6. AMERICANS ABROAD: DeMerit scores against Friedel; 18-year-old in Serie A

• by Soccer America , Jan 24, 2007

Watford's American defender Jay DeMerit entered the game in the 34th minute and scored the gamewinner - heading past American keeper Brad Friedel - in the 70th minute for a 2-1 win as the English Premier League's last-place team notched its second win of the season. It was DeMerit's second EPL goal of the season. Watford, which had scored only twice in its last nine games, remains in last place and Blackburn remains in 10th place.

The game at Watford drew the smallest EPL crowd of the season: 13,766.

Gabriel Enzo Ferrari, an 18-year-old New York City native who signed with Italian Serie A's Sampdoria early this year, was on the bench last weekend for its 2-0 loss to Empoli.

Ferrari, who played for the New York Red Bulls (nee MetroStars) youth teams, winning a Super Y-League title in 2005, will become the first American to play in Serie A since Alexi Lalas in 1994-95 if he sees first-team action.

Ferrari graduated from New Jersey's St. Benedict's Prep, whose alumni include Claudio Reyna and Tab Ramos, last spring.

"I think that Gabe is a talented player," said Red Bull New York director of youth soccer and player development Giovanni Savarese. "Right now, being surrounded by Serie A players, I think he will grow more as a player. He will become a better player and I think it's great for him that he already is in that type of environment at such a young age."

"He's got the necessary skills; eventually he'll get the opportunity," Sampdoria spokesman Matteo Gamba told the Associated Press. "He's already training with the senior squad."