Jurgen Klinsmann will announce his roster for the upcoming camp/friendlies/qualifiers on Thursday. He is going to name about 27 players, which is slightly more than usual, due to seven players sitting on yellow cards and late arrivals into camp.
One player who is rumored to be missing from this roster is Landon Donovan. If Landon does not get called in, you would have to think he would be called in with the guys for the Gold Cup.
Speaking of that Gold Cup roster, it looks like they will have their own friendly against Guatemala down in San Diego before the tournament begins on July 9. But US Soccer has not officially announced anything yet.
We told you about the Gold Cup getting a new trophy last week. Well, here it is and it sort of looks like the old trophy.
With all these different USMNT rosters, Brian Sciaretta takes a guess at both rosters.
Jozy Altidore was named to the De Telegraaf Eredivisie Team of the Season. And here are two photos of Jozy holding the Dutch Cup after last week’s victory: Photo 1 & Photo 2.
Carlos Bocanegra is looking forward to returning to Rangers next season, although Bocanegra’s agent tells Greg Seltzer that there is some MLS interest.
There was a Sky Sports story that we posted last week about Bursaspor trying to obtain Maurice Edu from Stoke City on a permanent basis and multiple people are telling Greg Seltzer the same.
If Edu does return to Stoke City next season, he along with Brek Shea and Geoff Cameron will look like they play for the Columbus Crew in away games in their new black-and-yellow kits for 2013-14.
Remember when Freddy Adu’s manager at Bahia was fired a week after he joined the club and there was some crazy stat about the club going through 20-25+ managerial changes over the previous 10 years? Well, Bahia fired another manager.
As expected, Steve Cherundolo will be getting a new one-year extension at Hannover 96.
After being released by Carlisle United, Frank Simek is currently on trial with D.C. United even though he would still need to go through the allocation rankings since he has played for the USMNT before. Yay weird MLS rules!
Even with the broken leg, Will Packwood has agreed to a one-year extension with Birmingham City.
The LA Times has a new story up about Bob Bradley.
Brian Sciaretta talked to Alejandro Bedoya recently about his good start to the season and his big summer ahead.
Mix Diskerud talked to Goal.com this week about his future with the USMNT and his failed move to Portland.
Tijuana defeated Palmeiras 2-1 last night meaning they will advance to the quarterfinals of Copa Libertadores. Edgar Castillo and Joe Corona both got the start in the win and they will now take on Brazilian side Atlético Mineiro.
Alex Kurial of Yanks Abroad has a story up on how Americans Shane Recklet and Jacob Wilson are trying to help Vasas SC back to the top level of soccer in Hungary.
And go take a look at our cool new Sacha/Over There shirt. They will go up for sale next week.
Jurgen Klinsmann spoke to some reporters on Wednesday and touched on a few different topics, including Stuart Holden and some ideas on how he is going to build this summer’s Gold Cup roster.
“We save most of [the top-flight European-based players] clearly for the World Cup qualifiers and then give them a well-deserved break. And then we have to build a very competitive roster for the Gold Cup.
“It’s tricky. Who is in a rhythm? The Scandinavians are in a rhythm. The MLS players are. Mexico is in a similar break like Europe, so it makes it difficult. Whoever from Mexico you leave out of the May-June camp, most likely we will leave them out of the Gold Cup as well because they would come from vacation and they can’t catch up. It’s a challenge for us.”
Klinsi also doesn’t want to see Carlos Bocanegra returning to Rangers next season.
Klinsmann also addressed Landon Donovan in the quotes above and Landon agrees that he has some work to do before returning to the USMNT.
Going back to Holden for a second, here is another article from England about him returning to Bolton after his loan to Sheffield Wednesday.
US Soccer put up a video this week with John O’Brien talking about his first cap with the USMNT.
It looks like Brek Shea and Geoff Cameron will be headed to FC Dallas this summer. . . . .in a scrimmage as Stoke City are headed back to the States this summer for some friendlies.
J.R. Eskilson decided to brave the 405 this week and went to the Home Depot Center to watch the US U-20 team partake in an intrasquad scrimmage.
Billy Schuler got the start and played 45 minutes in Hammarby’s 1-0 loss to Falkenberg on Thursday.
Zach Pfeffer scored a goal for Hoffenheim’s U-19 team in some youth cup match on Wednesday.
Brian Span scored a goal for Djurgården’s U-21 team earlier this week and here is a highlight of it.
After making his debut over the weekend, Freddy Adu came off the bench again and played eight minutes for Bahia in a 0-0 draw to Bahia de Feira on Wednesday.
Still recovering from his broken leg, Will Packwood was offered a new contract by Birmingham City this week.
And finally, here is an awesome interactive site that features the historical English football league tables from 1889 to 2012. Click on a team and it highlights their position for every season.
Alejandro Bedoya and Helsingborgs IF were knocked out of the Svenska Cupen with a 1-0 loss to IFK Göteborg. I guess Bedoya didn’t like how Göteborg played “anti-football”.
Club Tijuana have advanced to the Round of 16 in Copa Libertadores. Some quality competition ahead for Edgar Castillo, Joe Corona and Greg Garza.
It appears that Rangers manager Ally McCoist wants Carlos Bocanegra back in Scotland next season.
