It looks like Jurgen Klinsmann would be open to staying on as USMNT manager beyond 2014.
Anthony Brooks recently did an interview with Berliner Kurier where he claims that he will make a decision on US vs. Germany in the coming weeks.
Mr. Soccer Insider Steven Goff is being told that Bryan Gerzicich might be making a move to MLS this summer. Greg Seltzer is also hearing the same thing and adds that he has an offer from a team in Belgium.
In the “sounds about right for his crazy career” department, Freddy Adu has been at the club for about a week now and his manager at Brazilian side Bahia has already been fired.
Brian Span and Djurgården’s game against Mjällby on Monday was suspended due to Djurgården’s fans throwing beer bottles onto the field.
Want to see Michael Bradley in an Italian Volkswagen ad? Why not.
US U-20 forward Daniel Cuevas has returned to full training after tearing his meniscus at the CONCACAF U-20 Championship.
Joe Gyau did a Google Hangout with SWOL yesterday where he talked about life in Germany and the USMNT among other things.
Jason Davis is doing a new morning daily show and had Terrence Boyd on as one of his first guests.
It was only a friendly, but Christian Eissele scored a goal this weekend in Kemi Kings’ 3-1 win over Alex Molano, Lester Dewee and Bodens BK.
The US U-17 team opened up the CONCACAF U-17 Championship with a 3-0 win over Haiti. They play Guatemala next on Thursday.
The USMNT roster came out yesterday. Franco Panizo got some quotes from Jurgen Klinsmann as he discusses the roster.
Speaking of Klinsmann, Roger Bennett looks at the various manager who have influenced Klinsmann throughout his career.
You want some previews for Wednesday’s game? The Total Soccer Show breaks down the Canada friendly, while also previewing Wednesday’s game. Leander Schaerlaeckens previews the final phase of qualifying. And Jon Levy gives us his preview of Wednesday’s game.
I posted the US Soccer tour video of Estadio Olimpico from 2009 yesterday, but I was just reminded tonight that the US Soccer/Gatorade commercial from 2006 features the ceiling tiles shaking from that stadium. Good times.
Will Parchman is doing a three-part feature on the US’ failed qualification run for the 1986 World Cup and here is Part 1.
Brian Sciaretta has an article up on Timothy Chandler. And here is photo of a U-16 Chandler from the 2006 Dallas Cup.
David Keyes did a really interesting interview recently with Pachuca’s head of scouting Marco Garcés. They talk about how Pachuca scouts the various Mexican-American players currently living in the US.
Stuart Holden’s younger brother, Euan, has signed a “non contract terms” deal with English League One side Bury. Euan last played for Stockport County in the Conference National.
And finally, remember when Roma played Orlando City over the winter break? I guess I missed his name in the match report, but Christian Eissele played in that game. Here is Jon Arnold’s interview with Eissele from back in November.
***UPDATE***
Jon just let me know that he talked to Christian last month about that friendly and this is what he had to say.
“The opportunity was great and it was awesome to be able to see that kind of level first-hand. That will definitely benefit me in the future.”
Christian Eissele led the Kakkonen, the third tier of Finnish football, in goals during the 2012 season. So how is he planning to follow up his Golden Boot-winning year? By scoring even more goals, of course.
“As a striker, you always want to get better at finishing, so that’s one of my main goals for the offseason,” he said.
Eissele, 20, is back home in the United States for training after his first professional season with the Kemi Kings. The Florida native found success almost immediately once he got acclimated to the cold in the Finnish port city. He played in all 24 league matches, and, with 20 goals and 7 assists, Eissele had a hand in more than half the club’s goals.
“It was a great experience to say the least,” he said. “I would say I grew a whole lot between when I first got there and when I came out. You’re playing against men at that level, and so physically and mentally it teaches you a lot about playing.”
Eissele says the lessons he’s learned are invaluable to his development, something he would’ve missed out on had he decided to continue playing college soccer at Central Florida or tried to catch on in the American system.
“Everywhere in Europe they know the game so much better than we do over here, so even though a lot players I play with back home are really athletic and really fast and strong, they may not have the understanding that some of these guys have,” he said. “And especially in the league I’m playing in, because it’s the second division they have a lot of older guys who have tons of experience at the highest level and they just come back to finish their careers off in their hometown and that type of thing. So, it’s been great learning because they know so much about the game tactically.”
If Eissele struggled with a knowledge gap, you’d be hard pressed to notice. He scored often, putting in goals with both his left and right feet, and frequently partnering with teammates to put the Kings on the attack. With one more year left on his contract with Kemi, Eissele is hopeful that he’ll continue to be a fixture on the scoresheet so he can keep turning heads.
“I want to stay in Europe as long as I can and really just try to move up the ranks and try to get my name out there so I can move on to bigger clubs at a better level,” he said.
