Babajide Ogunbiyi is headed back to Denmark.  The 26-year-old defender has signed with Danish 1st Division side FC Hjørring and will be replacing fellow American Mike Jones (Who?!) on the roster.

“The contract is for one year,” Hjørring Sports Director Jacob Krüger confirmed to YA.

…….

“He is expected to be a [contributor] for us in the starting lineup,” Krüger confirmed, further adding that they are not at all concerned by his recent lack of league games.

“We start [training] January 8 and play [our next] match in March so we have no worries about his form.”

Ogunbiyi is no stranger to the Danish 1st Division.  He appeared in 53 games over two seasons with Viborg FF before leaving the club this summer.  He signed with the New York Red Bulls in late July, but was released a couple days later due to a health concern.  He also had a training stint with Gregg Berhalter’s Hammarby in Sweden this past fall, but did not get a contract offer.

FC Hjørring and the rest of the Danish 1st Division are currently on winter break and don’t resume action until late March.  FC Hjørring are sitting in ninth place (out of 12 teams) with 20 points, three points above the relegation zone.

Some of these are a couple days old, but between life and the USMNT, I was saving them up for one big link drop.

Speaking of the USMNT, Greg Seltzer gives us a pre-Hex to-do list for Jurgen Klinsmann.

These were written before Tuesday’s game, but here are some interviews by Brian Sciaretta with Joe Corona and Geoff Cameron.

Sciaretta also informs us that Bolivian-American center back Alejandro Melean became cap tied to Bolivia this week.

Back to the US’ 3-1 win over Guatemala.  Jon Arnold got some post-game quotes from various USMNT players.  And if you missed this, ESPN/Julie Foudy did a great video piece on Herculez Gomez.

And Grant Wahl talks about Eddie Johnson’s comeback.  I will admit that I was skeptical about Johnson’s call-up, but he looked very good in both games and looks to be playing with a lot of confidence right now.

I got e-mailed this over the weekend, but here are two radio interviews with Stoke City’s Geoff Cameron and Maurice Edu.

Some good news on the Stuart Holden front.  He will be returning to training with Bolton this week.

ESPN’s Ravi Ubha has a story up on Oguchi Onyewu about his move to Malaga.

We already told you about Christian Eissele scoring 20 goals for Kemi Kings in Finland this season, but it looks like he won the Golden Boot for the season.

St. Pauli played some friendlies during the international break and it looks like Joe Gyau scored a goal in 6-1 win over SC Wiener Viktoria on Saturday.  Here are highlights of the goals, including Gyau’s goal.

It looks like Kenneth Di Vita Jensen has moved on to Ullensaker / Kisa in the Norwegian First Division (second tier) and scored a goal this past weekend.

We told you last week about Babajide Ogunbiyi training at Hammarby.  It doesn’t look like Hammarby is going to sign him and he apparently failed his medical with the New York Red Bulls because of some heart condition.

So apparently there were some interesting additions/omissions from the latest USMNT roster, who knew (he said sarcastically)?  Jurgen Klinsmann explains some of his decisions in his post-roster teleconference.

One player I think we can all agree on about being on the roster is Danny Williams, especially after his performance in Columbus once he was allowed to play his natural position.  Mr. Williams spoke to Mathew Wagner recently about the US team.

Brian Sciaretta is reporting that Anthony Brooks is no longer headed to Spain to play with the US U-20 team over the international break, but will rather stay with Hertha Berlin.

Who wants to see a video of Stuart Holden running and cutting?  Here you go.  I also enjoyed the article on him in the first edition of Howler (I am still making my way through it, but it has been pretty good so far).

West Ham United’s website has a story up on Sebastian Lletget.

Remember Babajide Ogunbiyi?  The 25-year-old central defender was last seen failing a physical with the Red Bulls has now popped up in Sweden with Hammarby to train for a week.  Gregg Berhalter seems to be working his MLS connections.

As we had noted a few weeks ago, Babajide Ogunbiyi had seemingly left unsetttled situations in Germany and Denmark in favor of the New York Red Bulls, who drafted him once upon a time.

However, that deal has fallen through due to a failed physical:

“During our standard, thorough physical, our medical team noticed an issue regarding Jide’s health,” Red Bulls general manager Erik Soler said in a statement. “Over the past few weeks, Jide has consulted extensively with our doctors as well as other practitioners. We thought that after receiving all of the information available, it was best that we part ways at this time. We wish Jide the best of luck and success in his future endeavors. Respecting Jide’s right to confidentiality, we will not comment further on the medical issue.”

Think Ogunbiyi will still wind up elsewhere in MLS? Back to Denmark? Does the physiscal issue potentially end his career?

After spending the last couple of years in the second division of Denmark (sandwiched around a failed attempt to sign with Karlsruher of the 2nd Bundesliga, Babajide Ogunbiyi has signed with the MLS team that originally drafted him back in 2009.

Ogunbiyi had signed with Viborg after trialing with several teams in Scandinavia when he couldn’t reach terms with the Red Bulls back in 2009. After a first season that showed promise, he attempted to catch on with Karlsruher, but a transfer fee could not be agreed upon. He then got hurt but Viborg refused to pay for it (and later, pay him at all). So, he has largely been out of action over the last year.

I am still catching up on life (and I really should be in bed right now), but here are some various links of random things from the last couple days.

Congrats to Clint Dempsey for scoring his 50th Premier League goal of his career this past weekend.  As I posted a month ago when he was sitting on 49, only seven active Premier League midfielders have scored 50+ goals in their career, so Dempsey is #8 (with only Tim Cahill doing it in fewer games).

