In case you missed it earlier, both Josh Gatt and Conor O’Brien scored goals today.  Daniel Stevens also scored a goal in Kemi Kings’ 2-1 loss to GBK in Finland, but there are no highlights on that one.

While those guys scored in league action, a few Americans found the back of the net in preseason friendly action today.  Matt Taylor scored a goal in Preußen Münster’s 2-0 victory over Hannover 96.  Joe Gyau scored a goal in Hoffenheim’s 3-0 win over SV Stadelhofen.  And Marc Pelosi scored in Liverpool U-18′s 8-1 win over Exeter.

The annual Milk Cup tournament is a favorite on this site and Tab Ramos has named his 18-man roster for this year’s tournament.  The roster includes five players from last year’s team (Cody Cropper, Juan Pablo Ocegueda, Boyd Okwuonu, Walker Zimmerman and Victor Pineda), which finished in third place.  The roster also has forward Mario Rodriguez listed with Kaiserslautern in Germany.  The US’ first game will be next Saturday against Denmark.

We haven’t heard much on Josh Wicks since his departure from IFK Mariehamn in February, but it looks like he has ended up on Icelandic First Division side Thór Akureyri.  Fellow American and ex-teammate from Mariehamn, Joe Funicello, is also on the team.

Some random stuff from around the web.

After parting ways with IFK Mariehamn in Finland last week, Josh Wicks is now with Syrianska in Sweden according to Steven Goff.  Syrianska finished 14th out of the 16-team Allsvenskan last season, but avoided relegation by defeating Matt Pyzdrowski’s and Lester Dewee’s Ängelholm FF in the relegation playoffs.

Robbie Rogers tweeted some good news this morning.

Cleared by the Doc. Finally! Getting after it!

It is D-Day for Rangers today as eight players are expected to be released since the team can’t afford them anymore since going under administration.  Possible names include Alejandro Bedoya and Carlos Bocanegra.

It looks like US U-20 defender Will Packwood has a chance to make his first team debut with Birmingham City as they take on Chelsea in the FA Cup tomorrow.  He will likely start the game on the bench, but not a bad way to make your debut if he does end up playing.

Finally, US U-20 leftback Sean Cunningham is being sent out on loan to Norwegian club Stabaek.   Cunningham mainly played in reserve games for Molde FK last season, but with Stabaek having financial problems and forcing out a lot of players (Mix Diskerud being sent out on loan to Gent), there should be playing time to be had by Cunningham.  Cunningham will also join Ricardo Clark on the team.

So yesterday was pretty awesome?

The Guardian gives us their Top 5 wins in USMNT history.  While yesterday was great, I don’t know if I would necessarily put it in the Top 5 of all-time.  Debate away in the comments.

Brad Guzan has been offered a new contract by Aston Villa.  At least Alex McLeish understands Guzan’s dilemma of whether to stay at the club you are comfortable with, but likely be a back-up or move on to another team in seek of playing time.  Based on comments by Jurgen Klinsmann in the past, it is probably in Guzan’s best interest to find playing time if he wants to be part of the USMNT picture.  I found it interesting that Klinsmann dressed Nick Rimando over Guzan yesterday during the Italy friendly.

Josh Wicks and IFK Mariehamn have parted ways.  Wicks started in 26 of Mariehamn’s 33 league games last season, leading the Finnish club to a seventh place finish.

And the Wooten Clan is inching closer to first-team action with Kaiserslautern as forward Dorge Kouemaha picked up an injury, allowing Andrew Wooten to be called into the first team.  Wooten is second in the German Regionalliga West with 15 goals this season, while Kaiserslautern are currently in the relegation zone in the Bundesliga.

Still no USMNT/U-23 highlights from the second scrimmage, as I post this late at night, but there are some photos here and here.

I tweeted this last night, but Grant Wahl was on some radio show/podcast in the UK talking about Tim Ream and Edson Buddle.  You can listen to it here.

Speaking of Edson Buddle, Phil Neville had the tweet of the day regarding the American invasion of Everton.

