Yesterday was a slightly crazy one with stuff happening all day long.  We had the US U-20 team qualifying for the U-20 World Cup, Stuart Holden made his first league appearance since March 19, 2011 and Joe Corona/Edgar Castillo scored for Tijuana in Copa Libertadores action.

As for some links.

The US U-20 team is headed to Turkey this summer for the U-20 World Cup after beating Canada 4-2 yesterday.  The U-20 World Cup starts up on June 21, while the draw will be held on March 25.  While they did qualify yesterday, there are still potentially two more games left in the CONCACAF U-20 Championship.  The US will play Cuba in the semifinals on Friday and will be without the services of Cody Cropper, Jerome Kiesewetter, Luis Gil and Caleb Stanko the rest of the way as they return to their club teams.

One player who could potentially be on that U-20 team come June is Anthony Brooks.  And Every Touch Footy decided to do a video of Brooks’ performance against Kaiserslautern from this past weekend.

As I stated above, Stuart Holden made his first league appearance in 711 days yesterday.  It sounds like he did alright and was “neat and tidy”.

Edgar Castillo and Joe Corona scored in Copa Libertadores action last night, becoming the first Americans to score in that competition since Nicky Torres in 2011.  And here is a photo of them celebrating after Castillo’s goal.

Sebastian Lletget scored a goal yesterday in U-21 action as West Ham lost to Wolverhampton 2-1.

Kenneth Di Vita Jensen also scored a goal, but in a friendly for Hønefoss.

Stoke City’s Robert Huth could be missing some time in the future.  Does this mean some playing time at centerback for Geoff Cameron?

Clint Dempsey is expected to miss one to two weeks with a calf strain.

Jermaine Jones did an interview with Bundesliga.com after his good performances last week.

USMNT assistant coach Martin Vasquez has been in Mexico checking in on DaMarcus Beasley and Michael Orozco Fiscal.

Will Parchman tries to answer some questions about Jozy Altidore.

The US U-17 team is down in Panama and tied them 1-1 yesterday with Junior Flores scoring the lone goal for the US.

Greg Seltzer recently talked to Conor O’Brien about his move to FC Nordsjælland.

And finally, Jamel Johnson (not to be confused with Arlesey Town’s Jemal Johnson) is now in Austria at SV Gersthof.  Gersthof play in the Austrian Landesliga (fourth tier).

The North American Soccer League, the 900th different fledgling attempt at second-division second stateside, released their combine list today. Included are a number of former OT-featured players:

- Vincenzo Bernardo (who actually finished last year with the Harrisburg City Islanders of USL Pro), who spent time in Italy and Austria

- Erik Opsahl who played briefly with Reading before landing in the Swedish 3rd tier for a spell

- Jamel Johnson, frequently confused with Jemal Johnson, who spent some in the Danish 2nd tier

Gale Agbossoumonde has also been said to be set to be loaned to the Carolina Railhawks (which would be different than showing up at the combine) although we’ll have more on that if it ever becomes official.

In semi-related news, Jeremiah White was released from camp by the New England Revolution today. Hard to believe  a guy once capped after a good season in Denmark now can’t make perhaps the worst team in MLS.

I am not going to say much about today’s game.  There is nothing really to take away from it based on the outcome (a beatdown) and how Bob played it (starters mixed in with reserves).  I am not going to post a bunch of links where people say a lot of the same things, but here are some player ratings I can get behind courtesy of Neil from The Yanks Are Coming.  I won’t name names, but I saw someone gave Gooch a 5.5 somehow on another site (how is that possible?).

Some links to check out if you did miss today’s game:  Highlights and Inside the Numbers.

As for some other random news.

The Shin Guardian has the scoop on Preston Zimmerman’s move.  His new destination, German 3. Liga side SV Darmstadt 98.  They were recently promoted from the Regionalliga to the 3. Liga this past season.

Jamel Johnson, not to be confused with Lokomotiv Sofia’s Jemal Johnson, is headed to Mexico to trial with Pachuca.  This Johnson has been in Denmark playing with FC Fyn in the Danish 1 Division.

Conor Doyle will be wearing this kit in home games next season at Derby County.  A simple/basic design by Adidas with some subtle silver-ish hoops.

And while it has been rumored for a while that Rangers, Birmingham City and others have been tracking Alejandro Bedoya, Orebro’s sporting director has told Sky Sports that it is highly unlikely he will finish the season with his current Swedish club.

“Several clubs have been here to look at Bedoya during the spring and I would be surprised if something concrete doesn’t materialise for him,” Skoldmark told Nerikes Allehanda.

“Some German clubs have been here too so I can’t deny that there is interest in Bedoya,” Skoldmark added.

As for some site news, Howie should be finishing our Gold Cup previews up over the next two days.  He has been a little under the weather, so he was unable to crank those out the past two days.

Also, tomorrow is your last day to enter our Gold Cup Bracket Contest.  The deadline closes at kickoff of tomorrow’s Cuba-Costa Rica game at 6:00 PM Eastern.  I will be checking my e-mail once I get into Chicago (a nice vacation to visit some family).

Some afternoon reading.

» Parkhurst to play right back for USMNT? [Yanks Abroad]

» Johnson out to help Fyn avoid drop [Yanks Abroad]

» Feilhaber injured in AGF win [MLSsoccer.com]

As I posted late last night, there was some confusion on Adrian Ruelas’ possible loan deal with Celtic.  One day later and it looks like there has been some more clarification on the deal.

Ruelas, 19, will train with Celtic until the winter transfer window opens and then will formally join the club if a work permit can be secured.

“Adrian traveled to Scotland yesterday and will be there until December as part of an induction into the team,” Santos communications director Luis Roberto Fernández Espinosa told YA today. “In December he will be registered as the new addition to Celtic.”

The guys over at Yanks Abroad recently talked to Jeremiah White since he made his move to Poland.  Sounds like he is excited to be back in Europe.

Former US U-17 and U-20 player, Jamel Johnson (not to be confused with MK Dons’ Jemal Johnson), signed with FC Fyn of the Danish 1st Division this week.  He spent time on trial with Viborg FF and Randers FC before landing with FC Fyn.

And after a couple rumors last week, US Soccer finally announced that the US will be playing South Africa in the Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup on November 17 in Cape Town.  This will be the US’ fourth trip to South Africa in the last few years (2007 Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup, 2009 Confederations Cup & 2010 World Cup).  It should be interesting to see what kind of roster Bob Bradley will select for this game with it so far away for both European and MLS players.