You may have noticed in The OT Report that Clarence Goodson came off the bench for Brøndby IF this weekend. Goodson has sort of fallen out of the lineup for the club and has voluntarily given up the captain’s armband as well.
I am still looking for highlights of Alejandro Bedoya’s goal from the weekend and this is the best I can do for now. Someone forgot to zoom in.
Staying in Sweden, Paul Torres and Ryan Gracia helped Nyköping (Swedish third tier) upset Kalmar FF (Allsvenskan) in the Swedish Cup. Torres assisted on the first goal of these highlights.
The New York Times has a story up on US U-20 head coach Tab Ramos playing in the 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship.
Dual-citizen Maki Tall has been called into the France U-18 camp/team that will be playing the US and Germany this month.
Devann Yao is continuing his trialing ways, now at English League Two side Chesterfield.
Bundesliga Fanatic has an interview up with Michael Parkhurst.
And finally, Bolton manager Dougie Freedman hopes Stuart Holden re-signs with Bolton when his contract ends this summer.
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.
Aston Villa started their US tour tonight with a 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Union. Brad Guzan got the start and went the full 90 minutes, while Eric Lichaj was a second-half sub.
Another day, another article about Geoff Cameron’s deal to Stoke City getting closer to being done.
Josh Gatt and Molde FK won their first leg of Champions League earlier today and he also spoke to Brian Sciaretta earlier this week.
Defending champions Nordsjaelland started their season this past weekend, but Michael Parkhurst missed the game with his broken toe from last season. But he is now back in training and should be game ready in a week or two.
Franco Panizo got some quotes from Michael Bradley about his new team.
Devann Yao is looking forward to his second season with Royal Boussu Dour Borinage.
Tony Taylor has been added to the U-23 roster for the Olympic qualifying tournament camp. Caleb Porter also has some quotes on the roster and camp right here.
Both Grant Wahl and Brian Sciaretta are live in Italy to give us some Klinsmann quotes on whether the coaching staff are watching Sacha Kljestan and why Terrence Boyd got the call up among other things. Sciaretta also has a story up on Boyd over at the NY Times soccer blog.
Shifting to the youth teams. The US Soccer Youth blog has a Q&A up with Joe Corona. And Studio 90 has a video about the start of the second week of the U-23 camp. And finally, the U-20s played FC Dallas reserves the other day, with the game ending in a 2-2 draw. The U-20 goal scorers were Daniel Cuevas and Villyan Bijev.
As for two things non national team related, Michael Adubato recently caught up with Devann Yao to talk about his season in the Belgian Second Division. And Steven Goff talked to Samir Badr about the craziness going on Egypt.
A couple of things to report from the weekend this morning.
I’m guessing many of you already heard this by now, but if not, George John will not be headed to Blackburn Rovers afterall. The central defender was over in England to complete the deal, but it is sounding like Blackburn decided against the deal before it could be completed. John will now return to FC Dallas. No word on why the deal fell through.
Chivas USA’s Tristan Bowen is headed to Belgium to play for KSV Roselare of the Belgian Second Division on a year-long loan deal. The 21-year-old forward will join Devann Yao as another American in the Belgian Second Division. KSV Roselare’s website recently did an interview with Bowen which you can see right here. I like the quick dental ad at the very end.
Speaking of Devann Yao, he finally made his first appearance with Boussu Dour Borinage last week, getting the start and picking up a red card in the 71st minute of Boussu Dour Borinage’s 2-1 loss to KV Oostende last Wednesday.
While doing The OT Report yesterday and looking up Daniel Stevens at Kemi Kings in Finland, I came across a new American in Kyle Luetkehans. Luetkehans signed with the club last week and played his college soccer at Vermont. The deal is a one-year deal with an option for a second season.
There is a report out of Birmingham, England this morning that Aston Villa are still interested in making Michael Bradley’s loan deal a permanent move despite the lack of playing time. I find that interesting since if they really liked him, why isn’t he making the gameday roster/bench?
David Smith caught up with Timothy Chandler to talk about his time with the USMNT in March. Who was one player that Chandler was impressed with? Clint Dempsey.
Greg Seltzer talked to Oguchi Onyewu this week about the chance to win some trophies with FC Twente. They also talked about the upcoming Gold Cup and deciding on his future.
I know Zak Whitbread was pulled out of Norwich City’s game this past weekend due to injury, but didn’t know what he injured exactly. It looks to be a hip injury, but I can’t find anything on the seriousness of the injury.
CONCACAF finally re-submitted its new (technically old) World Cup qualification process to FIFA to get approved. Under this process, CONCACAF would return back to the Hexagonal in the final round (welcome back Columbus/Azteca vs. Mexico), plus the US wouldn’t enter the qualification process until the semifinal round (goodbye home-and-home series against some island countries that we crush 7-1).
