Lets get right to it.

Much like last year, it looks like AZ Alkmaar probably won’t release Jozy Altidore for the beginning of the upcoming USMNT camp.

It appears that Michael Bradley does know how to smile between this photo and this video.

Staying in the Bradley family, here is a trailer for the upcoming Bob Bradley/Egypt documentary.

Brek Shea made the travel roster, but did not dress in Stoke City’s 1-1 draw yesterday.  I guess Ian Darke talked about it more at halftime, but he also tweeted that they are working on getting him 100% match fit as he finally got over his foot injury.  Here is also a story from England where it mentions that Tony Pulis brought Shea to the club with next year in mind.

It is not quite the silly season just yet, but we have our first rumor on a possible Jonathan Spector move to newly promoted Cardiff City.

Jermaine Jones talked to Bundesliga.com about Schalke’s last couple of games.

Honefoss goalkeeper Steve Clark was fined for taunting opponents during the club’s Norwegian Cup match from last week.  He was fined 20,000 Norwegian crowns, which the internet tells me is about $3,500 or 1,000 Schrute bucks.

Jon-Paul Pittman was one of 12 players released by Oxford United this week.  Pittman scored two goals in 15 appearances in 2012-13.

I posted about Paul Arriola’s move to Tijuana last week and he recently talked to Tom Marshall about making the move.

Here is a photo of Junior Flores in his new Borussia Dortmund gear.

Finally, both Julian Green and Russell Canouse scored for their teams in German U-19 action and you can view the goals in this U-19 video recap of the weekend (their games are the first two games highlighted in the video).  Hell of a strike by Canouse.

Links!

Brek Shea played well in a recent closed-door scrimmage for Stoke City against Scunthorpe United and could possibly make the gameday roster this weekend when the Potters travel to London to play Fulham.

The US-Costa Rica qualifier in Denver is officially a sellout.

Peter Hirdt gives us our Landon Donovan/Jozy Altidore stat of the day:

Yep, Altidore has scored 11 of his 13 international goals w/ Donovan on the field (2 goals in 1300+ min w/out LD)

Some guys in action on Tuesday.  Jonathan Spector went the full 90 minutes in Birmingham City’s 0-0 draw to Sheffield Wednesday.  Stuart Holden was an unused sub in Bolton’s 1-1 draw to Derby County.

As for last night, Ventura Alvarado, a 20-year-old Mexican-American, scored his first professional goal in Club America’s 3-1 win over Necaxa (highlights here).  If you don’t know much on Alvarado, Brian Sciaretta interviewed him back in August.  And Joe Corona and Edgar Castillo both started with Castillo help setting up the lone goal of the game as Tijuana defeated Colombian champions Millonarios in Tijuana’s Copa Libertadores debut (highlights here).

There is some internet speculation (so it must be true!) that Jurgen Klinsmann contacted Rogelio Funes Mori and Michael Hoyos about a possible USMNT call-up.  That said, some people don’t think Funes Mori is a US citizen, while Hoyos has not been the same since a car accident in 2011.

Staying with the car accident theme, Ravi Ubha of ESPN FC has an interview up with Charlie Davies.

Marc Pelosi had successful surgery on his broke leg on Monday.  If you want to see the harsh tackle that caused it, here you go (around the 9:25 mark).

There is still no word on whether Juan Ocegueda will play for Chivas Guadalajara or Chivas USA once he returns from U-20 duty.

U-20 midfielder Matthew Dunn is currently on trial with the Colorado Rapids.  Dunn has been with OFK Beograde in Serbia.

And finally, Ben Spencer started for Molde FK yesterday in a friendly against Kristiansund.

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.

This weekend was sort of a fun one with Dempsey and Herc scoring goals, plus the USMNT roster announcement.  Good times.  Now or some links from the weekend.

Speaking of the USMNT January camp.  Both Graham Zusi and Juan Agudelo are going to be a week late as they are headed to West Ham United this week for one of these MLS week-long-summer-camp-training sessions.

Doug McIntyre (ESPN Insider) gives us his surprises of the 25-man roster.

The other chatter from yesterday regarding the USMNT was locations of the various hexagonal qualifiers.  We are nearing the home opener against Costa Rica in March and we still don’t know the location.  Grant Wahl is hearing that the final three possibilities are Kansas City, Salt Lake and Denver.  I am guessing it will be Salt Lake or Denver as the US plays Mexico at Azteca a few days later and those two sites give the US players some training/game action with altitude.

