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.
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.
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.
Will Parchman finished up his three-part series on the USMNT failing to qualifying for the 1986 World Cup last week. Here is Part 3.
The guys over at The Yanks Are Coming have an interview up with Sacha Kljestan.
Bayern Munich youth product Julian Green has been called into the US U-18′s European camp for next month. They are headed to Romania and France.
We know about the horrific injuries to Will Packwood and Marc Pelosi in the last couple weeks and now we can add Kyle Scott to the list. Scott is a British-American midfielder currently playing with Chelsea’s U-16 team. He has been called into a few US U-15 camps over the last year, but it sounds like he will be out for 9-12 months.
John Fitzpatrick is currently on trial at VPS in Finland and scored a goal against Jaro in a recent cup match. Fitzpatrick played at Cal in college, claiming All-Pac-12 honorable mention honors in 2011.
Staying in Finland, defender Kevin Garcia is on trial at SJK. SJK already have American Justin Moose on the team.
And finally, former New England Revolution academy products, Ruben Resendes and Chris Tsonis, have signed with Icelandic club Tindastoll FC. Tindastoll finished in eighth place in the 12-team 1. Deild (second tier) in 2012.
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.
Brian Sciaretta caught up with Sacha Kljestan to talk about about his rise in status at both the club and country level. And Daniel Renders gives Sciaretta a cool stat about Anderlecht’s record with/without Kljestan. And this has prompted me to start up on an Inside the Numbers piece, which will hopefully be up in the morning.
Kljestian has 18 months left on his contract, but there are on-going talks over a new deal/extension.
Julian De Martinis of ESPN writes about Michael Bradley’s first six months at Roma.
Noah Davis gives us 20 wishes for the USMNT in 2013.
The USMNT January/Camp Cupcake will now begin on January 7, not January 14. And expect the roster to be announced on Sunday, with the possibility of one small surprise.
Euan Holden has parted ways with Stockport County. Holden appeared in only one league game in 2012-13 after playing in 33 games last season.
Tim Ream and Bolton are trying to find out why they can’t win two games in a row.
I hope Brian Sciaretta has PennyTalk as after he was talking to Sacha Kljestan, he got an interview with Eugene Starikov in Russia. Maybe Sciaretta can teach me how to take a penalty kick…..
The always seemingly injured Zak Whitbread is out with a calf injury.
Robbie Rogers hasn’t played much as of late with Stevenage, but his loan ends on January 15.
Julian Green was nominated for some type of Sportsman of the Year award.
US U-18 forward Julian Green scored two goals in Bayern Munich U-19′s 3-1 win over Stuttgart in German U-19 Bundesliga action on Monday. Here are some highlights, including Green’s brace.
Bayern Munich U-19 German-American Julian Green had an assist on Nikola Jelsic’s bicycle kick goal this weekend and you can check that out right here.
I know some Carlos Bocangera/transfer rumors are slowing beginning, but Rangers might be on the only team in the Scottish Third Division with a third kit.
We posted about Max Morice’s move to Rennes last week, but Greg Seltzer got some quotes from Morice.
We haven’t posted much about Middlesbrough center back Seb Hines since he would need to make a one-time FIFA switch to the US, but we are aware of him. That said, he scored this weekend and you can see highlights of his goal right here.
And I missed this over the summer, but it looks like Mjällby AIF forward Samuel Petrone is currently on loan with Leiknir Reykjavík in Iceland. Petrone only appeared in four games with Mjällby last season, but has played in five games with Leiknir Reykjavík since late July. His loan is for the rest of the 2012 season.
I am still playing catch up on links, but here are a few things from the last couple days.
While we have posted a couple times that Cody Cropper has been playing with Southampton’s reserve team in recent weeks, we haven’t known his full status with the club. According to Brian Sciaretta, the club has finally made an offer to the US U-20 goalkeeper.
Rangers manager Ally McCoist told some radio program earlier today that Stoke City have some interest in Maurice Edu. So the two starting centerbacks from the USMNT’s big win over Mexico at Azteca could be paired together in the central midfield.
Tony Taylor recently told Nick Leyden that Panama have been recruiting the 23-year-old forward. Taylor was born and raised in the US, but he holds a Panamanian passport through both of his parents. Since he played with the US at the 2009 U-20 World Cup, he would have to make a FIFA one-time switch if he does decide to swap countries.
As for some other dual citizens, here is a Google-translated article about Anthony Brooks and his recent camp experience with the German U-20 team. While it appears that Julian Green will be getting a US youth call-up in the near future.
Michael Parkhurst talked to Brian Sciaretta this week about Nordsjaelland and the upcoming Champions League matches.
Speaking of Sciaretta, he was interviewed by The Shin Guardian about various young American players in Europe.
And finally, Yale product Max Morice has signed a professional contract with Rennes in France. He has the French ties as his father, Pierre (talk about a French name), played professionally with Nantes.
This article in the Brimingham Mail reports that Paul Lambert will give Brad Guzan a chance to compete with Shay Given for the starting goalkeeper job at Aston Villa.
And finally, Julian Green, a 17-year-old German-American at Bayern Munich, was promoted to the U-19 team for this upcoming season.
