[AMERICANS ABROAD] Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96) and Josh Gatt (Molde) both started in winning efforts in the first leg of the Europa League playoffs. The clubs of the three other Americans in action on Thursday -- Jozy Altidore (AZ), Terrence Boyd (Rapid Vienna) and Mikkel Diskerud (Rosenborg) -- are all in decent shape to qualify for the group stage. For all the results ...

Thursday:
Anzhi Makhachkala (Russia)-AZ (Netherlands) 1-0
Jozy Altidore: 90 minutes
Horsens (Denmark)-Sporting (Portugal) 1-0
Oguchi Onyewu: not on Europa League roster
Slask Wroclaw (Poland)-Hannover 96 (Germany) 3-5
Steve Cherundolo: 90 minutes
PAOK (Greece)-Rapid Vienna (Austria) 2-1
Terrence Boyd: sub-9 minutes
Legia Warsaw (Poland)-Rosenborg (Norway) 1-1
Mikkel Diskerud: 90 minutes, 1 yellow card
Molde (Norway)-Heerenveen (Netherlands) 2-0
Josh Gatt: 80 minutes
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Athletic Bilbao (Spain)-HJK (Finland) 6-0
Red Star (Serbia)-Bordeaux (France) 0-0
Maritimo (Portugal)-Dila Gori (Georgia) 1-0
Mura 05 (Slovenia)-Lazio (Italy) 0-2
Zeta Golubovci (Montenegro)-PSV (Netherlands) 0-5
Vaslui (Romania)-Inter Milan (Italy) 0-2
Hearts (Scotland)-Liverpool (England) 0-1
Motherwell (Scotland)-Levante (Spain) 0-2
Debrecen (Hungary)-Club Brugge (Belgium) 0-3
Lokeren (Belgium)-Viktoria Plzen (Czech Rep.) 2-1
Midtjylland (Denmark)-Young Boys (Switzerland) 0-3
F91 Dudelange (Luxembourg)-Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel) 1-3
Feyenoord (Netherlands)-Sparta Prague (Czech Rep.) 2-2
Trabzonspor (Turkey)-Fehervar (Hungary) 0-0
Bursaspor (Turkey)-Twente (Netherlands) 3-1
Dinamo Buch. (Romania)-Metalist Kharkiv (Ukraine) 0-2
Lucerne (Switzerland)-Genk (Belgium) 2-1
AIK Stockholm (Sweden)-CSKA Moscow (Russia) 0-1
Atromitos Athinon (Greece)-Newcastle Utd. (England) 1-1
Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova)-Marseille (France) 1-2
Slovan Liberec (Czech Republic)-Dnipro (Ukraine) 2-2
Ekranas Panevezys (Lithuania)-Steaua Buch. (Romania) 0-2
Tromso (Norway)-Partizan (Serbia) 3-2
Neftchi Baku (Azerbaijan)-APOEL (Cyprus) 1-1
Wednesday:
VfB Stuttgart (Germany)-Dynamo Moscow (Russia) 2-0