Altidore to Spain?
Rumors about Jozy Altidore have began circling again. Last time, it was Real Madrid who were reportedly interested. This time, Villareal seems to be in for the 19 year old Red Bulls striker. The La Liga team has had an excellent season, currently sitting in second place. Altidore could add to very bright future for the Yellow Submarines as they already have the talent of Italian/American striker Guiseppe Rossi. We’ll be following the story closely and will update if anything happens.
USA vs Poland
The United States will play a friendly against Poland tomorrow in what should be another game for Bob Bradley to experiment with his squad. It will be interesting to see who plays and who doesn’t based on players’ club statuses. Carlos Bocanegra has found a pretty comfortable seat on Fulham’s bench and hasn’t played much since landing there. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he were to move on in the summer. This could be good for him if Fulham goes down. He has proven that he has what it takes to defend in the fast pace of the Prem and has a pretty good scoring record on set pieces. Even with this, it is hard to see Bob Bradley not starting him.
On the other hand, I don’t see Feilhaber starting. He might not even play. Since his move to Derby, he has essentially dropped off the face of the earth. It amazes me how a player can start to break into a German side that should be in Europe next year and then get completely frozen out at lowly Derby. With the absolutely terrible team they have, how bad could he be performing in training to not get into the team? There has to be something that we don’t know, and with the statements from Bob Bradley coming out, there’s a good chance he’s got an attitude problem. When asked about Feilhaber’s lack of playing time at the club level, Bradley responded with, “He has to grow up. He has to mature as a player. He has to understand, day in and day out, how to earn the respect of the people he plays with.” Sounds fishy to me.
I would expect Eddie Johnson to get some playing time, and maybe a smart. He’s been playing and performing decently for Fulham, though he has yet to score. The usuals (Donovan and Dempsey) will play their part, which would be good for Dempsey as he has been out of the Fulham team for the last couple of games. I’m not worried for him, though. It seems like he’s burned out a bit. It’s his first full season in the harsh conditions of England and I think his fitness is not quite where it needs to be yet.
As for Poland, they have been on good for recently. They may play with their squad a bit to try to work out kinks before Euro 2008. I expect a pretty exciting game. We’ll be back with a review after the game.
DC Crushes Harbour View
DC United eased past Jamaican side Harbour View in the CONCACAF Champion’s Cup quarterfinals last night. Last year’s MLS MVP Luciano Emilio and Devon McTavish both scored a brace. Fred finished off the rout with a goal at the end of the game. The aggregate total was 6-1 after the teams tied in Kingston. DC United will face either Pachuca or Matagua (who are playing tonight).
Highlights can be seen here.
Across the pond, there are rumors that David Beckham will be receiving his 100th cap for England when they face France next week. After scouts watched Becks play for the Los Angeles Galaxy in Dallas, they declared that he was fit enough to be in contention. If recalled, it would be his first reunion with ex-coach Fabio Capello since the controversy of their days at Real Madrid.
The Return of the King (Of Fulham)
Let me start out by apologizing for not having updated in a while. I’ll put a little something up tonight about recent events, and we’ll resume normal everyday service tomorrow.
Brian McBride only made his comeback a couple of weeks ago, but has already started to show how important he is to Fulham. With his return, and that of Jimmy Bullard, Fulham look a completely different side. They beat Everton on Sunday thanks to a McBride goal in the second half for their first victory in 27 years. Now they are only 3 points from safety, and may be looking to move up the table. Not only has McBride been performing well, but Eddie Johnson has started to see regular playing time with the team, and had some good opportunities against Everton. I can see him getting off the mark soon.
Back Stateside, the Superliga has announced it’s groups for the upcoming competition. DC United, Houston, Atlante, and Chivas Guadalajara are in Group A. Group B consists of Chivas USA, New England, Santos Laguna, and Pachuca. It should be a pretty good competition, but expect some teams to show a little bit of rust.
Lastly, the United States Olympic Qualifying team has been doing poorly. They’ve won a few, but have not impressed at all. We’ll have more on that tomorrow….
UEFA Cup and Pan-Pacific Championship
It is all quiet on the American front recently. Some of our players abroad are currently playing in the UEFA Cup, including first choice keeper Tim Howard. The side thrashed SK Brann 6-1. Nigerian striker Yakubu lead the Everton attack with his second hat-trick at the club. He was fined and dropped by his manager for returning late from the African Nations Cup, but I’m sure all has been forgiven now. Elsewhere in the Cup, Freddy Adu was an unused substitute for Benfica in a 2-2 draw against Nurnberg.
We did have two MLS teams in action in the Pan-Pacific Championship. The LA Galaxy, lead by David Beckham, were dreadful. They were beaten 1-0 by Gamba Osaka. The team was completely dominated and lacked creativity coming forward. Though it is true that both Donovan and Ruiz were out injured, it was still an embarrassing performance. Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit blames the poor performance on the artificial turf and the fact that there were many new faces on the team that hadn’t gotten used top playing together yet.
