So good ol’ Klnisi named his 23 players for the upcoming qualifiers yesterday. And boy is that back line inexperienced. In the official release by US Soccer, it lists the sad list of injuries.
The U.S. team has been hit with a rash of injuries as eight players are unavailable for the matches. Edgar Castillo (facial fractures), Timmy Chandler (hamstring), Steve Cherundolo (knee), Tim Howard (back), Fabian Johnson (hip), Jonathan Spector (ankle), Jose Torres (hamstring) and Danny Williams (illness).
Brek Shea has been called in, but he claims that his foot is not fully healed. And it looks like Jonathan Spector, who would be very helpful in the back right now, was headed to Denver until injuring his ankle this weekend.
Nick Firchau is reporting that Brian McBride will be in Denver until Wednesday helping out with the team (coaching, not playing, although I bet he could still be helpful……FYI, I am/was a big McBride fan).
Want to see some highlights of the US’ 3-2 win over Costa Rica from 1991? Why not.
How about a photo of the three Americans at Club Tijuana in the centennial kit? Sure.
As for some U-20 stuff, Will Packwood is down to one crutch and will be back to walking in the next couple weeks. And Brian Sciaretta caught up with midfielder Mikey Lopez.
Even though he hasn’t played in a long time, Bolton manager Dougie Freedman thinks Tim Ream has a future at the club.
Ross Dunbar writes about dual citizen Shawn Parker and his rising stock. When it is all said and done, my “I know nothing behind the scenes and this is a total guess” hunch says he sticks with Germany.
Tim Ream went the full 90 minutes (and it looks like he slips and falls during Watford’s first goal) in a 2-1 loss. Here are the highlights. Read the rest of this entry »
Tim Howard (started) and Everton advance to the next round of the FA Cup with a 2-1 win over Tim Ream (started), Stuart Holden (came off the bench for 10 minutes) and Bolton. Here are the highlights.
I have an Inside the Numbers piece on Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore which should be on the site later tonight or early tomorrow.
Speaking of Dempsey, he talked to the London Evening Standard about his good run of form.
So Friday got a little crazy with the Brek Shea news. Big D Soccer does a good job of breaking down what we know so far. And there was a Shea sighting at FC Dallas training today. Sounds like he was running around a little.
Landon Donovan will be returning to the LA Galaxy in 2013. I am assuming this means we will see him in a USMNT jersey in the future.
As of last Thursday, only 8500 tickets have been sold in Houston for the upcoming friendly against Canada.
The US U-20 team lost to Panama, 2-1, in a friendly today.
After traveling to Turkey to check things out, Clarence Goodson has decided to turn down a move to Orduspor.
As rumored, former Halmstads BK defender Ryan Miller signed with the Portland Timbers.
You can add Birmingham City to the list of teams having financial issues. They are open to any offer on any of their first-team players. Will this mean anything to Jonathan Spector (likely not Will Packwood)?
In the good news department, Timothy Chandler did not suffer a concussion this weekend and will return to training on Tuesday.
Tim Ream got some love in the Bolton News about his play this past weekend.
US U-20 regular Juan Ocegueda is headed to Chivas de Guadalajara on loan. People are wondering if this will affect his ability to play with the US since Chivas released a statement last November saying that their players could not play for foreign national teams.
I am sort of sad to see this move, but Aaron Wheeler signed with the Philadelphia Union. I am sad since I won’t be able to mention his old team, Finnish side KooTeePee, anymore.
J.R. Eskilson is hearing that Chivas USA youth academy product Ben Spencer will be joining Molde FK during their preseason trip to Spain.
Columbus Crew forward Aaron Horton has been loaned to Bosnia’s FK Sarajevo.
Brian Sciaretta caught up with Sacha Kljestan to talk about about his rise in status at both the club and country level. And Daniel Renders gives Sciaretta a cool stat about Anderlecht’s record with/without Kljestan. And this has prompted me to start up on an Inside the Numbers piece, which will hopefully be up in the morning.
Kljestian has 18 months left on his contract, but there are on-going talks over a new deal/extension.
Julian De Martinis of ESPN writes about Michael Bradley’s first six months at Roma.
Noah Davis gives us 20 wishes for the USMNT in 2013.
The USMNT January/Camp Cupcake will now begin on January 7, not January 14. And expect the roster to be announced on Sunday, with the possibility of one small surprise.
Euan Holden has parted ways with Stockport County. Holden appeared in only one league game in 2012-13 after playing in 33 games last season.