We’ve got howard donavon hannaman buddle at training today thought I’d joined an MLS team for a minute #yankseverywere

According to Ives, Tim Ream’s work permit hearing should be next week.  With Alejandro Bedoya and now Robbie Rogers able to get one this year, you would think that Ream should be able to get his.

Also coming from Ives today is that Gale Agbossoumonde turned down a move to the MLS this week in order to see out his final year of his deal with Traffic Sports.  Since his loan deal with Eintracht Frankfurt is now over, he is expected to play with the Carolina Railhawks of the NASL this upcoming season with an eye to move to Europe once he becomes a free agent.

Staying with the Traffic Sports theme, I missed that Tony Taylor’s loan deal with Atletico CP is now over and he is already back with the Traffic Sports-affiliated Estoril, logging 30 minutes off the bench on January 8, although did not dress in their next game this past weekend due to the U-23 camp.

As for Taylor’s now former teammate at Atletico CP, goalkeeper Caleb Patterson-Sewell, it looks like the New York Red Bulls are wondering about his availability.

As for another goalkeeper, Josh Wicks, reports out of Finland have some mystery European team contacting IFK Mariehamn about his services.

Continuing with the Google translate fun, this article from Germany has Hoffenheim manager Holger Stanislawski saying some nice things about Joe Gyau.

Billy Schuler talked to the Independent Weekly about choosing to play in Sweden over the MLS.

And finally, some tweets from Brian Sciaretta with some interesting tidbits.  First off, UMass midfielder Jason Villagomez is on trial with LKS Lodz in Poland.   And U-20 players Juan Ocegueda and Uvaldo Luna will be participating in a camp with Mexico’s U-20 team one week after participating in the US U-20 camp this month.

Here are some non-Stuart Holden links for the day.  Still a huge bummer that he is out another six months.

Anyways . . .

Brian Sciaretta caught up with Robbie Findley to talk about his good start to the season at Nottingham Forest.

Also over at Yanks Abroad, Jamie Hill tells us that Fabian Hürzeler has been promoted from Bayern Munich’s U-19 team to their U-23 team that competes in the German Regionalliga.

Greg Seltzer recently did an interview with goalkeeper Josh Wicks.  Wicks was not in the lineup today as IFK Mariehamn lost to KuPS 2-1.  Canadian-American defender Mason Trafford also scored an own goal for the other team.

As for some other scores from today.  Jonathan Borrajo went the full 90 minutes in Ham-Kam’s 2-0 victory over Alta in Norway.  And Brad Rusin came off the bench in HB Køge’s 3-1 victory over Esbjerg in the Danish Cup.

US U-18 midfielder Jose Villarreal will be going out on trial at Belgian club KVC Westerlo next week.

And finally, it looks like Alfredo Morales has decided to play for Peru over the United States.  I will still keep tabs on him on the site until things become more official.

Still trying to catch up on some news over the last 24 hours then, BAM, US Soccer drops that Bob Bradley bomb on us.  That said, here are some links/news for stuff that has nothing to do with Bob Bradley, US Soccer, Jürgen Klinsmann or Steve Sampson.

David Yelldell has been named starting goalkeeper for Bayer Leverkusen with Rene Adler still recovering from his knee surgery.  There was some debate whether Yelldell or 21-year-old Fabian Giefer would get the nod, but Yelldell’s experience looks to have won out.

Staying with the goalkeeper theme, Brian Sciaretta recently talked to Josh Wicks about his first year in Finland with IFK Mariehamn.  The former DC United keeper has Mariehamn currently sitting in fifth place of the Finnish Veikkausliiga table.

Greg Seltzer has an interview up with Aalborg forward Chris Rolfe over at MLSsoccer.com.  Rolfe talks about playing with confidence after finally being injury-free.

The third qualifying round of Europa League kicked off this week and a few teams with Americans on them played today.  A Clint Dempsey-less Fulham drew its first leg against RNK Split, 0-0.  Jozy Altidore is still recovering from his hamstring strain, but AZ defeated Jablonec, 2-0, without his services.  And Clarence Goodson went the full 90 minutes in a 2-0 loss to Austrian side Ried.  Each team will have next week’s second leg to hopefully move onto the playoff round.

The UK’s Time and Star has a nice little feature on Frank Simek.