There was a team there that didn’t make the MLS look terrible, and that was the Houston Dynamo. The attack was lead by Hawaii native Brian Ching. The Dynamo beat Sydney FC 3-0. Hopefully Brian Ching can continue to play well into the season. His ability to hold up the ball and play with his back to the net is vital for Houston, and could become a vital part of the US National Team’s play. I know all the excitement is about Altidore and Adu, but let’s not forget that we have a decent striker in Brian Ching. I say we slot him in and completely forget about Taylor Twellman. Forever.
USA 2-2 Mexico
Mexico continued it’s tradition of not beating the United States on home soil Wednesday night. The United States started off with a disadvantage since a lot of their players were out of season, while the Mexican league is active. So some rust was expected. The game was as heated as it usually is when these two teams play. Tim Howard got into a pretty significant scrap and was lucky not to be carded. He performed well once again, and can’t be blamed for either of the goals. There were some communication issues between him and the defense, but that was due to crowd noise. Bocanegra and Onyewu performed well enough, but there were some problems at the fullback position. Both were terrible, especially Ramiro Corrales.
The midfield was not as good as we are accustomed to, either. The partnership of Ricardo Clarke and Michael Bradley didn’t seem to work too well. They haven’t played much together, though, so it’s not too worrying. With Feilhaber not getting much playing time, it looks like he will be sharing more of his playing time with Edu and Clarke. Michael Bradley has been in brilliant form for Herenveen and I think he’s assured himself a starting spot in the midfield for the future.
As for the strikers, they played decently for the service they were getting. Altidore looked comfortable. It was good to see him score in his first start. That should only help his confidence. Dempsey played decently, but I still think he plays better in the midfield. He did score a great goal, but it was ruled out. He was offsides when he received the ball 15 minutes before he scored the goal. The call was a bit odd for me.
It was a bit of a disappointing performance for me, but with many of the players not playing regularly it was expected.
As per request, here are some highlights of the game. Thanks to 101greatgoals.com for providing the link. Longer highlights from US Soccer can be seen here.
Eddie Johnson Signs With Fulham
Brad Guzan On Trial At Celtic
As many of you already know, Brad Guzan is on trial at Celtic. The Chivas USA keeper has impressed at his current club and earned himself some starts for the US National Team. He was previously linked with Arsenal. If he were to earn an offer from Celtic, should he take it? Celtic has a very consistent keeper with Boruc, so how much playing time would Guzan actually see? Personally, I think he should make the move if it is available to him. He will get some playing time in cups and will receive much better coaching at a club with Celtic’s quality. He is only 23, so there is no rush to get him playing full time in a top league in the world.
Eddie Johnson Signs for Fulham
Eddie Johnson has signed for Premier League strugglers Fulham. He was granted a work permit today and has signed a 3 and a half year deal. The team, which includes fellow Americans Dempsey, Bocanegra, McBride, and Keller, sits second from bottom in the league. They have been need of a striker since captain Brian McBride suffered a serious knee injury earlier in the season. Fulham manager Roy Hodgson had this to say about the American Striker:
“I have made no secret of the fact that I believe the squad lacks a certain balance in specific areas of the team and following the loss of Brian McBride to injury, this is true of our strike force. At 6’1” inches tall Eddie has the presence that will complement the other forwards within our squad and he has the ability to offer us another dimension to our attacking play. I am delighted that he has joined us and am grateful to the representatives from the Home Office for granting him the work permit which will enable him to play for us as soon as possible.”
This is a great move for Eddie and can really help him advance his career. Hopefully he’ll adjust quickly and we’ll be able to see him soon. He may be a bit rusty do to MLS’s schedule, but he should be back to normal in a few weeks. Now if Fulham could just bolster up their defense, they may actually stay in the Premier League for next season.
USA Sweden Round 2 and the MLS Superdraft
Well lets start of with the national team, who will be playing the 500th game of their history. The line-up is heavy with MLS players due to the fact that we aren’t in an international break for the leagues in Europe. In goal we should have Guzan, but don’t rule out him only playing one half. In defense I’m a little unsure of how they will line up. In the center they will definitely be missing the presence of Bocanegra, but I expect Conrad to step up and fill the role of defensive leader. I would also expect Califf and Parkhurst to get a run out.
In the midfield, I think we’ll be seeing Edu holding things down. Donovan should play a midfield role but whether he’ll be in the center or on the right is up in the air. Up front is actually where I’m most excited about. Twellman and Johnson will both be wanting to start. If they do, they’ll be trying to play at their best since both are lobbying for moves to England. Altidore will no doubt also be in Bob Bradley’s mind. I’m sure we’ll see all three at one point, but I’m not sure who will start. Personally I’d like to see Altidore and Twellman, with Johnson coming on in the second half.
