Cody Cropper is expected to miss the next 2-3 months after undergoing knee surgery this morning. So much for his chance to appear on Ipswich Town’s gameday roster in the next few weeks. He also tweeted the news this morning.
Eric Lichaj is getting closer to returning to the field for Aston Villa.
US U-20 leftback Danny Potts signed a professional deal with West Ham United. Potts has been playing with West Ham’s youth teams in recent years and is eligible to play for both the US and England.
Champions League Bayer Leverkusen (David Yelldell) vs. Barcelona
Europa League
AZ (Jozy Altidore) vs. Anderlecht (Sacha Kljestan)
Hannover 96 (Steve Cherundolo) vs. Club Brugge
Schalke (Jermaine Jones) vs. FK Viktoria Plzeň
Sporting CP (Oguchi Onyewu) vs. Legia Warsaw
The new Bayer Leverkusen signing received an opportunity to start for the Bundesliga contenders after starter René Adler went down with injury. However, his debut was less than a smashing success as Leverkusen blew a 3-0 lead in a 4-3 DFB Pokal defeat to 2nd Bundesliga Dynamo Dresden.
Fabian Giefer received the start in Leverkusen’s Bundesliga opener, and it did not go well. A disaster of a pass went directly to a Mainz player (it looked like a pass in FIFA when you aim the wrong direction), and then Giefer later suffered a concussion on a blow to the head.
As the lone remaining senior goalkeeper left on the squad, Yelldell looked to have a second chance, but that may not be the case as Leverkusen on Wednesday secured 19 year-old Bernd Leno on a half-season loan from VfB Stuttgart, where he recently was promoted to the senior team after two years as the starter for VfB Stuttgart II. The youngster lacks any Bundesliga experience, but his arrival puts added pressure on Yelldell, especially when you consider some comments from the front office at Leverkusen:
“Bill has in Leverkusen the chance to prove themselves at the highest level and develop, which will surely be a special motivation for him,” Stuttgart’s sporting director Fredi Bobic said in a published on the Web site VfB press release. He showed opposite Rudi Voeller was pleased that “we were able to quickly find a quality solution to this important position and are confident that we will achieve our goals with Bernd Leno’s help this season.”
Leverkusen’s new coach Robin Dutt had after the unconvincing performances by Yelldell in the trophy and Giefer in Mainz (kicker Note 5) found that he was “not three Rene Adler in the squad” did. Director Wolfgang wooden houses outlined the requirements for the new goalkeeper, who is now Bernd Leno, as follows: The Eagle-alternative “should be stronger than the other two, but not in competition to Rene Adler.”
David Yelldell made his debut with Bayer Leverkusen today in the DFB Pokal. Bayer Leverkusen jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but somehow lost the game 4-3 in extra time. Here are some highlights from the match.
Still trying to catch up on some news over the last 24 hours then, BAM, US Soccer drops that Bob Bradley bomb on us. That said, here are some links/news for stuff that has nothing to do with Bob Bradley, US Soccer, Jürgen Klinsmann or Steve Sampson.
David Yelldell has been named starting goalkeeper for Bayer Leverkusen with Rene Adler still recovering from his knee surgery. There was some debate whether Yelldell or 21-year-old Fabian Giefer would get the nod, but Yelldell’s experience looks to have won out.
Staying with the goalkeeper theme, Brian Sciaretta recently talked to Josh Wicks about his first year in Finland with IFK Mariehamn. The former DC United keeper has Mariehamn currently sitting in fifth place of the Finnish Veikkausliiga table.
Greg Seltzer has an interview up with Aalborg forward Chris Rolfe over at MLSsoccer.com. Rolfe talks about playing with confidence after finally being injury-free.
The third qualifying round of Europa League kicked off this week and a few teams with Americans on them played today. A Clint Dempsey-less Fulham drew its first leg against RNK Split, 0-0. Jozy Altidore is still recovering from his hamstring strain, but AZ defeated Jablonec, 2-0, without his services. And Clarence Goodson went the full 90 minutes in a 2-0 loss to Austrian side Ried. Each team will have next week’s second leg to hopefully move onto the playoff round.