Maurice Edu, who missed last weekend’s game for Bursaspor is expected to return to training this week after picking up a groin injury.
Brian Sciaretta caught up with Tyler Ruthven to talk about signing with IK Brage.
Huddersfield Town midfielder Duane Holmes has been offered a professional contract with the club.
And US U-17 head coach Richie Williams has named 20 players for the U-17′s roster for the 2013 CONCACAF U-17 Championship in Panama.
Still have the U-20s on the mind and Brian Sciaretta gives us his 21 tickets for Turkey.
Sciaretta also talked to Daniel Cuevas this week about qualifying for the U-20 World Cup.
Another U-20er, Juan Ocegueda, took to twitter to tell fans why he picked the US over Mexico. Just scroll down his timeline to his tweets from March 6.
Carlos Bocanegra is struggling to see the field at Racing Santander and apparently has lost his starting spot.
And if you want to be semi-depressed, John Godfrey breaks down the struggles along the back line for the USMNT.
Roma midfielder Miralem Pjanic will be out a month with an ankle injury, which probably means Michael Bradley will return to the starting lineup. Bradley has come off the bench in two of his last three games.
I forget whether I posted this last week or not (and I am currently too lazy to look and see), but here is a NY Times story/interview with Brad Guzan. Can’t hurt to post to it twice.
Tijuana continues their hot streak in Copa Libertadores with a 1-0 win over defending champions and 2012 FIFA Club World Cup champions Corinthians. Joe Corona got the start while Greg Garza came off the bench.
We posted about Daniel Antunez playing with Chivas USA during training camp. Well, he officially signed with the club this week. Antunez last played for Inter Turku in Finland in 2012. Also, we might pass around a hat to take up a collection so OT can sponsor at tarp at a Chivas USA game at the Home Depot Center. Just joking (or am I?).
Sticking with the Chivas USA theme, Franco Panizo talked to Juan Agudelo about playing for Chivas and his training stints in Europe this offseason.
Here is a post-game interview with Conor O’Brien after FC Nordsjælland’s win from the weekend.
Howie’s Pick – Carlos Bocanegra (Racing Santander – Spanish Segunda Division)
Carlos Bocanegra went the distance for the second straight week and had the equalizing assist as Santander won a critical match in their quest to avoid relegation.
Matt’s Pick – Fabian Johnson (TSG Hoffenheim – German Bundesliga)
Fabian Johnson is healthy and this makes me happy. He went 90 minutes as Hoffenheim picked up three points and moved from the automatic relegation spot to the relegation playoff spot in the Bundesliga.
Carlos Bocanegra went the full 90 minutes in Racing Santander’s 3-1 loss. Here are some highlights, which include a couple close ups of Bocanegra complaining to the ref as his teammates pick up some red cards. It was not Racing Santander’s day.
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.
Clint Dempsey was named Fútbol de Primera’s US Soccer 2012 Player of the Year for the second straight year. It was Dempsey’s third time winning the award (also in 2006), but Michael Bradley probably would have won my vote.
Speaking of Dempsey, Fulham have accepted Liverpool’s apology over their recruitment of Dempsey over the summer and have withdrawn their complaint.
Tim Howard will be making his 200th consecutive Premier League appearance on Saturday. Timmy!
Steve Davis had breakfast with Jurgen Klinsmann recently and they talked about Carlos Bocanegra’s current role with the USMNT.
Bobby Wood has played his way into a new contract with 1860 Munich through the 2014-15 season.
Brian Sciaretta caught up with Sebastian Lletget to talk about breaking through with West Ham United.
Bryan Gerzicich has been cleared to play again for Ironi Kiryat Shmona after picking up a calf injury.
Benny Feilhaber signed with Sporting KC this week, but he apparently had some European suitors according to Greg Seltzer.
Seltzer also tells us that Alejandro Bedoya has been offered an extension by Helsingborg, while Swedish champions Elfsborg are also interested in his services.
A bunch of clubs are interested in Michael Parkhurst, who is now a free agent.
According to this report, Klinsmann has contacted Aron Johannsson about playing for the US and he “is now in doubt” over his decision.
Conor O’Brien has turned down a couple offers already and is meeting up with some more new teams according to his agent.
Rapid Vienna might be interested in Mix Diskerud. Much like with Boyd’s move, USMNT assistant Andreas Herzog was the reference. Speaking of Boyd, here is a Google-translated interview he recently did.
Adam Henley was invited to the upcoming US U-20 camp, but Blackburn nixed that idea.
San Antonio Scorpions defender Karsten Smith is currently on trial at Finnish side VPS.
Brad Friedel started for Tottenham in yesterday’s Europa League game and AVB wants to keep Friedel despite some recent Friedel-to-Blackburn rumors.
Chicago Fire and USMNT goalkeeper Sean Johnson is headed to England to train with Stoke City and Everton this offseason. USMNT goalkeeper coach Chris Woods is also the goalkeeper coach at Everton, but Jurgen Klinsmann must have some decent connections at Stoke City between this and Geoff Cameron/Maurice Edu’s transfers.
Bruce Arena told the press this week that the Galaxy will not be letting Omar Gonzalez go on any offseason loans or training stints. Gonzalez tore his ACL in his first day at training with Nurnberg last year.