Steven Goff is hearing that the June qualifiers could finally be headed to the Pacific Northwest in Portland and Seattle.  While that is all fun and games, Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson was tweeting a bunch about how there probably won’t be a qualifier in Portland since they don’t want to put sod on their turf for a couple different reasons.  But he thinks there is a decent shot that Portland hosts a Gold Cup game.  You can check out his feed for all his reasons/ranting.

I already linked above Clint Dempsey’s goals from the weekend, but here is a video interview from after the game.

Birmingham City’s website gives us a quick update on Will Packwood.  It looks like he will be out “for at least nine months.”  Teammate Jonathan Spector missed out on the FA Cup match with some kind of back injury.

I missed this story last week, but this should make Bob Bradley’s job a little easier.

ESPN FC gives us three young Bayern Munich players to keep an eye on including Tampa-born Julian Green.

Shawn Parker scored the game-winning goal this weekend for Mainz in a friendly against Club Brugge.

Andrew Wooten and Sandhausen made it to the finals of the Harder Cup before losing to Karlsruher SC.  Wooten was one of Sandhausen’s top scorers of the tournament.  And it looks like I was able to find video of the whole final.  That looks like it would be fun to attend.

I haven’t heard Jann George’s name mentioned since he was kicked off Nurnberg in early November, but apparently I missed that he signed with 1860 Munich II late in November and has been training with the first team as they start their winter break training camp.

And finally, much to Howie’s chagrin, former US U-17er Fuad Ibrahim has been named to Ethiopia’s team for the 2013 African Cup of Nations.

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.

Jonathan Spector went the full 120 minutes and scored a goal in Birmingham City’s 3-2 loss to Coventry in the Capital One Cup.  Here are the highlights.

I am sure that post title will attract some fun Google search key words.

The big news of the day was BeIN Sport announcing that it bought the TV rights to all the US road World Cup qualifiers (minus the potential game against Mexico at Azteca in the Hex) for the rest of this cycle.  BeIN Sport is the new Al-Jazeera backed TV station which has been buying up all of GolTV’s old rights (i.e. La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1).  This means no more PPV/closed circuit games for the US during qualification.  BeIN Sport is already on DirecTV and Dish Network and hopefully should be picked up by cable providers in the future (I am looking at you Time Warner Cable).  Steven Goff has all the details right here, plus some other information on the upcoming September camp.

A couple days after Rangers manager Ally McCoist claimed that Ipswich Town made a bid on Maurice Edu, Ipswich Town manager Paul Jewell denied the claim.

Brian Straus recently caught up with Jozy Altidore about his great start to the season.

Birmingham City manager Lee Clark had some nice words about Jonathan Spector and Will Packwood.

I am a week late on this, but Sporting CP have left Oguchi Onyewu off their Europa League roster and there is some speculation that he could be on his way out of the club.

Marcus Hahnemann was on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast radio show earlier today and claimed that he is in the process of moving his family to Seattle.  No word if he is done playing or if he has another job lined up.

Greg Seltzer decided to make some bold predictions on some Americans in Europe for this season.

Tom Marshall is reporting that the USMNT might be looking at Mexican-American goalkeeper Cirilo Saucedo who currently plays at Club Tijuana.

Sticking with goalkeepers, Matt Pyzdrowski has been missing time with Swedish side Angelholms FF due to a concussion and now he has been ruled out for the rest of the season.  His latest concussion was his third in the last six months.  He made a statement, which you can read right here.

After a couple trials across England/Scotland the past couple months, Anton Peterlin is now back in the US and on trial with the Colorado Rapids.

While Sacha Kljestan and Anderlecht lost in Champions League action on Tuesday, Bryan Gerzicich’s Ironi Kiryat Shmona lost 2-0 to BATE, but Gerzicich did not play due to a torn meniscus.

Predict the following questions for various Americans in England in the unofficially official contest:

Brad Friedel, Totenham:
Totenham: Champions League, Europa League, or neither?
Yes/No: Does Fridel’s consecutive starts streak (a record 314 matches, meaning he could hit 350 this season) end?

Clint Dempsey, Fulham (?)
Who does Clint Dempsey wind up playing for?
Regardless of club, over/under on:
- 14.5 EPL goals (17 last year)
- 19.5 all competition goals (23 last year)

Geoff Cameron, Stoke City
Over/under:
-          15.5 starts (league only)
-          24.5 appearances (league only)
Does Cameron play more minutes at central defense or at defensive midfielder?