Congrats to Sacha Kljestan and Anderlecht for winning the Belgian Pro League title.

Two Americans clinched promotion this weekend.  Tony Taylor and Estoril locked up the Portuguese Liga de Honra title and will be playing in Primeira Liga next season.  And in Germany, Royal-Dominique Fennell and Stuttgart Kickers will be playing in the 3.Liga next season after winning the Regionaliga Sud division title.

Carlisle United have offered Frank Simek a new deal with the club.  Speaking of Mr. Simek, here is a teaser photo from my Manchester trip.

Dover Athletic have released Jemal Johnson.

Babajide Ogunbiyi returned to Viborg FF’s lineup this weekend and played 90 minutes in a 3-1 win over Brønshøj.

Keeping up on the leaked/released kits for next season, here are a few more from the last couple of days.

* AZ Alkmaar (Jozy Altidore) home shirt.  Also, this photo of Jozy is awesome.
* Hannover 96 (Steve Cherundolo) home shirt.
* Celtic (Dominic Cervi) away shirt.
* Mainz (Jared Jeffrey) home shirt.

I need some sleep.

A couple quick things.

Timothy Chandler signed an extension with FC Nurnberg today, which will keep him at the club through 2015.

Staying in Germany, Danny Williams will be out the next four to six weeks with a partial tear of a shoulder muscle.  He will miss Hoffenheim’s last two games and likely the next USMNT friendlies.

While you already know our stance on Clint Dempsey and the PFA Team of the Year, Dempsey did finish fourth in the Footballer of the Year award given out by the Football Writers’ Association.

And I keep forgetting to post this, but Babajide Ogunbiyi and Viborg FF finally decided to come to an agreement after his falling out after having a surgery in the US, but he is back with the club and currently regaining match fitness with the reserve team.

We haven’t discussed Babajide Ogunbiyi lately. The New York native was voted Viborg’s best player last season as they finished 11th in the Danish 1st division (second tier). He went on trial with Karlsruher in the 2nd Bundesliga, but that didn’t pan out and he then ran into some injury issues.

Anyway, Ogunbiyi was offered another deal by his old club, Viborg. However, he apparently doesn’t want to play for free (via Google Translate):

The big and strong stops Babajide Ogunbiyi is still a matter of FIFA because of Viborg FF’s lack of salary payments. But the American’s camp has got to find that he is free to find a new club, and he can play in the spring. And it is working now in Denmark – or possibly Sweden and Norway.

Ogunbiyi will now look for a club that actually pays the wages it promises to players elsewhere in Scandinavia. Since he has been out of contract since the summer, he would be free to sign.

With the US-France friendly less than 24 hours away, here are some last few links regarding the game.

US Soccer provides us with their usual stats and facts preview right here.  Random stat of the day from that:  three members of the current roster were inaugural members of the U-17 Residency Program in Bradenton (DaMarcus Beasley, Kyle Beckerman and Oguchi Onyewu).

Carlos Bocanegra and Tim Howard talk about playing in the 2003 Confederations Cup in France right here.

The USMNT blog also has a quick history update on Stade de France.

As for some other previews regarding the game, here is one from Soccer America that looks at France and here is one from the AP.

As for some things on this site in the last week.  Here is the 100-cap club, which Bocanegra could join if he plays in both games this weekend.  And here are some highlights from the last time the US played France in 1979.

Now for some non-USMNT links.

US Soccer announced the venues for March’s CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament.  The group stages will be played between LP Field (Nashville, Tennessee) and the Home Depot Center (Carson, California).  And the semifinals/final will be held at Livestrong Park in Kansas City.  Depending on the schedule, I might have to check out at a game at the Home Depot Center (hopefully the US is in the group out here in LA).

Babajide Ogunbiyi has his second volume up of his journal with Goal.com.

And finally, Arsene Wenger talks about US Soccer/MLS/the future of soccer right here.

***UPDATE***

Check out this three-part interview with Jurgen Klinsmann over at MLSsoccer.com.  Only Part 1 and Part 2 are up right now, but he is pretty honest with some answers like Omar Gonzalez is currently behind Michael Orozco Fiscal, Clarence Goodson, Oguchi Onyewu at center back.

Here is some reading material for those of you killing time at work before the weekend hits.

Brent Latham has some notes on the U-23/U-20 camp roster.  He thinks we can all relax on the lack of Fabian Hurzeler on the roster for the time being.

Joe Corona was named to the US U-23 roster and recently told Jeff Carlisle that he would pick the country that “wants to give me the opportunity”.  He was named to Mexico’s preliminary U-22 roster for the Pan American Games, although he didn’t make the final roster.

Another player who was named to the roster and will head to Germany to be there, but won’t play due to injury is Josh Gatt.  Greg Seltzer got a few words from him about Molde FK winning the Tippeligaen title in Norway.

Moving on to the USMNT, Brek Shea will be part of the roster that is playing against France and Slovenia.  And it now looks like the man will stay in Europe and head to London to train with Arsenal for a month after the friendlies.

Stuart Holden did a video interview with MLSsoccer.com this week.  Nothing too new is said, but he talks about his recovery and you get to look at his hair (for those of you that have missed it).

According to his agent, Ricardo Clark wants to go out on loan in search of playing time.

And finally, Babajide Ogunbiyi did a journal thing for Goal.com and talks about a few different topics.

Have a good weekend.