This weekend was a memorable one for Americans Abroad as two recent MLS transfers made their
European club debuts, while a few other Americans found the net.
Maurice Edu (pictured) made his debut for Glasgow Rangers on Saturday in a 2-1 win over
Kilmarnock while U.S. Olympic teammate Jozy Altidore impressed in his La Liga debut for
Villarreal.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
Some nine months after being an MLS first round draft pick, goalkeeper Dominic Cervi looks set
to reap the rewards for passing up a minimum salary contract offer from MLS.
Cervi is set to sign a three-year deal with Celtic FC.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
The U.S. Under-17 residency program in Bradenton, Florida has produced many of the best players
in American soccer and the next crop of would-be Freddy Adus, Jozy Altidores and Michael Bradleys
is set to be revealed.
Big, bad Brad Friedel posted another victory last weekend as he and Aston Villa kept on
rolling.
Friedel was one of few bright spots for Americans Abroad last weekend. How bad were things?
Consider this linep of Americans:
------------------------------Jozy Altidore-----------------------------
DaMarcus Beasley-----------Freddy Adu-------------Clint Dempsey
---------------------Michael Bradley---Maurice Edu------------------
Heath Pearce------Jay DeMerit----Jonathan Spector---Frank Simek
-------------------------------Brad Guzan------------------------------
Like that team?
Photo by ISIphotos.com
Wouldn't you know it. After three months off, You Write the Caption has made a strong comeback,
with this week's entry drawing a new record for submissions entered.
Let's face it, the above photo of Josh Wicks can't help but inspire the comedy writer in all of
us.
So it's the day after the Los Angeles Galaxy's awful 3-1 loss to Chicago on Thursday and you're
probably wondering where the Galaxy will go from here. I can tell you where at least one of their
players is.
None other than David Beckham is in New York City today along with wife Victoria to promote
their fragrance lines.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
Now that the really hard work has been done, it is time for the U.S. men's national team to
finish off its World Cup qualifying group.
The Americans can essentially do just that on Wednesday when it takes on Trinidad & Tobago at
Toyota Park on Wednesday.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
So who is the most wanted man in Major League Soccer? No, this isn't a David Beckham joke. The
answer, it turns out, is Kansas City Wizards technical director Peter Vermes. Less than a month
after turning down an offer to become general manager of the Los Angeles Galaxy, now comes word
that he has turned down an MLS head coaching job.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
As you may have read elsewhere on Tuesday, there is a Belgian soccer team claiming to have
signed New York Red Bulls youth prospect Johnny Exantus (left in photo).
Photo by ISIphotos.com
The U.S. men's national team is set for a historic trip to Cuba this weekend when it travels to
Havana for a World Cup qualifier against the Cubans.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
Real Salt Lake forward Fabian Espindola is set to miss four to eight weeks with an ankle injury
suffered in RSL's tie vs. Los Angeles on Saturday. The injury could have been much worse, but not
much more embarrassing.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
Wouldn't you know it. After three months off, You Write the Caption has made a strong comeback,
with this week's entry drawing a new record for submissions entered.
Let's face it, the above photo of Josh Wicks can't help but inspire the comedy writer in all of
us.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
When the U.S. national team takes on Trinidad & Tobago at Toyota Park tonight, there will be at
least one Chicago-based USA fan with a little more interest in the match than most.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
The New York Red Bulls have completed the acquisition of Crystal Palace Baltimore
midfielder/forward Matthew Mbuta, sources with knowledge of the deal confirmed late on Friday.
It took a while, but Freddy Adu finally made his first start for AS Monaco. The U.S. Olympic
midfielder made the starting XI in Monaco's French Cup match against Paris St. Germain. It could be
Adu's last start for a while after a goal from one-time Chicago Fire target Fabrice Pancrate gave
PSG the win, thus ending Adu's potential source for major playing time.
It was a busy day at Red Bulls training facility, what with three new players to speak to and
plenty of other news to get into. I had lengthy interviews with Macoumba Kandji (pictured), Matt
Mbuta, Terry Boss and Juan Carlos Osorio that I will look to post later today. For now, here is a
rundown of some of the highlights from training and from the post-training interviews:
There is a small chance the Red Bulls game against Columbus on Thursday could be
postponed until Saturday.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
Ever since Major League Soccer established the program that allowed MLS teams to sign players
from their youth academy programs, Red Bulls fans have been wondering when some of their
high-profile prospects would start working their way up the pipeline.
You can call Deportivo La Coruna Team CONCACAF.
Led by Canadian captain Julian De Guzman (above, left) and featuring Mexican winger Andres
Guardado and striker Omar Bravo, Deportivo boasts a wealth of talent from the CONCACAF region. That
group helped Deportivo pull off one of the upsets of the weekend, a 2-1 victory against Real
Madrid.
With international matches and club fixtures forcing more and more players to deal with double
duty, you are starting to see the ramifications of that work load as more and more players are
suffering serious injuries.
Here is a rundown on some major injury news, as well as other soccer stories of the day:
Essien out for the rest of the year
Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien is set to miss the remainder of the calendar year after
suffering a torn ACL while on international duty with Ghana in a match against Libya.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
Let the games begin, again.
