In the last 24 hours of a mini-vacation, but here are some links from the last couple of days.

First off, a plug for our annual OT XI.  So go check that out.

Jurgen Klinsmann announced the USMNT roster for the upcoming games last week and Nick Firchau gives a notebook of goodies.  Also, since the roster has been announced, Brad Evans has been added to the squad.

The last of the five upcoming games is against Honduras and here is their roster.  I also posted Belgium’s and Germany’s rosters last week.

Leander Schaerlaeckens looks at why US goalkeepers are awesome.

It was starting to look like Aron Johannsson was a no-go for the USMNT last week.  But he might not be a lost cause as of this week.  Hmm.

Tab Ramos named his roster for the upcoming Toulon Tournament earlier this week.  One name missing from that roster is Anthony Brooks.  He told some German press that he wants to pull a Timothy Chandler circa 2011 (rest over the summer since he is young and new to the Bundesliga) and sit out of national team competitions (but maybe he changes his mind if the USMNT come calling?).

Another name missing from the U-20 team is forward Villyan Bijev.  And now he has accepted a call by Bulgaria’s U-21 team for this summer’s Euros, which would provisionally cap-tie him.  Bijev’s last appearance with the US came with the U-18 team at the Lisbon International Tournament.

Speaking of the Lisbon International Tournament (I love easy transitions), the current U-18 team opened up the 2013 Lisbon International Tournament with a 3-0 win over the Czech Republic.

Going back to the U-20 team, Jose Villarreal’s name was missing from the Toulon Tournament roster because the Galaxy didn’t release him.

BBC Sport’s Garth Crooks selected Brad Guzan as his goalkeeper for his team of the season.

Stoke City and Tony Pulis have decided to part ways.  Geoff Cameron, Brek Shea and Maurice Edu will have a new manager to impress this summer.

Photo time!  Clarence Goodson and Brøndby avoided relegation over the weekend so they celebrated by taking a shirtless photo in the locker room (this is for the ladies).

Charlie Davies and Randers finished third in the Danish Superliga, so here is Davies showing off his bronze medal.

And congrats to Sacha Kljestan and Anderlecht on winning their second consecutive Belgian league title.  Here is a photo of Sacha and the cup.  Staying with Sacha, I should hopefully have the Sacha/mustache shirts up for sale later tonight/tomorrow.  It all depends on my travel schedule today.

Will Parchman thinks Terrence Boyd is the future of the American striker.

Following in the footsteps of Frank Simek, Mike Grella is currently on trial with D.C. United.

After a quick six months in Germany, it looks like Paolo DelPiccolo is probably headed back to the US/MLS.

Charlie Davies got the start and went the full 90 minutes in this 0-0 draw.  Here are some highlights from the game (a scoring chance for each team).

A few random things for you.

Charlie Davies got the start and went the full 90 minutes in Randers’ 0-0 draw to OB today.  It was his first start in a top-flight European league since before his car crash with Sochaux in 2009-10.  As Howie pointed out to me, Costa Rica has played two WC Hex qualifiers on American soil since his last start.  Let that sink in for a second.

After playing some games with the U-23 team in the Regionalliga, Bobby Wood came off the bench and played 31 minutes in 1860 Munich’s 1-0 win over Erzgebirge Aue today.

Landon Donovan is back with the LA Galaxy and spoke to the press today.  He is hoping to get back with the USMNT in time for the three qualifiers in June.

The Birmingham Mail has a story on Will Packwood and his road to recovery.

Here is a likely poorly Google-translated interview with Alfredo Morales from Hertha Berlin’s site.

The US-Mexico game drew the highest World Cup qualifier match ratings in ESPN history.  And here are the field-level highlights of last Friday’s game against Costa Rica.  A friend of the site also sent in some photos from the game that I should hopefully have up tomorrow.

Swedish Superettan side IK Brage have signed central defender Tyler Ruthven.  Ruthven last played with the New York Red Bulls in 2012.

Bob Bradley has Egypt on the right track so far in their quest to qualify for the World Cup.

And good luck to soccer journalist Brian Straus. Staus was let go by the Sporting News along with some other writers this week.  Whether you enjoyed his now famous article from last week or not, we need more people like him following MLS/US Soccer.  Hopefully someone smart picks him up.  Maybe I can convince him to come to this site and pay him in high fives.

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.

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.

Jose Torres is making the move from Pachuca to Tigres UANL.

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.

Greg Seltzer talked to Matt Taylor last week about his success in Germany.

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.

