The international window has ended and now it is the return of some links.
The big news from Wednesday was that Juan Agudelo’s work permit appeal was denied. It looks like Stoke City officials were stunned by the decision. And Kenny Dalglish, Jurgen Klinsman and Mark Hughes were there to argue in his favor.
On the injury front, Danny Williams could be available for Reading this weekend as they take on Blackburn Rovers.
It sounds like the earliest we could see Jonathan Spector return to the field after his thigh injury is at the end of the month. Spector has started running again according manager Lee Clark.
Former Bolton Wanderers midfielder Fabrice Muamba thinks Stuart Holden is the best player that he has played with during his career.
Andrew Wooten and Kaiserslautern defeated Idar-Oberstein, 5-0, in a friendly during the international window this week. Wooten was one of the goal scorers and you can see his goal at the 3:37 mark of this video.
Esteban Rodriguez played on the US U-17 team at the 2011 U-17 World Cup and is now with Tijuana’s U-20 team. He scored a pretty sweet goal this week at the 1:45 mark of this video.
It is likely that Clint Dempsey will head back to England for a winter loan and one of the first rumors has West Ham United as the early leaders (which probably means he won’t end up there).
It is also that time of year when MLS players head to Europe for training stints. LA Galaxy youngster Jack McBean is already in England doing stints with Wolverhampton and Blackburn Rovers. Chicago Fire players Dilly Duka and Victor Pineda are headed to Spain to train with Atlético Madrid. And DeAndre Yedlin could be headed to Germany to train with Steve Cherundolo and Hannover 96.
Ljungskile SK are overhauling their roster this offseason. You can now add Paul Tracy to the list of Americans who are parting ways with the club (also Patrick Hopkins and Pat McMahon). That leaves Charlie Campbell and Aaron Nichols as the only Americans still at the club. And they have brought in Los Angeles Blues defender Cory Miller for a trial. Ljungskile SK likes themselves some Americans.
Now that we know all 32 teams for the World Cup, here is that World Cup draw simulator again. I just got the US in a group with Argentina, France and Portugal. Ouch.
And courtesy of Brian Straus, here are all 32 badges from the teams who made the World Cup. I probably like the Netherlands’ badge the most.
The panel, however, rejected the Club’s case and as the Potters have no right to appeal the decision, the 20-year-old striker’s hopes of securing a move to the Britannia Stadium in January have been effectively ended.
Scholes said: “We’re bitterly disappointed that the panel rejected our appeal for a work permit for Juan.
“The criteria by which the panel should make work permit application decisions are well established and have been in place for some years and, despite recent comments to the media and discussion in the media, that criteria has not changed.
“We are therefore left amazed that our application for a work permit for Juan has been rejected when you compare his talent and ability to players who have been granted a work permit on appeal in the past.
“Unfortunately, under the rules of the appeal panel system we were given no explanation why the application was rejected and so can only speculate as to the reasons why we have been unsuccessful.”
Agudeo didn’t qualify automatically, but he was generally expected to win his appeal, much as Brek Shea did last winter. However, going over a year without a US appearance probably hurt that cause.
No one seems certain what is next for the striker. He can always sign a new deal with New England, although he didn’t seem to care much for MLS.
Not surprising, tickets are going for large prices in Costa Rica.
While Jurgen Klinsmann told the press that Jozy Altidore is expected to play on Friday, Jozy was seen in sneakers, not cleats, and running on the side during training yesterday.
Mexican ref Marco Antonio Rodriguez was given the honors for Friday’s game. An interesting stat courtesy of @DatoFutbol:
Interesting stat via @DatoFutbol: US has gone 24 years since winning in Central America w/ a Mexican ref. Last time 1989 vs. El Salvador.
Jeff Carlisle talked to Michael Parkhurst down in Costa Rica and found out that Parkhurst had a possibility to go out on loan to Brondby, but turned it down due to their financial struggles. The same sturggles that caused Clarence Goodson to leave the club.
I did some USMNT housekeeping from the weekend in a post yesterday. It looks like they checked out Jozy Altidore as Jurgen Klinsmann told the press in Miami that he should play on Friday.
The Miami Herald did a story on local boy Alejandro Bedoya.
The transfer window closed yesterday and Jozy Altidore’s move to Sunderland was the fourth most expensive transfer in the Eredivisie.
Stoke City also made some late attempts at buying Juan Agudelo from the New England Revolution, but Agudelo will have to wait until January to make the move to the Premier League. And I missed this a couple weeks ago, but he is rumored to to be making around $600,000 once he gets there.
Finally found some highlights of Sacha Kljestan’s goal from the weekend in Anderlecht’s 4-3 loss.
Ben Spencer came off the bench and made his debut at Molde FK over the weekend. The previous link also has some highlights with Spencer almost getting the assist around the 5:00 mark.