Conor Doyle received another start for Derby County in yesterday’s preseason friendly against Crewe Alexandra.  It should be interesting to see if Doyle gets more playing time this season.

And we have a Mike Grella sighting!  Grella made his first appearance of the summer for Leeds United in a preseason friendly against Bradford Park Avenue.

I checked out the top American goal scorers in Europe back in January (top flight leagues here and lower level guys here), so I thought I would give the goalkeepers some love this week.  For the goalies, I am doing all guys (top flight and lower level) in one post and these numbers include all competitions (League/Cup/Champions League/Europa League/etc).

But here are the goalies with the most clean sheets in Europe (through games of Tuesday, May 3).  I am just going to list down to guys with at least four.

David Yelldell (MSV Duisburg) – 13
Tim Howard (Everton) – 8
Brad Friedel (Aston Villa) – 6
Nick Noble (Ljungskile SK) – 6
Brad Guzan (Aston Villa/Hull City) – 5
Luis Robles (Karlsruher) – 4
Josh Wicks (IFK Mariehamn) – 4

From what I can find, David Yelldell’s 10 clean sheets during league play are the sixth most in the German 2. Bundesliga.  Add in his three during cup competitions and his 13 look to be the second most among 2. Bundesliga goalkeepers (Simon Jentzsch of FC Augsburg leads the way with 14 across all competitions).

Looking at the Premier League, Tim Howard’s eight clean sheets are tied with Asmir Begovic (Stoke City) and Paul Robinson (Blackburn Rovers) for the seventh most, while Brad Friedel’s six are tied with Ali Al-Habsi (Wigan Athletic) and Wojciech Szczesny (Arsenal) for the 12th most.

Back to Yelldell for a minute, but he has put together a nice little season with Duisburg and could possibly be in the Gold Cup picture if Bob Bradley wants to put him on the roster over Marcus Hahnemann (getting older) or Brad Guzan (getting married during some of the Gold Cup).  And he has a chance at some hardware on May 21 when Duisburg takes on Schalke in the DFB Pokal Final.  It will be Duisburg’s fourth German Cup finals appearance (1966, 1975, 1998), but they have never walked away with the trophy.

As Matt mentioned in November, goalkeeper Josh Wicks (most recently with D.C. United) has become the fourth American player at IFK Mariehamn in Finland. A Finnish paper (loosely translated name: the Åland Gazette) has a profile on the Islanders’ new keeper.

A Google translation for our readers who aren’t fluent in Swedish:

IFK’s new goalkeeper Josh Wicks has landed in Åland. It is with great expectations, he looks forward to the upcoming season in his new team IFK Mariehamn.

FOOTBALL 1.91 IFK measure’s new goalkeeper Josh Wicks. He is almost shocked by the cold that greeted him when he landed on the Åland Islands early on Monday.

“I have a brother in Ohio and there is snow, but here it is colder. At first I was in Helsinki and thought it was cold but the Åland Islands, it is worse, “says Josh with a laugh.

He landed on Monday and has already begun to bring order to his apartment.

-My stuff has been transferred here. I have already started to have some order, but have several days for me to do my home town before training starts.

Still, he has not had time to see much of Åland. Wiklöf Holding Arena and a bit inside the center is everywhere.

-My first impression apart from the cold is that it is clean, quiet and cozy here. A nice town, “said Wicks.

2009 injured Josh in both shoulder and knee. Surgery solved the problem but it took nine months to get back. Last season there was little league games. But today he feels in great shape.

I’m going to do some physical tests and just as they are ready, I am fully ready to kick off with the preseason. It will be incredibly fun to get started with training.

Here’s the long and heavy pre-season with a lot of physical training, is there anything you’re used to?

-A pre-season is probably quite similar in all countries. At home in the U.S., it is also very fys and smaller ball. Then, it depends of course on the coaches also the layout of the rides. It must be hard in the preseason, that’s when we should make ourselves ready for the real season.

Have you had time to meet Pekka Lyyski yet?

-No, neither Pekka or any player. I do not know much about the team and coach. But I did see some online matches from last season.