It’s not just what he’s learned on the pitch that has made Eissele so confident the decision to play in Finland has been worth the risk. He speaks in glowing terms about all aspects of Nordic life. Eissele enjoyed the 24 hours of light during the summer (but admits good blinds are a must), sampling local fare like reindeer, which “tastes pretty much like beef, but it’s really good,” and the friendliness of the locals.
“It’s a smaller town so everybody kind of knows everybody, which is awesome because a lot people would know us on the team, especially because I’m an American. They don’t get that very often. It was a great place to live,” Eissele said.
While other Kakkonen clubs may have a Christian Eissele sophomore slump on their Christmas lists, the forward is preparing to dash away all hopes of that when the season starts in March.
“I’m really excited for the future because I feel like I can only go up from here,” he said. “I’m not one of those types of players that will excite you at a young age and have a bunch of skills, but I can score goals and that was evident this season. Hopefully, I can just continue to improve on my abilities and get faster and quicker and stronger. I’m hoping for a good future.”
It looks like the site’s server woke up from its post-turkey nap and is running somewhat faster. That all said, here are a few links from the last week or so.
This report out of Scotland has Celtic manager Neil Lennon wanting to sign Juan Agudelo after impressing during his training stint with the Scottish club. STV Sport also did a 13-minute video interview with Agudelo right here.
Some Danish reports are saying Jurgen Klinnsman will help Michael Parkhurst find a new club come January.
Staying in Mexico, Tijuana (Joe Corona, Edgar Castillo, Greg Garza) are headed to the Liga MX final to face Toluca after defeating Leon 3-2 on aggregate. Both Corona and Castillo started in yesterday’s second-leg victory. By making the final, they also earned a spot in the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League.
The Bolton News recently did an interview with Tim Ream. Ream started at defensive midfielder on Saturday in Bolton’s 1-1 draw to Brighton & Hove Albion.
Continuing with the interviews, Brian K. Blickenstaff spent some time with Danny Williams in Germany.
Brian Sciaretta looks at some potential options for the USMNT central defense aside from Geoff Cameron.
Here is a highlight video of Kemi Kings’ Christian Eissele and his 2012 season in Finland, which saw him lead the Kakkonen in goals.
As for some noteworthy performances from the weekend. Fabian Johnson scored for Hoffenheim in their 2-1 loss to Bayer Leverkusen (highlights here). Clint Dempsey assisted on one goal and “hockey” assisted on another in Tottenham’s 3-1 victory over West Ham United (highlights here). And Charlie Davies head-butted a guy (highlights here).
Marc Heider scored his eighth goal of the season in Holstein Kiel’s 3-0 win over Victoria Hamburg in German Regionalliga action. Eugene Starikov is starting to get more playing time in Russia, getting another start for Rostov in their 2-0 win over Mordovia Saransk. And Bobby Wood has fought his way back from injuries to make an appearance off the bench (16 minutes) for 1860 Munich in their 2-2 draw to Union Berlin.
Some of these are a couple days old, but between life and the USMNT, I was saving them up for one big link drop.
Speaking of the USMNT, Greg Seltzer gives us a pre-Hex to-do list for Jurgen Klinsmann.
These were written before Tuesday’s game, but here are some interviews by Brian Sciaretta with Joe Corona and Geoff Cameron.
Sciaretta also informs us that Bolivian-American center back Alejandro Melean became cap tied to Bolivia this week.
Back to the US’ 3-1 win over Guatemala. Jon Arnold got some post-game quotes from various USMNT players. And if you missed this, ESPN/Julie Foudy did a great video piece on Herculez Gomez.
And Grant Wahl talks about Eddie Johnson’s comeback. I will admit that I was skeptical about Johnson’s call-up, but he looked very good in both games and looks to be playing with a lot of confidence right now.
I got e-mailed this over the weekend, but here are two radio interviews with Stoke City’s Geoff Cameron and Maurice Edu.
Some good news on the Stuart Holden front. He will be returning to training with Bolton this week.
ESPN’s Ravi Ubha has a story up on Oguchi Onyewu about his move to Malaga.
We already told you about Christian Eissele scoring 20 goals for Kemi Kings in Finland this season, but it looks like he won the Golden Boot for the season.
St. Pauli played some friendlies during the international break and it looks like Joe Gyau scored a goal in 6-1 win over SC Wiener Viktoria on Saturday. Here are highlights of the goals, including Gyau’s goal.
It looks like Kenneth Di Vita Jensen has moved on to Ullensaker / Kisa in the Norwegian First Division (second tier) and scored a goal this past weekend.
We told you last week about Babajide Ogunbiyi training at Hammarby. It doesn’t look like Hammarby is going to sign him and he apparently failed his medical with the New York Red Bulls because of some heart condition.
There were two goals scored this past weekend for those that don’t know how to scroll down and see the highlights. Matt Taylor scored for the second straight week in Germany, while Michael Orozco Fiscal scored his first goal of the season for San Luis.