In some great to hear news, Will Packwood went 60 minutes with Birmingham City’s U-21 team over the weekend.
Despite being out with an injury, Tijuana’s manager Jorge Almirón fully expects Herculez Gomez to be a starter once he gets back.
Julian Green will be playing with Germany’s U-19 team in upcoming games against Greece and the Netherlands.
A couple guys in action on Monday. Michael Nanchoff started and played 54 minutes in Jönköpings Södra’s 3-1 win over Örgryte. Charles Kazlauskas went the full 90 minutes in Helmond Sport’s 5-2 win over Emmen. And Andrew Wooten came off the bench and played three minutes in Kaiserslautern’s 2-2 draw to Energie Cottbus.
STOKE CITY are delighted to confirm that United States international Juan Agudelo has today signed a pre-contract agreement with the Club.
The 20 year old striker will join the Potters on January 1, 2014 once his contract with New England Revolution has expired.
Mark Hughes also commented on Agudelo.
Manager Mark Hughes said: “We’ve put a lot of work into this deal, and I am delighted that we have managed to get the deal over the line.
“It’s a good deal for us, because he is a very good young player who boasts a lot of talent as well as a lot of potential too.
“I’ve known of him for a couple of years now. He burst on to the scene for the United States at the age of 17 and everybody has paid attention to him since.
“I have kept my eye on him for the last 18 months, and thankfully we were in a position where we were able to pull this deal off.”
Stoke City’s website also did a little bio on Agudelo. There is still a chance he could move to England sooner if New England and Stoke City can reach an agreement.
The rumor was floated out there last week about a possible move to Stoke City and now Ives is hearing that the 20-year-old forward has signed a pre-contract with the Potters.
New England Revolution forward Juan Agudelo has completed a pre-contract agreement with Stoke City, which means he will become a Potter after his current MLS contract expires on Dec. 31st, sources confirmed to SBI on Tuesday.
Players who have six months or less on an existing contract are allowed to sign pre-contract agreements (binding contracts) with new clubs, and Agudelo’s multi-year deal with Stoke City means he will be joining Geoff Cameron, Brek Shea and Maurice Edu on the Potters when the winter transfer period opens for business in January.
Sources have also told SBI that Stoke City and Agudelo are in talks with the Revs to bring Agudelo over to England sooner, a move which would likely require a modest transfer fee during the summer transfer window.
With all moves to England, Agudelo would also need to secure a UK work permit, which can be tricky and he would likely need to get it through an appeal since he has only played in two USMNT games between 2012 and 2013 (you normally need to play in 75 percent of your national team’s games over the previous 24 months). That said, Jurgen Klinsmann has helped lead the charge to get Tim Ream, Brek Shea and Geoff Cameron their work permits through the appeal process.
“We are aware of the stories circulating about Juan Agudelo, but as we’re sure you can understand, we cannot address anything publicly unless an official announcement has been made. But we can state that Juan is near full health and due back to the squad soon to help us as we push toward the playoffs the last three months of the season.”
It’s been a relatively quiet silly season in US circles thus far, but two new rumors have appeared linking New England Revolution striker Juan Agudelo and LA Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez to Stoke City.
Ives drops this note:
Good timing on that goal.. I’m told Gonzalez spoke with officials from Stoke City today. Lots of interest in the soon-to-be free agent #MLS
Hughes was interested in Agudelo, who now plays in the United States for New England Revolution, when he was in charge at Manchester City three years ago, and has monitored his progress since then.
Stoke have used their presence in America these past 11 days to conduct advanced talks amid competition from at least one Premier League rival.
Gonzalez, as Ives notes, is generally attractive because his contract with the Galaxy is up at season’s end (this is the second-most undiscussed story in American soccer behind the same being true with Landon Donovan). I don’t know how much sense it would make for Stoke though, given that Ryan Shawcross and Robert Huth are pretty solid in the center of defense (forcing Gonzalez’s US teammate, Geoff Cameron, to rightback most often). Even if they’re looking for a relatively cheap depth signing (since there would be no transfer fee), I’m not sure that Stoke makes sense for Gonzalez unless he really likes hanging out with Cameron, Brek Shea, and Maurice Edu.
Agudelo makes more sense as he is having a nice year with New England (and Chivas USA before that) when healthy. Agudelo would have a tough time getting a work permit; however, several US players have won appeals in recent years (boosted by Jürgen Klinsmann’s involvement) so perhaps it wouldn’t be an issue.
Still have the U-20s on the mind and Brian Sciaretta gives us his 21 tickets for Turkey.
Sciaretta also talked to Daniel Cuevas this week about qualifying for the U-20 World Cup.
Another U-20er, Juan Ocegueda, took to twitter to tell fans why he picked the US over Mexico. Just scroll down his timeline to his tweets from March 6.
Carlos Bocanegra is struggling to see the field at Racing Santander and apparently has lost his starting spot.
