAY. The top-level Eliteserien kicked off the 2009 season, and Clarence Goodson and new signing Hunter Freeman both played all 90 minutes in IK Start's 3-3 tie at Stromsgodset. The ranks of the Americans in Norway have thinned. The only other American to play on opening day was Troy Perkins, who started in goal for Valerenga in its 3-0 loss at Rosenborg.