Nürnberg fullback Timmy Chandler will miss 3-4 weeks— which includes the remainder of the Bundesliga season— due to a torn ligament in his knee suffered during training.
Nürnberg is safe from relegation (in 13th place, eight points clear of Augsburg with two matches remaining) and isn’t in reach of anything besides the pride of finishing slightly higher in the table, so Chandler won’t miss much after a season where had one goal and three assists in 30 matches. He will most likely miss the upcoming friendlies and World Cup qualifiers.
Fabian Johnson started at left midfield and faced off against Timothy Chandler at Nurnberg today. Johnson assisted on Hoffnehim’s first goal in their 2-1 win over Chandler and Co. Here are the highlights.
The US U-20 roster came out yesterday and you might have noticed Marc Pelosi’s name missing. Well, Pelosi has been named to Liverpool’s Europa League roster for the knockout stages. I doubt he gets much playing time, but his versatility (he has been playing left back, left midfield and central midfield for their U-21 team) was probably wanted as a back-up option.
If you want to rehash the game from Wednesday, the Total Soccer Show has their latest podcast reviewing the game up. If you hate life and don’t want to, at least listen to their fun intro.
Brek Shea is back from getting his visa and is eligible to play in Stoke City’s game against Reading this weekend.
Timothy Chandler was cap tied on Wednesday and Greg Seltzer lists five other guys he would like to see cap tied.
Here is a nice little story on Jermaine Jones courtesy of Bundesliga.com.
Swedish fourth tier side Bodens BK currently has two Americans, Lester Dewee and Gerry Madden, on trial.
Have fun, stay young and I will see you on the other side.
Here is a quick rundown of things you might want to look at before today’s game.
» The game is at 4 PM Eastern on beIN Sport.
» US Soccer gives us all their game notes and factoids right here. The US is 12-3-3 all-time against Honduras, including a 4-1-1 record in World Cup qualifiers. And the US is 3-0-1 all-time in the first match of the Hex. As for my own little nugget: Landon Donovan has played in 22 of the last 24 USMNT Hex matches. The two he missed came in 2005 after a WC bid was already clinched.
» US Soccer’s youtube channel decided to post highlights from a bunch of US-Honduras games from the past, including a 2-1 win from March 2001, a 3-2 loss from September 2001 and a 3-2 win from October 2009.
» If you are out of the loop on Honduras’ roster, Jon Arnold does a good job breaking down their starters/roster right here. Also on the site from yesterday, it looks like the USMNT centennial jerseys have leaked. I am a fan. I am also guessing they will wear them for the rumored friendlies against Germany and Belgium in May.
» Want some more previews on the match? Here is one from Grant Wahl. He is guessing this starting lineup: Tim Howard; Timmy Chandler, Geoff Cameron, Carlos Bocanegra, Fabian Johnson; Danny Williams; Graham Zusi, Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones; Clint Dempsey, Hérculez Gómez. As for my guess, I think it will be the same, but replace Zusi with Jozy Altidore and they will be playing a 4-3-3.
» Want some even more links/stories? The Shin Guardian has their official preview up. Brian Straus looks at the “passing of the torch” as Landon Donovan is not here and Timothy Chandler will become cap tied. Straus also looks at the craziness that is the road experience in the Hex.
» Really? You want more links? Noah Davis is in Honduras and talked to Geoff Cameron and Jozy Altidore on the difficulties of playing in Estadio Olimpico. Cameron also thinks that his experience in the Premier League should help him deal with the rowdy crowd in Honduras. Here are some more quotes on Chandler becoming cap tied. And Maurice Edu thinks his move to Turkey is helping him stay in the USMNT mix.
» Paul Carr and the ESPN stat gurus ran some simulations on the whole Hex and they have the US coming in at third with a 61.6 percent chance of qualifying for the World Cup. Doug McIntyre (ESPN Insider) does a roster breakdown, comparing the 2009 and 2013 teams.
» As for some non-Honduras news, it looks like FOX is grooming Gus Johnson to become their main announcer for soccer in time for the 2018 World Cup. It might sound something like this.
And finally some predictions. I am going with a 1-1 draw, while Howie is saying a 2-1 loss.
The USMNT roster came out yesterday. Franco Panizo got some quotes from Jurgen Klinsmann as he discusses the roster.
Speaking of Klinsmann, Roger Bennett looks at the various manager who have influenced Klinsmann throughout his career.
You want some previews for Wednesday’s game? The Total Soccer Show breaks down the Canada friendly, while also previewing Wednesday’s game. Leander Schaerlaeckens previews the final phase of qualifying. And Jon Levy gives us his preview of Wednesday’s game.
I posted the US Soccer tour video of Estadio Olimpico from 2009 yesterday, but I was just reminded tonight that the US Soccer/Gatorade commercial from 2006 features the ceiling tiles shaking from that stadium. Good times.
Will Parchman is doing a three-part feature on the US’ failed qualification run for the 1986 World Cup and here is Part 1.
Brian Sciaretta has an article up on Timothy Chandler. And here is photo of a U-16 Chandler from the 2006 Dallas Cup.