Brad Guzan, Aston Villa
Does Guzan make more appearances for Villa or for a hypothetical loan destination?
Which number will be greatest: Guzan cup appearances, Guzan league appearances, or Guzan national team callus?

Tim Howard, Everton
Yes/No: Everton: Europa League qualifiers?
Which Liverpool club finishes higher in 2012-13, Liverpool or Everton?

Eric Lichaj, Aston Villa
Over/under:
-          17.5 starts (league only)
-          26.5 appearances (league only)
Yes/No: Is Aston Villa safe from relegation entering Survival Sunday?

Tim Ream, Bolton Wanderers
National team caps through May 2013: over/under of 1.5?
Bolton: promoted, promotion playoffs, or outside promotion playoffs?

Stuart Holden, Bolton Wanderers
Over/under: September 15 for Stu’s first start (under is before [ie., if he starts August 25, say under])
Over/under:
-          22.5 starts
-          2.5 goals
-          5.5 matches missed due to injury

Jonathan Spector, Birmingham City
Birmingham: promoted, promotion playoffs, or outside promotion playoffs?
Most minutes: rightback, central midfield, or other?

Will Packwood, Birmingham City
Over/under:
-          5.5 league appearacnes
-          8.5 overall appearances
U-20s:  U-20 World Cup knockout rounds, U-20 World Cup group stage, or another DNQ?

Robbie Findley, Notthingham Forest
Over/under: 3.5 goals (3 last year)
Nottingham Forest: promotion playoffs contender, mid-table, barely surviving, or relegated (19^th last year)?

Zak Whitbread, Leicester City
Over/under: 20.5 league appearances
Over/under: 2.5 different reported injuries (must be separated by at least 2 games)

Robbie Rogers, Leeds United
Transfer result: Championship club, League One club, League Two club, or still with Leeds?
Does he score a goal this year wherever he lands?

Conor Doyle, Derby County
Over/under:
-          5.5 appearances (six last year)
-          0.5 goals (zero for career)
Doyle’s club after this year is __________.

Adam Henley, Blackburn Rovers
Over/under:
-          10.5 appearances league appearances (seven last year)
-          13.5 overall appearances (seven last year)
In May 2013, is Adam Henley American, Welsh, or still undecided?

Jon-Paul Pittman, Oxford United
Over/under:
-          2.5 goals (3 last year)
-          15.5 appearances (15 last year)

Mike Grella, Scunthorpe United
Over/under:
-          15.5 league appearances (13 last year between Brentford and Bury)
-          3.5 league goals (4 last year total)
Yes/No: Is Grella still with Scunthorpe at season’s end? In August 2013?

Open-Ended
Do the following players find a club in England?
-          Jemal Johnson
-          Marcus Hahnemann
-          Anton Peterlin
-          Cody Cropper
Over/Under on 1.5 Americans winding up in England in January (transfers & MLS free agents)

We told you the other day that Will Packwood is doing some first-team training this preseason and hopefully he will make his first-team debut this season in this blue home kit made by Diadora.

***UPDATE ***

Oh yeah, Jonathan Spector sort of plays for Birmingham City as well.

With the major European leagues wrapping up (some in legendary fashion), it’s time to revisit a SoccerOverThere.com favorite: the OT XI. Before discussing this year’s OT XI, let’s review the honorees from 2010-11:

Unlike the 2009-10 OT XI that saw three guys return to the States, all of last year’s honorees were in theory eligible for this year’s team, although extended injuries (Holden, Lichaj) and less than ideal club moves (Yelldell, Bedoya) played a factor. Before unveiling this year’s team, we must recognize the gentlemen who were gunning for a three-peat, having earned spots on both the 2009-10 and 2010-11 squads:

- Clarence Goodson

- Clint Dempsey

Will Clay and Deuce three-peat? The answer lies below:

Breaking down the team:

Goalkeeper
Tim Howard, Everton (England)
Did you realize that Everton finished joint-third in the goals allowed column in the Premier League this season? After a somewhat forgettable Gold Cup, Howard had one of his better club seasons, allowing his fewest goals since 2008-09 despite a record-setting offensive season in the Premier League. For just the second time in 25 years and the seventh time in the last 50 seasons, the Toffees finished ahead of rivals Liverpool (alone in 7th) despite having a transfer budget so meager they were forced to rent a winger from Major League Soccer. Howard becomes the third keeper in as many years to earn this honor.

