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.
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.
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.
Jurgen Klinsmann took over US Soccer’s twitter account yesterday and while he didn’t answer any of Howie’squestions, he did give us some good news on Clint Dempsey, Fabian Johnson and Steve Cherundolo.
Spoke with Clint. Back in training & hopes to play v Inter. All good for WCQs RT: @mrhoffman02 When will we know if Dempsey is able to play
And while it has been mentioned before, Bruce Arena gave an update on Landon Donovan and he should return to the Galaxy the last week in March.
Costa Rica released their roster for the qualifiers. Good news for USMNT fans, and most Red Bulls fans can confirm this, Roy Miller made their roster. Also, I just noticed tonight that the US is winless in its last five games (3L, 2D) against Costa Rica and haven’t won a game since a qualifier in 2005.
The US U-20 team will be playing in the Toulon Tournament in late May/early June.
One of those players, Juan Ocegueda, is still going to play for Chivas Guadalajara despite playing for the US. Chivas have a policy of “Mexican only” players, but they are apparently going to look the other way with Ocegueda.
Conor O’Brien got the start and went he full 90 minutes in Nordsjaelland’s 1-1 draw to FC Midtjylland yesterday.
I haven’t heard Charles Renken’s name since he returned to the US last year, but he and fellow American Aubrey Perry are in Sweden on trial at Umeå FC at the moment.
And finally, Etchu Tabe has returned to Finland with KuPS again.
I posted this morning about Landon Donovan speaking at a USC class about various things and possibly returning to the USMNT. Here is a short clip from that appearance. Hopefully the whole session makes the internet in the near future.
The power is out in my neighborhood so here are a few links before the battery dies on my computer.
Landon Donovan spoke to a class at USC tonight and said a bunch of goodies. Check out @Xman818′s timeline for all the goods.
What everyone wanted to hear: “Yes, I do have an interest in playing for the USMNT again, if given the opportunity, I would”
Costa Rica defeated Haiti in U-20 action last night meaning the US advances to the quarterfinals no matter the outcome on Friday. And the US only needs a draw to win the group. US Soccer has posted a short little video to show some of the personalities of the guys on the U-20 team.
Not all the games have been announced yet, but Mexico will open up this summer’s Gold Cup at the Rose Bowl. And it sounds like Chicago is the frontrunner for the final. I might have to adjust my annual Chicago summer trip around this and Lollapalooza.
And it looks like CONCACAF is still looking into doing a 16-team Copa America in 2016.
Sacha Kljestan will miss Anderlecht’s second leg of the Belgian Cup against Genk after being suspended one game for elbowing Standard Liege’s Yoni Buyens.
I posted highlights of Edgar Castillo’s assist from the other night, but Every Touch Footy decided to put up a video of every touch by Castillo and Joe Corona from the match.
While Alejandro Bedoya re-signed with Helsingborg last week, he informed Greg Seltzer that he did have some interest from both Mexico and MLS.
Liverpool’s website gives us a quick update on Marc Pelosi.
Duane Holmes has been nominated for Championship Apprentice of the Year by the Football League.
Noah Davis has a story up on Anthony Hudson. Hudson is an American coach in Bahrain who is coaching the country’s U-23 team.
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.
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.
So the US US-20 team started its quest to qualify for the U-20 World Cup with a 2-1 win over Haiti yesterday. You can check out the goals right here. Tom Marshall got some quotes from Tab Ramos after the game.
As for my own little observations on the game. Daniel Cuevas was by far the best US player on the field, while no one else really stood out. The back line was pretty shaky and it seemed odd that Caleb Stanko, a defensive midfielder, started at centerback, while two centerbacks started at the two fullback spots while Eric Miller (right back) and Pablo Ocegueda (left back) also sat on the bench. Who knows.
These are sort of a day late, but here are two previews/looks at the U-20 team by Brian Sciaretta and Josh Deaver. Southampton’s website also has a story up on goalkeeper Cody Cropper. I thought Cropper has the “yelling at the back line while clapping your hands” thing that Tim Howard does down after watching him last night.
As for some news on some former U-20 players. Joe Gyau did not make St. Pauli’s gameday roster on Monday and Steven Goff is reporting that Gyau sat out due to soreness in his knee, but he should be back next week.
Sebastian Lletget has agreed to a new deal with West Ham. And West Ham’s website has a story up on Lletget.
We were told over the weekend that Landon Donovan would be returning to training with the Galaxy in late March and now Bruce Arena is telling people that he expects Donovan to be ready for game action by late April. Once again, he is likely out for the USMNT qualifiers in March.