Overall, I expect a pretty scrappy game. Most of the American players will be a bit wwwwrusty since they are in the off-season. However, we should be able to come away with a victory since Sweden’s major players (Ibrahimovic) will be absent.
MLS Superdraft
The MLS Superdraft took place on Friday. First off, why is it called the “Superdraft”? What makes it super? Anyways, I’ll be completely honest with you, I do not know much about the players that were chosen outside of the first round. Kansas City got things started off by picking defender Chance Myers from UCLA. FC Dallas took Brek Shea with the second pick, who is a member of the U-17 National Squad. In third came Real Salt Lake, who chose Anthony Beltran, who was a part of the excellent 2007 U-20 World Cup squad.
The rest of the picks can be seen here.
Twellman To Leave MLS?
Taylor Twellman is one of those odd cases. He does wonderful things for his club, but when it comes to his country, he falls drastically short. Most argue that the level of international play is higher than that of Major League Soccer. So how does Twellman get accustomed to a faster paced game? By moving to England of course.
Twellman tried his hand at European soccer 8 years ago in Germany. That didn’t work out so well, and he came back to America to join the New England Revolution. With his inclusion lately in the national team, he has gained attention from Preston North End, of the Championship Division in England. Preston made a push for the Premiership last season, but with the loss of striker David Nugent they are struggling. They are looking for a new hitman, and have 28 year old Twellman in their sights. However, their $1.7 million bid was rejected by MLS and the New England Revolution. According to ESPNSoccernet, they are expected to increase their bid to $2 million.
Twellman has made it clear that he would like to make the move. His salary would increase drastically and he would be playing at what I believe is a more competitive league. Even though it is taking one of MLS’s American stars out of the league, it should be good for Twellman. I’m all for the move. Hopefully the MLS can get a bit more of out Preston and Taylor can make the move before the end of January. He should have no problem getting a work permit since he has been participating in the national team.
UPDATE: Brian here. So, MLS has turned down the offer made by Preston North End. I’m not sure what MLS wants here. The 2 million offered by PNE would be right in line with other national team players such as Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey. Now Twellman is in a tough spot. He would like to be sold, but probably won’t be, and now he can make the argument that he deserves to be paid more, which I agree with. He has done everything New England has asked him to do, and then some. Don’t get me wrong, the fact that he brought up his national team performance is comical, but goals are goals and Twellman has six of them, so he must be applauded for this. He deserves a raise in salary, and it won’t be fair if MLS decides to not sell him and on top of that not raise his salary too. I pretty much saw this coming though. MLS is always terrible about things like this. Just another thing that needs to be fixed with this league. Anywho, thats the news for today. Back tomorrow with an update on European action and the possibility of a new USA friendly.
RIP Phil O’Donnell
There are a few things to get out of the way before we get back into the football action. Let us start by apologizing for the lack of activity recently. With the holiday season, Brian and I have been pretty busy. We will be updating regularly again and don’t expect any long breaks in the near future. And since we missed it, everyone here at StateSide Footy would like to wish everyone a happy new year.
Also, we would like to send out our condolences to the family and friends of Phil O’Donnell and all of the fans of Motherwell. The veteran collapsed on the field during a game versus Dundee United and died shortly after. He will be missed by all in the footballing community.
The Premiership
Italy and Spain have been on break so we’ll focus on the English Premier League. Arsenal sits on the top of the table to start the new year, but Manchester United are hot on their heels. Arsenal stays atop with a 2-0 win over West Ham United. With all of their injury problems, Jonathan Spector has been able to see a lot of playing time in his left back position. He was able to help lead West Ham to a shock win over the champions earlier, but was unable to stop Arsenal. Manchester United, on the other hand, dispatched Birmingham City 1-0 to stay in the hunt. Both teams are just waiting for the other to slip up. I have a feeling it is going to be a tight race all the way until the end.
One team that can’t be ruled out yet is Chelsea. They faced a few issues earlier in the season and still have a long injury list, but have been able to avoid losing points to stay close to the top. With the return of Ballack, they should be able to stay at least in contention until Terry, Carvalho, Lampard, Drogba, and Cech return. The London club were able beat Fulham today 2-1 with the last goal coming from the penalty spot after Clint Dempsey took down Ballack in the area. There was a shirt tug, but Ballack did go down rather easily, and the call could have gone either way.
Elsewhere in the league, Everton and Tim Howard were able to defeat Middelsborough 2-0. Marcus Hahnemann and Reading got their second defeat in a row by losing to Portsmouth 2-0. They never had much of a chance as Sonko was sent off early in the match for a clumsy challenge in the area.