Defenders
Jonathan Spector, Birmingham City (England)
Michael Parkhurst, FC Nordsjælland (Denmark)
Oguchi Onyewu, Sporting CP (Portugal)
Fabian Johnson, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (Germany)
It’s a story of renewed careers at the backline. Jonathan Spector, largely a reserve as West Ham United sank to relegation a year before, helped Birmingham City to the promotion playoffs despite missing several weeks with an injury. Meanwhile, Oguchi Onyewu, seemingly bound to never recover from his 2009 knee injury, landed at a surprisingly big club and surprisingly became a regular starter in Portugal’s second-best defense and a Europa League semifinalist. Michael Parkhurst’s consistency blosomed into a great year as poor little Nordsjælland are surprise title and Champions League contenders, allowing just 22 goals in 30 matches. Meanwhile, in Germany, hybrid wingback Fabian Johnson provided some quality minutes at leftback, sparking debate about whether he could in fact be the First Great American Leftback.

Midfielders
Bryan Gerzicich, Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona (Israel)
Josh Gatt, Molde (Norway)
Michael Bradley, Chievo Verona (Italy)
Sacha Kljestan, Anderlecht (Belgium)
Clint Dempsey, Fulham (England)
Bryan Gerzichich and Kiryat Shmona were surprise champions of Israel. The plucky bunch from the tiny border city, 4th in 2010-11, ran away with the Israeli Premier League by an astonishing 17 points in the regular season and holding on in the playoffs to advance to Champions League qualifying in part because of Gerzicich’s play in the midfield. Meanwhile, another Yank starred for a surprise champion in Norway, as Josh Gatt played pretty much everywhere on the right in helping Molde FK celebrate its centennial with its first top-flight title and making the would-be college sophomore a favorite of coach and Manchester United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjær. Michael Bradley rebounded from a nightmare loan spell with Aston Villa last year to put together one of his finest seasons of his career, with the now-minted “General Bradley” helping Chievo to a top-half finish despite having the league’s second-worst offense. Elsewhere, Sacha Kljestan was yet another champion in the midfield, turning in consistently strong performances as Anderlecht won its 31st title and move into the Champions League group stages. Finally, Clint Dempsey is pretty much awesome.

Forward
Jozy Altidore, AZ (Netherlands)
After a forgettable three years in Europe (six goals in 77 appearances with four different clubs), Jozy Altidore moved to the Netherlands and finally found his touch. Despite a few benchings, Altidore consistently returned to the lineup because he scored goals. He scored 15th in the Eredivisie (good for 7th in the league) and 19 in all competitions, nearly matching his career total. Additionally, playing as the center forward in AZ’s 4-3-3, he finally embraced the finer parts of the #9 role, making nice near post runs and showing the best holdup play of his career. Despite a late slump, AZ and Altidore will be in the Europa League next year, and the team’s leading scorer will be looked upon to build on a strong debut year.

2011-12 MVP
Clint Dempsey, M/F, Fulham
Whenever Dempsey retires or moves back to MLS, we might have to rename this award the Clint Dempsey Trophy. After winning deserving MVP awards the past two seasons, Deuce had his best season yet, moving from “nice/quality player” to “elite”. Dempsey finished 4th in the Premier League in goals with 17 and finished with 23 goals across the board, surpassing his total combined from the last two seasons. He blitzed past former teammate Brian McBride to become the leading scorer by an American in England, went over 50 goals for his career, and may have earned his way to a Champions League transfer. He’s a great American, my friends.

Goal of the Year
Perhaps no goal was more symbolic of Gatt’s performance than his flying, slaloming run against Start that put a defender on the ground and solidified his spot as perhaps the most exciting American youngster.

Performance of the Year
We were all impressed when Dempsey scored a hat trick in a 4-0 FA Cup win over League One’s Charlton, but we were really impressed when he went and had a hat trick two weeks later against a Premier League side. Dempsey destroyed a Champions League-contending Newcastle on January 21, even passing on a penalty kick when sitting on two goals to earn the hat trick the real way. (Indeed, had Dempsey taken Fulham’s penalty kicks that day, he could have earned himself a Golden Helmet of Mambrino five goals. Yeah, he can ball.