The big news from yesterday, which Howie already posted, is that Stuart Holden is back in the USMNT picture.  Holden also did an interview with Lion of Vienna Suite this week where he states that he feels 100%.

Steven Goff gives us the latest USMNT ticket sales update.  I really need to stop playing around and pull the trigger on a trip up to Seattle in June.

Jurgen Klinsmann doesn’t appear to be happy about Brek Shea’s lack of playing time at Stoke City.

Sky Sports is reporting that Maurice Edu might make a permanent move from Stoke City to Bursaspor, but the article really only has quotes from Edu about being happy in Turkey.

Here is a video of Geoff Cameron talking about Stoke City’s summer tour to play against Houston Dynamo.

Greg Seltzer updates us on AZ Alkmaar’s all-time single-season goals list (plus gives us some other numbers and stats).  Jozy Altidore is fourth with 30 goals and has three games left to add to that tally.  Kees Kist holds the top three spots with 39 goals (1981-82), 36 (1978-79) and 35 (1977-78).

Want some other numbers?  Conor O’Brien leads all Danish Superliga players in average kilometers covered per game this season.

Steve Cherundolo talked to US Soccer about soon becoming the fourth player in Bundesliga history to play 300 games and playing the most games in club history after his next appearance.  Cherundolo is also close on a new contract with Hannover 96.

This is from last week, but this story has some quotes from Tab Ramos on the US U-20 team, including why DeAndre Yedlin didn’t make the CONCACAF U-20 Championship roster.

A player that was on the CONCACAF U-20 Championship roster, Mario Rodriguez, scored a goal for Kaiserslautern in the semifinals of the U-19 German Cup the other day.

US U-17 forward Junior Flores is headed to Germany to train with Borussia Dortmund up through their Champions League final appearance.  Flores signed a pre-contract deal with Borussia Dortmund back in October and can’t sign a professional deal until he turns 18 in March of 2014.

We have another American at Club Tijuana as former LA Galaxy youth academy player Paul Arriola has signed with the Liga MX club.

And finally, here is a local paper type story on Aleks Gogic signing with Reading.

A few links to start your week.

I posted this in The OT Report, but Fabian Johnson missed Hoffenheim’s game this weekend due to a hip issue.  For those counting at home, the following potential USMNT players are injured/not playing for their club team:  Tim Howard, Fabian Johnson, Steve Cherundolo, Clint Dempsey, Carlos Bocanegra and Edgar Castillo.

US U-20 forward Mario Rodriguez scored two goals for Kaiserslautern in a 5-1 win in a German Junior Cup match.

I am still looking for highlights, but Joe Gyau was involved in one of St. Pauli’s goals this weekend then celebrated with a teammate.

Hertha Berlin’s website has an interview up with Anthony Brooks.  Now for some fun courtesy of Google Translate:

herthabsc.de: With your consistent performance you recommended you for deployments in U20 National Team, are accumulated because of your dual citizenship in both the U.S. as well as Germany. Perhaps there will come a decision up to you, what thoughts you’ve already done it?

John Anthony Brooks: I have not ever done me no thoughts. I let it come to me and just try here at the club Hertha BSC to bring my performance, because only then can I recommend for additional nominations for the national team. Everything else will then become evident. If the decision to be taken at some point maybe really, it is an abdominal or heart decision, whatever you want.

Here is a video interview with Sacha Kljestan.

And finally, Greg Garza made his first start for Tijuana since November this weekend.  Shameless plug time, but here is Jon’s interview with Garza from October.

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.

Ahead of a week long camp in Florida that will include a closed-doors intrasquad scrimmage and a closed-doors match against Venezuela, Tab Ramos has called in 24 players, a mix of MLS, college, Mexico-based, and Europe-based players.

It doesn’t sound like any sort of viewing will be available, but what players are you interested to follow?

GOALKEEPERS (3): Cody Cropper (Southampton FC; Maple Grove, Minn.), Tomas Gomez (Georgetown; Webster Groves, Mo.), Kendall McIntosh (Santa Clara; Santa Rosa, Calif.)

DEFENDERS (6): Dakota Edwards (Maryland; Sayville, N.Y.), Juan Pablo Ocegueda (Unattached; Riverside, Calif.), Boyd Okwuonu (North Carolina; Edmund, Okla.), Shane O’Neill (Colorado Rapids; Boulder, Colo.), Oscar Sorto (LA Galaxy; Los Angeles, Calif.), Javan Torre (UCLA; Santa Monica, Calif.)

MIDFIELDERS (8): Luis Gil (Real Salt Lake; Garden Grove, Calif.), Benji Joya (Santos Laguna; San Jose, Calif.), Mikey Lopez (North Carolina; Mission, Texas), Collin Martin (Wake Forest; Chevy Chase, Md.), Daniel Metzger (Maryland; Holmdel, N.J.), Marc Pelosi (Liverpool FC; Sunnyvale, Calif.), Caleb Stanko (SC Freiburg; Holly, Mich.), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew; Gahanna, Ohio)

FORWARDS (7): Brandon Allen (Georgetown; Old Bridge, N.J.), Daniel Cuevas (Santos Laguna; Sacramento, Calif.), Daniel Garcia (North Carolina; Dallas, Texas), Darius Madison (Virginia; Philadelphia, Pa.), Jack McBean (LA Galaxy; Newport Beach, Calif.), Mario Rodriguez (1. FC Kaiserslautern; North Hollywood, Calif.), Jose Villarreal (LA Galaxy; Inglewood, Calif.)

Matt mentioned that he was listed as being with Kaiserslautern in the U-20 roster on Saturday, but we now have official word from Galaxy Vice President Chris Klein:

Meanwhile, Sorto heads to Sweden, his U-17/18 teammate, Mario Rodriguez has left the team to join German second division club 1. FC Kaiserslautern.  Rodriguez— who was named to the U.S. Under-20 team for the Milk Cup tournament and appeared in the 2011 U-17 World Cup—made 21 appearances for the Galaxy U-17/18 side scoring seven goals. Rodriguez also made two appearances for the Galaxy reserves.

…

“Mario Rodriguez is a player that we were very high on, but at the end of the day, we can’t sign all these players and that is one of the downsides of our Academy. He got a better offer than we could give him in Germany so we hope he does well. The reality is that we don’t own these players and it’s tough to keep them under your umbrella.”

Kaiserslatuern, of course, is the club of former U-23 forward Andrew Wooten.

In case you missed it earlier, both Josh Gatt and Conor O’Brien scored goals today.  Daniel Stevens also scored a goal in Kemi Kings’ 2-1 loss to GBK in Finland, but there are no highlights on that one.

While those guys scored in league action, a few Americans found the back of the net in preseason friendly action today.  Matt Taylor scored a goal in Preußen Münster’s 2-0 victory over Hannover 96.  Joe Gyau scored a goal in Hoffenheim’s 3-0 win over SV Stadelhofen.  And Marc Pelosi scored in Liverpool U-18′s 8-1 win over Exeter.

The annual Milk Cup tournament is a favorite on this site and Tab Ramos has named his 18-man roster for this year’s tournament.  The roster includes five players from last year’s team (Cody Cropper, Juan Pablo Ocegueda, Boyd Okwuonu, Walker Zimmerman and Victor Pineda), which finished in third place.  The roster also has forward Mario Rodriguez listed with Kaiserslautern in Germany.  The US’ first game will be next Saturday against Denmark.

We haven’t heard much on Josh Wicks since his departure from IFK Mariehamn in February, but it looks like he has ended up on Icelandic First Division side Thór Akureyri.  Fellow American and ex-teammate from Mariehamn, Joe Funicello, is also on the team.