Due to some injuries at the right back position for Aston Villa, there is a chance that Eric Lichaj could dress with the first team when they play Arsenal this weekend in the FA Cup.
Timothy Chandler did not play in Nurnberg’s 1-0 loss to Hannover 96 today due to a hamstring injury.
Reports out of Denmark claim that Peri Marosevic is on trial with Danish Superliga side Silkeborg.
Brondby IF has a friendly this weekend against Swedish club Mjällby IF with Clarence Goodson acting as some kind of temporary manager for the match.
And finally, Steven Goff is hearing that Foxborough is out of the running for the USMNT friendly against Brazil in May, which means FedEx Field is likely the frontrunner.
Steve Cherundolo went the full 90 minutes in this 1-0 victory over Nurnberg. Timothy Chandler sat this one out due to injury, while Hannover 96 are now unbeaten in their last five league games, but today is the only win out of the five-game stretch. Here is the lone goal from the game.
While Tim Ream secured his UK work permit earlier this week, neither Bolton nor the Red Bulls had anything on their website confirming the deal until now.
The US wins 1-0 despite playing down a man for most of the second half. Use the comments for the post-game talk. As for some random tidbits:
* The US starts a calendar year 2-0-0 for the ninth time in USMNT history (also 1930, 80, 96, 98, 2002, 05, 07, 09).
* The US starts a calendar year 2-0-0 with at least one of the wins coming outside the US for the fourth time in USMNT history (also 1930, 1980, 2005).
* The US has allowed zero goals through the first two games of a calendar year for the first time since 2006.
Here are some links to check out between the two “big” games today.
US Soccer gives us a preview on today’s friendly with their usual dose of stats and facts. Here is also a quick Studio 90 preview from the stadium. Fun fact that no one cares about: I also visited the Panama Canal Miraflores Locks last April when visiting a friend down there. It was pretty interesting/cool to see the boats go through.
The U-23 team finished their camp with a 1-0 win against Alajuelense down in Costa Rica yesterday. Tony Taylor scored the lone goal and here is a match report.
Speaking of Dempsey, here is another shameless plug for my latest Inside the Numbers piece on his current scoring tear.
David Smith of Yanks Abroad recently caught up with Jonathan Spector. Staying at YA, Michael Adubato got some words from a representative of Belgian First Division side Westerlo on Edson Buddle’s trial.
Nate Weiss has found a new home in Germany with the Oberliga club FSV Erlangen-Brück.
And US U-20 forward Stefan Jerome is down in Florida on trial with DC United. Jerome last played with Sigma Olomouc of the Czech Gambrinus Liga.
I think most, if not all, of us are aware that Clint Dempsey has been on a scoring tear as of late. Dempsey became the first American to record a hat trick in Premier League play a week after notching a hat trick in the FA Cup against Charlton Athletic. In fact, he has scored a total of 10 goals in his last 11 games across all competitions.
I then started wondering how that compared to other good players and other players who have been “hot” in recent weeks, so I decided to dive into some stats to see where he stands. I could only find one other guy in a top flight league in Europe with 10 goals across all competitions since December 1 and his name was Lionel Messi.
Here is where Dempsey stands with other notable guys in Europe since December 1 (this is through games of Tuesday as Messi and Ronaldo face off against each other on Wednesday).
It also makes me laugh that Tim Howard has more goals than Fernando “50 million pounds” Torres over that time frame.
Dempsey’s “three-bagger” (kudos to Rob Stone for using the term this weekend during his Fox Soccer debut) was also his seventh multi-goal game of his career in Premier League play, with all of them taking place since the beginning of the 2008-09 season. Since 2008-09, only ten players can make the claim of having scored 2+ goals in at least seven different Premier League games, including Dempsey.
Dempsey is now up to nine league goals this season, three shy of his personal best of 12 set last season. His nine goals are also tied for the seventh most in the Premier League in 2011-12. Add in his FA Cup hat trick and three goals in Europa League and he has 15 goals this season across all competitions (he had 13 across all competitions last season). His 15 goals across all competitions is good enough for tied for fourth most among Premier League players.
Clint Dempsey already holds the Fulham Premier League mark with 42 career league goals (and counting), while he has scored a total of 52 goals for the Cottagers in his career (Anyone out there know where this ranks for Fulham all-time? All I can find are guys with 100+ goals).
While the Premier League doesn’t have a great site with historical records, I have figured out that Dempsey is now within the Top 100 all-time for league goals. Where exactly? That number seems to change among various sources, but he looks like he is around the tied for 95th most area.
Sacha Kljestan put in another 90 minutes in Anderlecht’s 3-1 victory over Gent. Kljestan leads all Anderlecht field players in minutes played this season. With the win, Anderlecht now sit in first place with a nine-point lead over Gent. Here are the highlights from today’s game.
George John played his first game in West Ham’s claret and blue today, granted it was with the reserve squad, but he scored West Ham’s only goal in a 1-1 draw to Gillingham.
“I pride myself on working hard – that’s how I’ve achieved what I’ve been able to do,” said the Seattle-born centre-back. “I think I’m a decent defender so I just do my job well and pass the ball to the guys who need it.
“I’m excited about the opportunity. England has the best football league in the world and I’m always up for a new challenge. The only way to get better is to play with better players.
“This opportunity presented itself and I said ‘Why not?’. I’d like to take my career as far as I can take it and I would like to continue that career with a fantastic club like West Ham United.”
Not a bad debut for John. His first chance for senior team action will be next Tuesday when the Hammers head to Ipswich Town.