I posted last week that Devann Yao signed a deal with a team in Belgian second division and it looks like his contract will go through the 2013 season. So congrats to him for finally finding a home and landing a deal that lasts longer than one season.
As Howie pointed out last week, US U-20 midfielder Kelyn Rowe is trying his luck in Europe right now as he pays his own way (to stay eligible at UCLA) to trial for a few clubs. First up, Stade Rennes in France.
“My first two days at Stade Rennes have been great,” Rowe told YA from France. “The club and players have been nothing but welcoming. I had a good training the first day [Tuesday] with a fitness test after, and a scrimmage today [Wednesday] that I showed myself fairly well.”
It also looks like he is headed to Germany after his stay in France.
Greg Seltzer got confirmation from Nottingham Forest officials that Robbie Findley is back in training with the first team. He is not in game shape, but they are hopeful that he can see the field before the promotion playoffs.
Derby County are winners of the 2010-11 Derbyshire Senior Cup (a local cup competition for teams based in the county of Derbyshire) after defeating Buxton 5-0 in the final earlier today. One of those goal scorers, U-20 forward Conor Doyle.
After trialing with numerous teams across England over the last two seasons, Devann Yao has finally found a home and it is with Royal Boussu Dour Borinage in the Belgian second division. RBDB are currently in 15th place out of 18 teams in the second division with two games left to be played, one spot ahead of a relegation playoff spot (they are tied with K.V.K. Tienen on points, but have a much better goal differential).
As for a couple website updates. I am going on vacation tomorrow morning to Panama until Monday evening and will not be around a computer during my stay (a much needed vacation), so don’t expect a lot of highlights or the OT Report this weekend. With that said, Howie will be in charge of things if anything major happens. Also, Howie has finally decided to join the twitter world (or at least an account tied to this site), so you can follow him here: @howardthedrake.
Today was a crazy one for me at work (as will tomorrow), so hopefully someone can have a green beer for me tonight.
The biggest news of the day was Thomas Rongen finalizing his 20-man roster for the upcoming 2011 CONCACAF U-20 Championship. Looks like Conor Doyle was cleared by Derby County to play in this tournament, while Molde did not release Josh Gatt.
Some other “big” names missing include Juan Agudelo (only playing with the USMNT), Alexander Zahavi and Adrian Ruelas. I wonder if Zahavi’s/Ruelas’ clubs did not release them or if we can look too much into this and think they are switching countries on us (outrage!). Only time will tell on those guys.
While it came out recently that CONCACAF was staying at 3.5 spots for the 2014 World Cup after it was first rumored that the region was getting four whole spots, there might be some good news to come out of this. CONCACAF is going to ask FIFA to change its qualification back to the six-team round robin (a.k.a. the Hexagonal). This means US vs. Mexico playing twice, including the ever popular match at Azteca, could be back on.
Since CONCACAF was first under the impression that there were going to be four full spots, they switched the qualification process to end with eight teams broken up into two groups of four. More than likely, the US and Mexico would have been split up, meaning no more games against each other during qualification. As someone who loves the rivalry and the game at Azteca, this makes me happy that CONCACAF is switching back to the Hex.
Defender Rhett Bernstein will have another American at Norwegian Adeccoligaen side Mjondalen this season after the club agreed to terms with Kyle Helton this week. Helton, a 24-year-old defender, played in college at Duke before getting drafted by the New England Revolution in the fourth round of the 2007 MLS SuperDraft. He has played the last two seasons with the Austin Aztex.
Greg Seltzer has two stories up on MLSsoccer.com worth checking out today. He talked to goalkeeper David Yelldell about his recent call-up to the USMNT and he talked to Maurice Edu about his potential to win some more trophies this season. Although, since that story went up, Rangers have been knocked out of Europa League.
Highlights from Villarreal’s 1-1 draw to Polideportivo Ejido in the Copa del Rey can be found here, including Jozy Altidore’s goal in the 44th minute. While it is going to be tough for him to beat out Nilmar and Giuseppe Rossi for a regular spot in the starting lineup, it is nice to see him taking advantage of the little playing time he is getting.
With Grant Hall on loan at Whitehawk, scholars James Strong and Callum Sheriff both played in defence; while Albion also gave former Ipswich man Devann Yao a brief run out.
The 20-year-old left-winger, who came on with ten minutes remaining, was born in New York to Ivorian and Italian parents and is currently on trial with Albion after his release from Portman Road this summer.
And finally, Greg Seltzer caught up with former Kansas City Wizards goalkeeper, Chris Konopka, as his second-division Waterford United fight for promotion. Konopka is with his third different Irish team since 2008 and has appeared in 12 games for Waterford United this season, but has played the role of back-up in more recent games.
Also, there is going to be an Over There Sticker Giveaway in the near future. Yes, we said giveaway, not contest. The only hint for right now: Trick or Treat.
