In the last 24 hours of a mini-vacation, but here are some links from the last couple of days.

First off, a plug for our annual OT XI.  So go check that out.

Jurgen Klinsmann announced the USMNT roster for the upcoming games last week and Nick Firchau gives a notebook of goodies.  Also, since the roster has been announced, Brad Evans has been added to the squad.

The last of the five upcoming games is against Honduras and here is their roster.  I also posted Belgium’s and Germany’s rosters last week.

Leander Schaerlaeckens looks at why US goalkeepers are awesome.

It was starting to look like Aron Johannsson was a no-go for the USMNT last week.  But he might not be a lost cause as of this week.  Hmm.

Tab Ramos named his roster for the upcoming Toulon Tournament earlier this week.  One name missing from that roster is Anthony Brooks.  He told some German press that he wants to pull a Timothy Chandler circa 2011 (rest over the summer since he is young and new to the Bundesliga) and sit out of national team competitions (but maybe he changes his mind if the USMNT come calling?).

Another name missing from the U-20 team is forward Villyan Bijev.  And now he has accepted a call by Bulgaria’s U-21 team for this summer’s Euros, which would provisionally cap-tie him.  Bijev’s last appearance with the US came with the U-18 team at the Lisbon International Tournament.

Speaking of the Lisbon International Tournament (I love easy transitions), the current U-18 team opened up the 2013 Lisbon International Tournament with a 3-0 win over the Czech Republic.

Going back to the U-20 team, Jose Villarreal’s name was missing from the Toulon Tournament roster because the Galaxy didn’t release him.

BBC Sport’s Garth Crooks selected Brad Guzan as his goalkeeper for his team of the season.

Stoke City and Tony Pulis have decided to part ways.  Geoff Cameron, Brek Shea and Maurice Edu will have a new manager to impress this summer.

Photo time!  Clarence Goodson and Brøndby avoided relegation over the weekend so they celebrated by taking a shirtless photo in the locker room (this is for the ladies).

Charlie Davies and Randers finished third in the Danish Superliga, so here is Davies showing off his bronze medal.

And congrats to Sacha Kljestan and Anderlecht on winning their second consecutive Belgian league title.  Here is a photo of Sacha and the cup.  Staying with Sacha, I should hopefully have the Sacha/mustache shirts up for sale later tonight/tomorrow.  It all depends on my travel schedule today.

Will Parchman thinks Terrence Boyd is the future of the American striker.

Following in the footsteps of Frank Simek, Mike Grella is currently on trial with D.C. United.

After a quick six months in Germany, it looks like Paolo DelPiccolo is probably headed back to the US/MLS.

My whole sleep pattern is beyond messed up from this past weekend and I am still playing catch up on life, but here are a few links.

Grant Wahl updates us on some USMNT tickets sold so far for some upcoming games.

Avi Creditor wisely pointed out today that with Bayern Munich making the DFB Pokal final on June 1, Germany should be missing some players for the USMNT friendly on June 2.

Costa Rica is still not happy about the Snow Clasico, so it appears that they will be moving their home qualifier against the US from their nice new stadium to Estadio Saprissa.  Boo crappy turf.

Freddy Adu was formally introduced at his new club in Brazil last week and spoke to their local press.  Steven Goff has some excerpts from that interview.

I don’t know the seriousness, but it looks like US U-20 forward Jose Villarreal hurt his shoulder in a recent LA Galaxy reserve match.

Brian Sciaretta has a couple new interviews up over at Yanks Abroad.  One with Jozy Altidore and one with Zarek Valentin.

The US looks to qualify for the U-20 World Cup for the first time since 2009 (and end a two-tournament elimination streak for all youth events) in Puebla, Mexico, February 18-March 3.

The US roster features its usual mix of full professionals, college players, and youth players:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Cody Cropper (Southampton FC; Maple Grove, Minn.), Kendall McIntosh (Santa Clara; Santa Rosa, Calif.), Zackary Steffen (FC DELCO Academy; Downington, Pa.)

DEFENDERS (5): Eric Miller (Creighton; Woodbury, Minn.), Juan Pablo Ocegueda (C.D. Guadalajara; Riverside, Calif.), Boyd Okwuonu (North Carolina; Edmund, Okla.), Shane O’Neill (Colorado Rapids; Boulder, Colo.), Javan Torre (UCLA; Santa Monica, Calif.)

MIDFIELDERS (5): Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake; Garden Grove, Calif.), Benji Joya (Santos Laguna; San Jose, Calif.), Mikey Lopez (Sporting Kansas City; Mission, Texas), Caleb Stanko (SC Freiburg; Holly, Mich.), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew; Gahanna, Ohio)

FORWARDS (5): Brandon Allen (Georgetown; Old Bridge, N.J.), Daniel Cuevas (Santos Laguna; Sacramento, Calif.), Daniel Garcia (North Carolina; Dallas, Texas), Mario Rodriguez (1. FC Kaiserslautern; North Hollywood, Calif.) Jose Villarreal (LA Galaxy; Inglewood, Calif.)

It is interesting to see Juan Ocegueda in the squad. He has publicly stated his committment to the US program, but he is on the books for Guadalajara right now.

I am tired and need sleep, but here are some links worth checking out.

According to this article, Alfredo Morales has been contacted by US Soccer for the U-23/Olympic team, but he hasn’t made up his mind over which country he wants to play for between the US, Peru and Germany.

Speaking of the Olympic team, Brent Latham recently talked to another Olympic team hopeful in Terrence Boyd.

Sticking with the German theme, Greg Seltzer interviewed Danny Williams about his whirlwind past couple of months.

Brian Sciaretta chatted with U-18 midfielder Jose Villarreal recently.  Villarreal is trying to land a professional contract in Europe and has had trials with Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Westerlo (Belgium) and Brondby (Denmark) so far.

And finally, you can find out more about Stuart Holden’s knee injury that has set him back another six months right here.

The US international suffered a serious knee injury in March that shelved him for nearly six months. He returned to the field on Sept. 20 and logged 90 minutes in a Carling Cup match against Aston Villa, but his knee swelled for seven days following the match and continued to cause him pain.

It was not until a routine surgery to remove a pin in his knee, however, that he found out what was the real issue. That same pin had come loose and done more damage to his cartilage, and putting him back on the shelf for an expected six more months.

And on that note, I sleep.

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.