And if you want to be semi-depressed, John Godfrey breaks down the struggles along the back line for the USMNT.
Roma midfielder Miralem Pjanic will be out a month with an ankle injury, which probably means Michael Bradley will return to the starting lineup. Bradley has come off the bench in two of his last three games.
I forget whether I posted this last week or not (and I am currently too lazy to look and see), but here is a NY Times story/interview with Brad Guzan. Can’t hurt to post to it twice.
Tijuana continues their hot streak in Copa Libertadores with a 1-0 win over defending champions and 2012 FIFA Club World Cup champions Corinthians. Joe Corona got the start while Greg Garza came off the bench.
We posted about Daniel Antunez playing with Chivas USA during training camp. Well, he officially signed with the club this week. Antunez last played for Inter Turku in Finland in 2012. Also, we might pass around a hat to take up a collection so OT can sponsor at tarp at a Chivas USA game at the Home Depot Center. Just joking (or am I?).
Sticking with the Chivas USA theme, Franco Panizo talked to Juan Agudelo about playing for Chivas and his training stints in Europe this offseason.
Here is a post-game interview with Conor O’Brien after FC Nordsjælland’s win from the weekend.
Looks like we can call off the dogs on the Brek Shea to Stoke City stuff. While some people think it is because MLS denied the transfer, BBC is saying because of his injury.
Brian Sciaretta got some quotes about Ben Spencer’s trial at Molde FK.
Leander Schaerlaeckens has an interesting story on Brad Friedel. Friedel stayed at Tottenham to help facilitate his UEFA coaching license.
According to some papers in Scotland, Celtic hope to hear whether Chivas USA like their offer for Juan Agudelo or not in the near future.
Remember when I posted about the rumor USMNT centennial jerseys? Sounds like they are coming in March.
Greg Seltzer decided to clear his notebook on various Yanks abroad and even gave us a little shout out for our Inside the Numbers story on Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore.
Who wants to see a photo of Marc Pelosi and Villyan Bijev having fun in the snow? Here you go.
Kenneth Di Vita Jensen ended last season on loan to Ullensaker / Kisa and it looks like Hønefoss are trying to send him out on loan again.
I already posted it earlier today, but it looks like we might see some special centennial USMNT jersey at some point this year.
Graham Zusi retrurns to the US this week to begin training with the USMNT, but he first spoke with Brian Sciaretta about his trial at West Ham United.
His training buddy at West Ham and now with the USMNT, Juan Agudelo, is getting linked some more with a move to Celtic. And possibly Everton. Yay silly season!
Jermaine Jones’ four-game ban has been reduced to three games. And Jones picked up an injury during training camp in Qatar, so I don’t expect him to come back to the US to train/play with the USMNT like he did last year when he had a lengthy suspension around this time.
It looks like only 8,000 tickets have been sold so far for the friendly against Canada.
And one last thing about the USMNT. Tony Beltran kicks off ussoccer.com’s January Camp journal entries.
Stuart Holden will be part of Bolton’s gameday roster for tomorrow’s FA Cup match against Sunderland.
It looks like Clint Dempsey will be looked upon to step up for Tottenham by Andre Villas-Boas while Emmanuel Adebayor leaves for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Not shocking, but Jurgen Klinsmann helped with Michael Parkhurst’s move to Augsburg.
Tony Taylor came off the bench and played nine minutes for Estoril in their 1-0 win over Beira-Mar today. He played in their cup game last week and this was his first league appearance since late November, so he is slowly starting to get some more playing time.
Shawn Parker scored for Mainz in some Winter Cup match/friendly against Borussia Dortmund. And here are some highlights of the goal.
Bruce Arena was asked about Landon Donovan’s future and we really don’t learn anything new.
FD: Landon Donovan? BA: As we get closer to reporting date we’re going to finalize where he’s headed this year.
FD: Sounds optimistic? BA: You never know with Landon, so we’ll see.
Bobby Wood is hitting the weights in Turkey during 1860 Munich’s training camp.
Goalkeeper Samir Badr is training with Manchester United this week before reporting to some MLS team’s training camp next month. Badr was supposed to play with Haras El Hodood of the Egyptian Premier League last year before the season was canceled.
Some new jerseys/kits are slowly starting to leak out for next season. Here is Djurgardens IF’s away kit for next season. Hopefully Brian Span will wear it some more in 2013 as he appeared in only nine league games in 2012.
Bob Bradley and Egypt lost 4-2 to Ivory Coast in one of their final friendlies before World Cup qualification resumes in March.
And finally, could Bob and Klinsi battle in the future for a 20-year-old forward? Probably not, but Amro Tarek Abd El-Aziz was born in the US and is apparently being looked at by US scouts according to that article, although he last played for Egypt’s U-20 team. He has scored one goal in 13 appearances with Wolfsburg II in the German Regionalliga in 2012-13.