Feel Trafford from previous
The IFK will Josh be able to work close to one already known in my hill Mason Trafford.

“We’ve trained together before and know each other.

Mason was involved in that you signed for IFK?

-Not at first. IFK made contact with my agent and I knew immediately that it was interesting. Then told my agent that Mason played there in 2010 and when I contacted him. He told me a lot to me, everything positive. Everything from the team to the fans and the city, he told me about. It seems really good here.

Josh want to be heard on the field and like to communicate with their teammates.

“I talk a lot with my back line and give commands. I want good control in the penalty area and show my teammates that I am to be trusted. They should feel safe with me as the last outpost. They can play to my home because I’m pretty good on the feet but also on närskott and in the air, “says Josh.

Trouble in DC United
Josh Wicks was a professional soccer player in 2005 when he had a successful year in the Vancouver Whitecaps, where he made 16 appearances.

2008, Josh contract with MLS club LA Galaxy, where he worked with include David Beckham and had Ruud Gullit as coach. Josh was often act behind the other goalie Steve Cronin. There were six games for the Wicks in the LA Galaxy before he trades were to league rival DC United. There was more playing time, 19 games before the injury. Josh also ended up in trouble during his time at DC United. Late in August came Wicks in brawl with teammate Marc Burch. Major problems were the only days later, when DC United played the Cup final against the Seattle Sounders FC. After releasing a goal stomped Wicks on striker Fredy Montero. Wicks was obviously sent off and DC United lost the final 2-1.

“I did one of my best matches and was very hot. Sorry I let emotions take control of me and I screwed up a lot. As younger, I had bad temper but I’ve learned to control my emotions, “said Josh about the incident.

Aiming for Europe
One fled the U.S. and MLS in Finland and Tips The league sees Josh as a step in the right direction in his career.

“I felt ready in the U.S. and has always aimed to take me out in Europe. Finland IFK and feels like a good move, for me it is a boost in his career.

Anything else knows Josh is not about fine-league football.

-I do not have any track of the Act but as I understand from what I heard it is pretty similar to football in the U.S., quite physical.

Josh looks that said, looking forward to getting started. January 7 starts training ground, no later than 10 January, all new players to be there.

I would guess that having three countrymen as teammates would probably ease the transition. More curiously, both Wicks (2005-2006) and Mason Trafford (2008-09) played for the Vancouver Whitecaps (USL edition), and both Wicks (2003) and Lamar Neagle (2007-08) played for the Des Moines Menace, so while neither is a former teammate there are multiple guys with strangely similar career paths.

As we posted earlier this month, there was some twitter talk that former DC United goalkeeper Josh Wicks was headed to Finland to join America’s favorite Finnish team IFK Mariehamn.  He would be joining fellow Americans Lamar Neagle, Giuseppe Funicello and Mason Trafford at the club.  Nothing was ever officially announced until this week on the team’s website.

As a replacement for Willis Ochieng has IFK contracted Josh Wicks, a 27-year-old goalkeeper from the United States, which measures 191 cm.  Wicks has been the past two years represented the Los Angeles Galaxy and DC United in the U.S. First Division.  As previously speculated to have IFK negotiated with Wicks and now the contract is signed.

Also in the same article, it mentions that defender Mason Trafford has signed a two-year extension to stay with the club.

And there have been rumors of a USMNT-Argentina friendly for late March in Seattle, but nothing has been officially announced by US Soccer on the match.  ESPN Deportes has an article up where they are quoting an organizer of Argentine national team that confirms the match for March 26.

Some news and links for Tuesday.

Steve Goff tweeted earlier today that former DC United goalkeeper, Josh Wicks, is headed to Finland to play for IFK Mariehamn.  He would become the fourth American on the team, joining Lamar Neagle, Giuseppe Funicello and Mason Trafford.

Arch Bell over at Yanks Abroad spoke to Alejandro Bedoya recently after him and Orebro SK finished third in the Swedish Allsvenskan in 2010, earning a spot in next year’s Europa League.

And finally, Jonathan Bornstein spoke to Brian Sciaretta at Yanks Abroad as he prepares to make his move from Chivas USA to Tigres in the Mexican Primera Division in January.