World Cup qualifying is set to kick off tonight when Paraguay plays host to Venezuela (and
Vanuatu faces Fiji), but tomorrow is when most of the world will have its attention turned to a
loaded qualifying schedule and all the teams trying to make it to the 2010 World Cup.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
The U.S. men's national team's next World Cup qualifier isn't for another three weeks but all
U.S. fans want to talk about is which new players Bob Bradley will bring into the World Cup
qualifying mix.
Attention all U.S. national team fans, if you have seen Clint Dempsey please contact SBI. He has
gone missing since returning to Fulham. At least missing on the field.
Dempsey has found a seemingly permanent place on the bench at Fulham, making him one of several
key American players to ride the pine last weekend without getting a single minute of action.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
As we head into September the shift in MLS has gone from building teams to preparing for the
stretch drive and securing playoff positions. The New York Red Bulls and D.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
One team is in desperate need of some offensive help while the other team might just be raising
the white flag.
That's one way to look at the Colorado Rapids trading of forward Herculez Gomez to Kansas City
for allocation money and draft picks (4th rounder and 1st round supplemental in '09).
Photo by ISIphotos.com
For the first time since the European Championships gripped us with its drama and great soccer,
there will be TONS of international soccer to watch as World Cup qualifying kicks off around the
world.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
Good afternoon everybody. It is time to start answering some of the questions you sent my way
recently in the latest Q&A. I will be breaking up the Q&A into four segments, starting with
today's.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
Don't call it a comeback. At least not yet.
The Los Angeles Galaxy's 5-2 drubbing of D.C. United raised plenty of questions about D.C.
(again) but it also raised the question of whether Bruce Arena, Landon Donovan and David Beckham
could help LA secure its first playoff berth in three years.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
Johnny Exantus, the Haitian-born striker and former star of the Red Bulls Academy team, has left
the Red Bulls Academy team and has been linked to Belgian club Royal Racing of Montegnee, but that
doesn't mean he has given up on playing for the club that he has spent the past three years
developing with.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
Just when thought the playoff race was easy enough to track, now 13 of 14 teams have put
themselves in position to try and qualify with just a month to go in the season.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
John Carver is looking for some soccer players, any soccer players.
In a story widely-reported in Canada, Carver's Toronto FC will have to take on Chivas USA on
Saturday missing nine players due to international duty.
Canada is in serious trouble.
There is no other way to put it after the Canadian national team dropped a 2-1 result against
Honduras in Montreal on Saturday night. The loss left Canada with just one point from two home
qualifiers in what is easily the toughest group in CONCACAF.
"The time for revenge is finally upon us."
At least that's what England is thinking as it takes the field in Zagreb to take on Croatia in
today's crucial World Cup qualifying match. You all will remember that it was Croatia that knocked
England out of Euro qualifying, forcing many an England fan to stay home rather than enjoy the
festivities in Austria and Switzerland.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
Good afternoon folks and welcome to the first installment of Emptying the Notebook. I plan on
making this a weekly segment where I touch on all the topics and stories I wasn't able to get to
during the week.
Ladies and gentleman, there is a new MLS Cup title favorite, and it isn't a team we are used to
seeing wear the label. That team is the Columbus Crew.
Yes, the Houston Dynamo is playing very well and comes into this season as the two-time
defending champion, but no team has been more consistent and more impressive than the Crew, which
made an emphatic case to be taken seriously with its 4-0 thrashing of the New England Revolution on
Saturday.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
Good afternoon folks. With another week in the rearview mirror, and another weekend upon us
where we can relax and enjoy some soccer, here is a look back at some stories I missed during the
week, some hot topics I wanted to touch on and some recommended reading:
The San Jose-Houston Dynamo match set for this weekend has been postponed as Houston recovers
from Hurricane Ike.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
New York Red Bulls midfielder Jorge Rojas and defender Gabriel Cichero have been called up by
the Venezuelan national team for its upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Brazil (Oct. 12) and
Ecuador (Oct.
Good morning folks. It is time for the latest portion of the most recent Q&A session. There was
a wide variety of questions this time around, including some about the U.S. national team, some
about MLS, and the popular "Who are the best players in the world" question. I provide my
Top 11 players list in the world, in the EPL and MLS, with Rio Ferdinand earning a place on the
first two lists.
The Los Angeles Galaxy just flat-lined. Coded. Went into cardiac arrest.
You don't need to watch Grey's Anatomy or ER, or be a doctor, to know the medical terms for what
happened to the Galaxy's playoff hopes last night. An embarrassing 3-1 loss to Chicago all but
squashed LA's faint playoff hopes less than a week after a promising win against D.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
Now that the really hard work has been done, it is time for the U.S. men's national team to
finish off its World Cup qualifying group.
The Americans can essentially do just that on Wednesday when it takes on Trinidad & Tobago at
Toyota Park on Wednesday.
Good afternoon folks. As we hit a bit of a lull before tomorrow's jam-packed slate of World Cup
qualifiers it is time to take a closer look at things here at SBI.
I am pleased to report that the site surpassed the 1 million pageview mark for August, making it
the first month SBI has reached the seven-figure mark.