Conor Doyle received another start for Derby County in yesterday’s preseason friendly against Crewe Alexandra. It should be interesting to see if Doyle gets more playing time this season.
And we have a Mike Grella sighting! Grella made his first appearance of the summer for Leeds United in a preseason friendly against Bradford Park Avenue.
With the season opener for Leverkusen (a trip to Mainz on August 7) just 3.5 weeks away, the new signing from Duisberg may be pressed into the lineup as starting goalkeeper Rene Adler will have surgery to remove scar tissue from his knee.
No timetable for return is set, but it seems unlikely that the German international and four-year starting keeper will be back for the start of the Bundesliga campaign. The other keeper, 21 year-old Fabian Giefer, has a total of five senior appearances (and many more with the U-23 Bayer Leverkusen II). Leverkusen will actually open their 2011-12 campaign in the DFB-Pokal with a trip to Dynamo Dresden (most recently notable for hosting Sunday’s USA-Brazil Women’s World Cup semifinal).
Adler figures to return to the starting lineup once healthy, but the recently-signed former 2nd-division keeper certainly has a great opportunity.
Today was one of those days where I have no clue what has happened outside work (today is Thursday, correct?). Just sitting down to finally eat some dinner and weed through the news and links.
While I posted that Alex Zahavi is headed to Portgual on Tuesday night, Greg Seltzer got to the bottom of it. It looks like he extended his contract with Maccabi Haifa and his move to Vitória Setúbal is just a loan deal.
I posted last night that DaMarcus Beasley scored a goal in Puebla’s 1-0 victory over Monterrey in a preseason tournament. Here is a really random camera view of the goal.
Bayer Leverkusen played 1860 Munich in a preseason friendly in Germany today. It ended in a 0-0 draw with David Yelldell playing the second half for Leverkusen, while Bobby Wood played the last 13 minutes for 1860 Munich. Also, here is an action shot of Wood. I dig Munich’s jerseys this year.
While there has been a lot of chatter about Marcus Hahnemann returning to the MLS recently, it looks like Hull City might be interested in his services.
Kicker is reporting that David Yelldell, who helped guide MSV Duisburg to an 8th-place finish in the 2nd Bundesliga and to the DFB-Pokal Final, has signed with Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Leverkusen (perhaps most memorable to Americans for an unsuccessful stint by Landon Donovan in 2005) finished 2nd in the Bundesliga last year and has long been a decent power within Germany, with their most famous moment coming when they reached the UEFA Champions League final in 2002. They’re in the Champions League again this year, which should give Yelldell, a 29 year-old who spent most of his career floating around the 3rd and 4th divisions of Germany, some opportunities for minutes if he can win the #2 spot behind German international René Adler.
As the article notes, Leverkusen boss Robin Dutt was Yelldell’s manager at Stuttgarter Kickers II in 2002-03 and later the first team of Kickers from 2005-07.
EDIT: It’s been made official during the course of the holiday. This post has been updated to reflect that.
Despite recording 13 clean sheets and leading Duisburg to the DFB-Pokal Final in 2010-11, David Yelldell will have to compete for his starting job next season.
MSV Duisburg have signed former German Youth National Team goalkeeper Florian Fromlowitz on a free transfer from Hannover 96. The 24-year-old Fromlowitz appeared in 20 games for Hannover last season, but slowly lost his starting job to Ron-Robert Zieler by the end of the season.
While it is slightly surprising for Duisburg to be looking for a new goalkeeper, they are going to let go of Marcel Herzog (their back-up keeper), so they have upgraded their depth whether Yelldell or Fromlowitz becomes the number one guy or the back-up (and on a free transfer).
With America having finally calmed down from celebrating the long-awaited returns of Freddy Adu and Robbie Rogers to the national team and the top European leagues having concluded their seasons, it’s time for an annual SoccerOverThere.com tradition: the OT XI.