If you read this site, you know that we have been pretty on top of the centennial jersey rumors for a while. That said, here are some more photos of the jersey and other centennial-based gear which should be on sale soon.
We haven’t heard Zak Whitbread’s name in a while as he has missed Leicester City’s last nine games with a calf injury, but it looks like he is finally returning and could be available for their next game.
You might have seen me post a bunch of the videos already this weekend, but you should probably follow @EveryTouchFooty on Twitter. He/she/it has been posting some great videos of various American players and their every touch in games from this past weekend. If they continue to make these videos, you can expect me to post a lot of them as they give you a decent idea of how someone played aside from the normal 2-3 minute videos with only the goals from the game.
The US U-20 team kicks off its World Cup qualifying today at 5:30 PM Central on Fox Soccer. US Soccer gives us two videos. One with Tab Ramos talking about the roster and another about the team returning to Puebla to train.
Staying with the U-20 theme, Marc Pelosi had to leave his Liverpool U-21s game this weekend with an injury. And it looks like he broke his leg. That probably knocks him out of this summer’s U-20 World Cup if the US are able to qualify.
Landon Donovan is set to return to the LA Galaxy in late March. No word if/when he plans to return with the USMNT. I’m guessing we won’t see him in a US jersey until May or June.
Alfredo Morales made his 2012-13 senior team debut with Hertha Berlin this weekend. And here is a photo of him and Anthony Brooks celebrating the occasion. Hopefully he is talking in Brooks’ ear about how great it is to play for the USMNT.
I posted some goals from some friendlies last week and it looks like Brian Span has scored again in another one. Hopefully Span can convert this good form into playing time with Djurgården as he appeared in only nine games last season.
Lester Dewee has continued to play/train/trial with Bodens BK and has scored some goals. You can see some photos of some recent friendlies here and a video interview with Dewee right here.
And finally, Robbie Earle thinks Brek Shea can have some success at Stoke City.
Here is a quick rundown of things you might want to look at before today’s game.
» The game is at 4 PM Eastern on beIN Sport.
» US Soccer gives us all their game notes and factoids right here. The US is 12-3-3 all-time against Honduras, including a 4-1-1 record in World Cup qualifiers. And the US is 3-0-1 all-time in the first match of the Hex. As for my own little nugget: Landon Donovan has played in 22 of the last 24 USMNT Hex matches. The two he missed came in 2005 after a WC bid was already clinched.
» US Soccer’s youtube channel decided to post highlights from a bunch of US-Honduras games from the past, including a 2-1 win from March 2001, a 3-2 loss from September 2001 and a 3-2 win from October 2009.
» If you are out of the loop on Honduras’ roster, Jon Arnold does a good job breaking down their starters/roster right here. Also on the site from yesterday, it looks like the USMNT centennial jerseys have leaked. I am a fan. I am also guessing they will wear them for the rumored friendlies against Germany and Belgium in May.
» Want some more previews on the match? Here is one from Grant Wahl. He is guessing this starting lineup: Tim Howard; Timmy Chandler, Geoff Cameron, Carlos Bocanegra, Fabian Johnson; Danny Williams; Graham Zusi, Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones; Clint Dempsey, Hérculez Gómez. As for my guess, I think it will be the same, but replace Zusi with Jozy Altidore and they will be playing a 4-3-3.
» Want some even more links/stories? The Shin Guardian has their official preview up. Brian Straus looks at the “passing of the torch” as Landon Donovan is not here and Timothy Chandler will become cap tied. Straus also looks at the craziness that is the road experience in the Hex.
» Really? You want more links? Noah Davis is in Honduras and talked to Geoff Cameron and Jozy Altidore on the difficulties of playing in Estadio Olimpico. Cameron also thinks that his experience in the Premier League should help him deal with the rowdy crowd in Honduras. Here are some more quotes on Chandler becoming cap tied. And Maurice Edu thinks his move to Turkey is helping him stay in the USMNT mix.
» Paul Carr and the ESPN stat gurus ran some simulations on the whole Hex and they have the US coming in at third with a 61.6 percent chance of qualifying for the World Cup. Doug McIntyre (ESPN Insider) does a roster breakdown, comparing the 2009 and 2013 teams.
» As for some non-Honduras news, it looks like FOX is grooming Gus Johnson to become their main announcer for soccer in time for the 2018 World Cup. It might sound something like this.
And finally some predictions. I am going with a 1-1 draw, while Howie is saying a 2-1 loss.