Charlie Davies came off the bench and played 11 minutes before getting a red card in Randers’ 1-0 loss to AaB.  Here is his head butt, which earned him the red card.

A few odds and ends from the week.

CONMEBOL came out yesterday claiming that the 2016 Copa America would be hosted in the US featuring teams from both CONMEBOL and CONCACAF.  As of today, both CONCACAF and US Soccer have stated that nothing has been finalized.

Landon Donovan is always an open person when it comes to interviews, almost too open.  Donovan gave another open interview to Roger Bennett earlier this week, where he thinks his chances of playing in the 2014 World Cup is “50-50″.

Ravi Ubha has a nice story up on Charlie Davies’ recent career path.

Grantland’s Graham Parker decided to do a write up on recent USMNTer Alan Gordon.

Greg Seltzer looks at some potential records that could be broken by some Americans playing overseas.

Grant Wahl recently talked to Brad Friedel about the goalkeeper situation at Tottenham.  The quote that I found the most interesting.

I think the media over here wanted to make it that it was this big fight between Hugo and myself and the manager, and there was never a big fight. The fact is, Tottenham have been looking for the last year and a half for a long-term No. 1 goalkeeper. I don’t think they envisioned what my fitness levels would be at this age, and I sort of surprised myself.

Matt Pyzdrowski hasn’t played with Angelholm since late July (and has been shut down for the season) due to concussions, but the 26-year-old goalkeeper has signed a two-year extension with the Swedish club.

Staying with the goalkeeper theme, this Norwegian site rates Steve Clark as the eighth best player in the Tippeligaen this season.  Josh Gatt is sitting at #18.

Howie already posted this earlier, but Aron Johannsson has decided to play for Iceland.  To piggy back on Howie’s reference, Johannsson will now be nicknamed/called Gunner Stahl by us.

This is a day late (or two), but the guys at the Total Soccer Show did a podcast on the Americans in Champions League action this week.  I always enjoy their Wikipedia Game.

The latest FIFA world rankings came out yesterday and the USMNT has moved up from #33 to #32.

Greg Seltzer has some leftover quotes from Steve Cherundolo from an interview he did with the Mayor of Hannover recently.

Mathew Wagner has an interview with one “under the rader” American in Europe.  I do think Conor O’Brien has been playing well this season, but he is at a position where the US has a lot of depth.

And finally, Charlie Davies has reached a settlement in a civil suit with the business that sold alcohol to the driver in his accident from three years ago.

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.

It looks like Ricardo Clark is headed back to Houston.

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).

I’m not going to lie, this weekend got me a little excited for most of the seasons to start up again next month.  A few more leagues started up this weekend, plus we had more than a few Americans find the back of the net on Saturday.  To get a recap on what happened on Saturday, including links to some highlights, check that out right here.

Then we had a few more interesting things happen on Sunday.  Daniel Antunez scored a goal in Inter Turku’s 6-0 thrashing of KuPS.

Conor O’Brien did not score this weekend, but he had an assist in SønderjyskE’s 1-1 draw with Copenhagen.  You can check out highlights of that right here.

Staying in Denmark, Clarence Goodson picked up a yellow card for an elbow to the face.  You can see that right here.

While most thought Jann George would be playing with FK Senica in Slovakia, he ended up playing with Nurnberg II in the Regionalliga on Sunday.  Upon tweeting this news, the always good Brian Sciaretta informed me that his loan deal had been canceled.

Michael Bradley and Roma whooped up on Polish club Zaglebie Lubin at Wrigley Field on Sunday.  Here is a team photo of Roma before the game.

I talked about this briefly in the recap from Saturday post, but Josh Gatt had to leave the game early after scoring on Saturday.  According to this article, with the somewhat help of Google Translate, it looks like he strained his thigh and could miss Tuesday’s Champions League game.  Then again, Google Translate could have mixed up thigh strain with losing a limb and we will never know (he didn’t lose a limb).

Sacha Kljestan came off the bench at the end of Anderlecht’s 3-2 win over Lokeren in the Belgian Super Cup on Sunday.  Also, here is what their home shirts for this season will look like.

Charlie Davies made his Randers debut this weekend as well, coming off the bench for 21 minutes in Randers’ 1-0 win over OB.

And finally, I know a lot of people have been wondering about Zak Whitbread’s fate, myself included.  Finally some word is coming out that he could be headed to Leicester City in the near future.  Leicester City finished ninth, nine points away from a promotion playoff spot, in last year’s English League Championship.