I also posted some highlights of Anthony Brooks and Alfredo Morales in a friendly against Juventus. It is looking like the U-20 center back, Brooks, could be in the starting lineup for Hertha Berlin in their season opener against Paderborn on Friday.
Also of note from the weekend, Charlie Davies came off the bench in Randers’ 2-1 win and Bobby Wood scored twice for 1860 Munich II in the Regionalliga. And in Finland, Christian Eissele scored four goals, while Daniel Stevens and Joey Spivack each scored once in Kemi Kings’ 8-0 win over Warkaus. Once the bigger leagues start up in the next couple weeks, I will bring back the full The OT Report for the weekends.
Rangers manager Ally McCoist said this weekend that Alejandro Bedoya was talking to Swedish side Helsingborgs about a transfer, but Bedoya’s agent denied the report to Yanks Abroad.
Geoff Cameron’s UK work permit appeal hearing has been set for August 8. Here is a random photo of Cameron in Stoke City training gear.
Chad Barrett will be headed to Norwegian club Vålerenga on loan through the rest of the 2012 season. Vålerenga also holds the option to buy at the end of the loan.
The US U-20 team finished fourth in last week’s Milk Cup after losing to Chile in the third place game.
Brian Sciaretta gives us 23 guys he thinks is Jurgen Klinsmann’s favored USMNT sqaud as of today.
I also want to point out that I might be light on posting and tweeting for the rest of this week as I make my annual summer pilgrimage to Chicago starting tomorrow to visit some family and friends (as well as check out Lollapalooza again).
If you follow us on Twitter, you probably noticed that we were pretty busy today as a bunch of different Yanks decided to score goals between league play and preseason friendlies. Well, here is a little rundown on what happened.
* Josh Gatt came off the bench and scored a goal for Molde FK in their 2-1 loss to Viking, although Gatt had to leave the game early with a thigh injury (highlights here).
* Terrence Boyd made his official debut at Rapid Vienna and walked away with two goals, one assist and one near goal off a bicycle kick as Rapid Vienna won 4-0 (highlights here).
* Herculez Gomez kicked off his 2012 Apertura with the game-winning goal in Santos Laguna’s 2-1 victory over San Luis (highlights here).
* Matt Taylor has returned to the German 3. Liga and scored a goal in Preußen Münster’s season-opening victory over Wacker Burghausen (highlights here).
* Over in Finland, Christian Eissele scored his eighth goal of the season in Kemi Kings’ 2-0 victory over TP-47.
* And in Iceland, Evan Schwartz scored his second goal of the season in Víkingur Reykjavík’s 3-0 win over BÍ / Bolungarvík.
That is just the goals in league play. A couple other Americans scored in preseason friendlies today.
* Both Maurice Edu and Alejandro Bedoya scored for Rangers as they won 5-1 in a closed-door scrimmage against Albion Rovers.
* Joe Gyau has been playing well Hoffenheim this preseason and notched another goal in a 2-0 win over SV Waldhof Mannheim. Here is a photo of Gyau from the game.
And while some guys didn’t score, some younger guys took a bigger step today.
* Will Packwood went the full 90 minutes in Birmingham City’s 2-2 draw to Borussia Monchengladbach in a friendly (highlights here).
* Royal-Dominique Fennell made his senior team debut for Stuttgarter Kickers in their 2-1 loss to Hansa Rostock to start up the 3. Liga season (highlights here).
* Both Alfredo Morales and Anthony Brooks played 90 minutes in Hertha Berlin’s 3-2 win over Norwich City in a friendly.
EPL Talk has the Premier League TV schedule for the first couple months of the season for those of us living in the US.
Bryan Gerzicich has officially re-signed with Israeli Premier League champions Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona.
Sebastian Lletget was recently interviewed by West Ham’s website about training with the first team this preseason.
Both Alfredo Morales and Anthony Brooks have been receiving playing time with Hertha Berlin’s first team this preseason. Morales played in eight league games with the first team last season, but Brooks was actually demoted from the U-23 team to the U-19 team at the end of last season. Both should hopefully get a chance at first team playing time with Hertha Berlin in the 2. Bundesliga this year.
Timothy Chandler had an assist in Nurnberg’s latest preseason friendly against Eintracht Bamberg.
Parker Walsh is training with German 2. Bundesliga club Energie Cottbus this week.
A good day for a couple Americans on Finnish side Kemi Kings yesterday. Christian Eissele recorded a hat trick, while Daniel Stevens scored a brace in Kemi Kings’ 5-0 victory over HauPa.
Former US U-17/U-20 winger Brendan King has signed with League of Ireland Premier Division club Bray Wanderers. King was taken in the second round of the 2012 MLS SuperDraft by Portland.
Central defender Mike Jones has signed with Danish First Division side FC Hjørring. Jones was drafted in the 2011 Supplemental Draft by Sporting Kansas City before landing on New York and appearing in two games last season.