David Keyes did a really interesting interview recently with Pachuca’s head of scouting Marco Garcés. They talk about how Pachuca scouts the various Mexican-American players currently living in the US.
Stuart Holden’s younger brother, Euan, has signed a “non contract terms” deal with English League One side Bury. Euan last played for Stockport County in the Conference National.
And finally, remember when Roma played Orlando City over the winter break? I guess I missed his name in the match report, but Christian Eissele played in that game. Here is Jon Arnold’s interview with Eissele from back in November.
***UPDATE***
Jon just let me know that he talked to Christian last month about that friendly and this is what he had to say.
“The opportunity was great and it was awesome to be able to see that kind of level first-hand. That will definitely benefit me in the future.”
Today was a big day in OT history as Howie made a radio appearance on 90.7 WXIN’s Sports with Neds radio show in Rhode Island to talk some US Soccer. We are moving up in the world.
Now for today’s slightly scary news of the day. Stuart Holden had to leave a reserve game today after receiving a harsh tackle, although he told one fan at the ground that he is OK.
Terrence Boyd and Rapid Vienna defeated Silkeborg, 2-1, in some friendly called the Atlantic Cup and Boyd scored the winner in the 89th minute. And here is a photo of Boyd with a large trophy.
Jozy Altidore was named to league Team of the Month honors for January. It is his third time making it this season according to Greg Seltzer.
Brian Sciaretta introduces us to Duane Holmes. Holmes is an 18-year-old American midfielder currently at English League Championship side Huddersfield Town, who grew up in their youth academy.
Clarence Goodson and the Brøndby players already took a 75% salary cut in January and if they are not paid by Monday then the players will file for bankruptcy. If the club can’t pay the wages after that, then the players will be declared free agents. A messy situation.
I missed some of the twitter talk on this earlier today and I guess it started out as a joke, but Mix Diskerud will play in a friendly for Norwegian sixth tier side Sjetne and possibly as a goalie. But from everything I have read so far, Mix is waiting to re-sign with Rosenborg.
And something to keep in your back pocket (or bookmarked), but David found this link to this site that is going to stream Belgian Pro League games in the future. So something to keep an eye on when wanting to watch Sacha Kljestan play.
And finally, the US roster for the Honduras qualifier won’t be officially announced until Monday morning, but there is already some speculation going on online. We know Timothy Chandler has been selected and I guess Sigi Schmid hinted that Eddie Johnson and Brad Evans won’t be in the Sounders camp for the next couple of days. And I posted earlier this week that Josh Gatt and Mix Diskerud flew back to Norway, so I doubt they would fly back to Miami on Monday unless they are trying to rack up enough miles to join Ryan Bingham in the 10-million miles club. But I am sure some other names will start to slip up once the players start tweeting and posting photos on instagram from the airport.
There was really nothing to take away from the US-Canada game, but here are the “highlights” for those that missed it. I would suggest just checking those out over watching the whole game if you DVR’d it.
As for some other games of note from Tuesday. Maurice Edu and Bursaspor also played to a 0-0 draw in the Turkish Cup (highlights here). Jozy Altidore scored his 20th goal of the season in AZ’s 5-0 victory over Den Bosch in the KNVB Cup (highlights here). I would check out those highlights for his goal and his post-game interview where he addresses the racial cheers by the opposing fans. Altidore’s 20 goals across all competitions is a new career high after netting 19 last year. He is also the second American to reach 20 in a top-flight European league, only trailing Clint Dempsey’s 23 goals from last season.
There was also two games in the Premier League on Tuesday. Brad Guzan and Aston Villa continue their struggling ways in a 2-1 loss to the French National Team Newcastle United (highlights here). And Geoff Cameron returned from injury to go 90 minutes in a 2-2 draw to Wigan (highlights here).
I made note the other day about how the expected starters on the USMNT backline have all missed some time this month. As for the latest update, Cameron is playing again. Carlos Bocanegra is playing again. The announcers on the USMNT telecast mentioned that Steve Cherundolo is probably out for next week’s game according to Jurgen Klinsmann. And it looks like Fabian Johnson is expected back to training with Hoffenheim on Wednesday.
As for replacing Cherundolo, Brian Sciaretta was told by some sources that Timothy Chandler will be with the US for the Honduras qualifier. Then he can get cap-tied to the US and we can worry about something else for the next couple of months.
Tony Pulis has confirmed that Stoke City are planning on signing Brek Shea pending his physical and him getting a work permit.
Alejandro Bedoya is still without a team, but it is likely that he will re-sign with Helsingborg on another six-month deal.
Aron Johannsson did make the move to AZ Alkmaar and here is a photo of him with Earnie Stewart.
Marc Pelosi scored a goal for Liverpool’s U-21 team in their win over Wolverhampton earlier this week. You can see the highlights here. He is #3 and his goal is around the 1:13 mark.
I haven’t seen Devann Yao’s name with Boussu Dour Borinage recently, then he popped up on trial with Birmingham City’s U-21 team.
And finally, American-born Canadian Daniel Stanese has signed with Nurnberg. While he was born in New York, he has mainly played with Canada’s youth national teams.