Tim Ream and Bolton are trying to find out why they can’t win two games in a row.
I hope Brian Sciaretta has PennyTalk as after he was talking to Sacha Kljestan, he got an interview with Eugene Starikov in Russia. Maybe Sciaretta can teach me how to take a penalty kick…..
The always seemingly injured Zak Whitbread is out with a calf injury.
Robbie Rogers hasn’t played much as of late with Stevenage, but his loan ends on January 15.
Julian Green was nominated for some type of Sportsman of the Year award.
Tim Ream went the full 90 minutes for Botlon, while Jonathan Spector got the start for Birmingham City in Bolton’s 3-1 victory. Here are the highlights.
These first two links are a little dated from last week, but I didn’t have a chance to post them.
The first one is about Celtic having interest in signing Juan Agudelo, but Chivas USA are not interested in selling him. And Tim Ream wants to find more consistent playing time with Bolton so he can return to the USMNT picture.
Sticking with Ream, he spoke with Andy Schreur of Yanks Abroad for an interview.
We are approaching the winter transfer window/silly season and Brian Sciaretta gives us a list of Americans in Europe who could be on the move during the window.
Former US youth international Mobi Fehr will have a new team in MLS come Tuesday via a weighted lottery. Fehr was born in the US, but grew up in Japan and was part of Tokyo Verdy’s youth teams.
Mix Diskerud’s dad confirmed to MLSsoccer.com that Portland has contacted Mix about coming to MLS, but the league/Portland has yet to bid on his services.
According to this report, Jurgen Klinsmann did invite Aron Johannsson to come to the US camp in January to check out how things are run (not to play), but his most recent injury (I guess he is getting surgery) is going to keep him in Europe during January.
Brad Guzan made ESPN’s Team of the Week after leading Aston Villa to a win over Liverpool at Anfield. Here is also a video interview with Guzan on the Premier League site.
Herculez Gomez will be wearing these new kits for Santos Laguna next season.
Carlos Bocanegra returned early from his muscle tear and played for Racing Santander in their 1-0 loss to Sabadell on Sunday.
With their 2-1 win over OH Leuven on Sunday, Anderlecht have now won their last eight league games when Sacha Kljestan starts.
And a quick league leaderboard update. Jozy Altidore’s 11 goals are fourth most in the Eredivisie (more on this tomorrow). Matt Taylor’s 11 goals are tied for the third most in the German 3. Liga as they enter the winter break. And Terrence Boyd’s nine goals are tied for the fifth most in the Austrian Bundesliga.
It looks like the site’s server woke up from its post-turkey nap and is running somewhat faster. That all said, here are a few links from the last week or so.
This report out of Scotland has Celtic manager Neil Lennon wanting to sign Juan Agudelo after impressing during his training stint with the Scottish club. STV Sport also did a 13-minute video interview with Agudelo right here.
Some Danish reports are saying Jurgen Klinnsman will help Michael Parkhurst find a new club come January.
Staying in Mexico, Tijuana (Joe Corona, Edgar Castillo, Greg Garza) are headed to the Liga MX final to face Toluca after defeating Leon 3-2 on aggregate. Both Corona and Castillo started in yesterday’s second-leg victory. By making the final, they also earned a spot in the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League.
The Bolton News recently did an interview with Tim Ream. Ream started at defensive midfielder on Saturday in Bolton’s 1-1 draw to Brighton & Hove Albion.
Continuing with the interviews, Brian K. Blickenstaff spent some time with Danny Williams in Germany.
Brian Sciaretta looks at some potential options for the USMNT central defense aside from Geoff Cameron.
Here is a highlight video of Kemi Kings’ Christian Eissele and his 2012 season in Finland, which saw him lead the Kakkonen in goals.
As for some noteworthy performances from the weekend. Fabian Johnson scored for Hoffenheim in their 2-1 loss to Bayer Leverkusen (highlights here). Clint Dempsey assisted on one goal and “hockey” assisted on another in Tottenham’s 3-1 victory over West Ham United (highlights here). And Charlie Davies head-butted a guy (highlights here).
Marc Heider scored his eighth goal of the season in Holstein Kiel’s 3-0 win over Victoria Hamburg in German Regionalliga action. Eugene Starikov is starting to get more playing time in Russia, getting another start for Rostov in their 2-0 win over Mordovia Saransk. And Bobby Wood has fought his way back from injuries to make an appearance off the bench (16 minutes) for 1860 Munich in their 2-2 draw to Union Berlin.
