U.S. forward Jozy Altidore assisted both goals during AZ Alkmaar's 2-0 win against Udinese on Thursday.

U.S. Men's National Team forward Jozy Altidore has continued his offensive production, this time assisting both goals during AZ Alkmaar's 2-0 victory against Udinese in Europa League play on Thursday.

If you have been wondering why Jozy Altidore has been relegated to the bench for AZ Alkmaar, it looks you now have an answer.

According to a report from the Netherlands, AZ manager Gertjan Verbeek has preferred to start Charlison Benschop over Altidore in recent weeks due to Altidore's lack of progress.

U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann wants his players to be reaching the highest level they can, and four of them took a nice step on Thursday as their squads reached the quarterfinals of the Europa League.
Jermaine Jones scored the game-winner and added an assist as Schalke advanced to the quarterfinals and will face Athletic Bilbao.

Antonio Di Natale was the only notable absentee as an otherwise full strength Udinese faced Eredivisie league leaders AZ Alkmaar on Thursday evening. This was only the third time the Bianconeri had reached the last sixteen of this competition, and it was Antonio Floro Flores leading the line again in Europe.

By Chris Wright

You may remember, not so very long ago, when the KNVB Cup match between Ajax and Alkmaar had to be abandoned after just 38 minutes when Alkmaar 'keeper Esteban Alvarado was red-carded (it was later rescinded) for knocking a drunken pitch-invader on his arse and then belting the living daylights out of the 19-year old hoodlum as he sprawled on the turf.

Ep.21 Swan-upmanship by Off The Post on Mixcloud Much like Thierry Henry and Paul Scholes (and Jason Euell), the OTP Podcast is back in its rightful place – that place being, of course, one of ignorance, bias and second hand stats. This week the Pod are full of praise for Swansea's dismantling of Arsenal, Alex [.

Rumours aplenty this Premiership weekend. One of them is that Mick McCarthy, the current Wolves manager, is set to be sacked if Wolves lose against Aston Villa on the weekend. This is despite utterances to the opposite from the Wolves chairman. Who ought to be believed? The rumour mongerers or the chairman of the club who will make such a decision?

After a red-hot start to the season, Jozy Altidore had lost his starting role for AZ Alkmaar and was mired in a bit of a scoring slump.

At the very least, that slump is now over.

Altidore scored twice in a four-minute span as a substitute in AZ's 6-0 rout of ADO Den Haag on Wednesday to break a two-month scoring drought.

Sacha Kljestan and Jozy Altidore will square off in Alkmaar while Jermaine Jones could be back in uniform for Schalke on their trip to Plzen as the Europa League round of 32 gets underway.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

The lack of reliable options at forward makes Jurgen Klinsmann's decision for which strikers to bring to Genoa for the match against Italy on Feb. 29 a pretty basic exercise.

With a pair of entrenched players at the position and Klinsmann potentially opting for a one-man forward line anyway, he won't be pressed into bringing a slew of players to compete for minutes up top against the Azzurri.

Jozy Altidore continued his goalscoring run in Alkmaar's win over Heracles while Helmond managed to take down the Eerste Divisie leaders Zwolle despite Charles Kazlauskas' absence.

It's time for another round of the Europa League, which means that it's time for another round of predictions. We fared pretty well in the Round of 32, picking up 12 correct picks out of 16. As unpredictable as the Europa League tends to be, we'll take 75% any time. In fact if six of the eight picks below for the eighth-finals are correct, I'll be one happy camper.

Jozy Altidore will likely keep his spot in Alkmaar's starting lineup as they try to hold onto the Eredivisie lead while Charles Kazlauskas and Helmond look to continue their Eerste Divisie run against FC Oss.

Jozy Altidore and Alkmaar extended a narrow lead atop the Eredivisie with a win over De Graafschap while Charles Kazlauskas had a short evening in Helmond's victory over his former team FC Oss.

By FRANCO PANIZO

Carlos Tevez has been in the headlines more often than not in recent months, and he will be in more after Corinthians expressed an interest in possibly bringing back the troubled Argentine striker.

Having parted ways with Brazilian forward Adriano, Corinthians is interested in signing a striker this summer and are contemplating whether to make a bid for Tevez.

The Champions League and Europa League paths have been set.

AC Milan vs. FC Barcelona and Schalke vs. Athletic Bilbao will be another set of classic matches for us to enjoy. APOEL vs. Real Madrid, not so much... Benfica vs. Chelsea could be interesting, but at the moment a Real Madrid vs.

It was a busy weekend for the U.S. Men's National Team players abroad, with the Old Firm derby in Scotland and goals and assists recorded in Denmark, Netherlands and Mexico. Here's a quick recap of the action:

• Carlos Bocanegra and Maurice Edu both started against Celtic as Rangers won 3-2 at Ibrox Stadium.

German club Schalke 04 last night suffered an embarassing 4-2 home defeat to Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of their Europa League quarterfinals. The Basque side were heading for a draw after Raul's two goal haul drew the match level on 2 a piece but late strikes from Oscar De Marcos and Muniain put the tie beyond Schalke.

Yes, we're eagerly looking forward to the big-name UEFA Champions League semifinal ties but don't overlook UEFA's other final four. (Indeed, as Zonal_Marking wrote for ESPN today, the Europa League deserves more respect.) Given our growing interest in La Liga beyond the Big Two, yesterday's quarterfinal results make for an especially interesting Europa League run-in: Athletic Bilbao, Atlético Madrid, Valencia, and Sporting Clube de Portugal advanced to the semifinals, setting up an all-Iberian set of semifinal ties:

1st legs on Thursday April 19: Atlético Madrid-Valencia & Sporting CP-Athletic Bilbao

2nd legs a week later, Thursday April 26: Valencia-Atlético Madrid & Athletic Bilbao-Atlético Madrid

As we wrote earlier in the week, the Athletic Bilbao-Schalke tie was the only was that was pretty much wrapped up after the 1st leg, with Athletic's 4-2 win in Germany.

Jozy Altidore was the difference for AZ Alkmaar on Wednesday, scoring both goals in the 2-2 draw with Twente. Altidore opened the scoring in the third minute, with Twente equalizing in the 31st. It was Altidore again in the 70th minute, with Twente coming up with the equalizer in stoppage time. In Belgium's Jupiler League, Sacha Kljestan and Anderlecht beat Mix Diskerud's Gent 4-1 in the playoffs.

Leader Gertjan Verbeek on the right....

And Johan knows these things ;-).

But apart from JC, it's clear that we need to pay respect to AZ Alkmaar. Despite their horrible loss in Valencia (what the hell happened there???) they deserve this spot in the limelight. The Verbeek managed team plays Dutch School [read more]

Frankly none of Saturday's games are all that compelling, but if you must:

FA Cup Semifinal, Liverpool vs Everton (7:30amET; FSC & Fox Deportes): A Merseyside derby at Wembley. Liverpool have been in rotten form, while Everton have been coming on strong.

Bundesliga, Schalke 04 vs Borussia Dortmund (9:30amET; GolTV): The Ruhr derby or, in the German, the Revierderby is the biggest rivalry in Germany.

The English FA has not gone far to find a replacement for former England manager Fabio Capello, pegging West Brom manager Roy Hodgson as the leading candidate to manage England at this summer's European Championships.

The FA has sought permission and has been granted permission by West brom to speak with Hodgson, who appears a good bet to beat out former favorite Harry Redknapp for the job.

AZ Alkmaar and USMNT forward Jozy Altidore was diagnosed with a back bruise and should not be out of action long. He does not have a concussion as previously feared.

Arsenal are showing interest in Fulham midfielder Moussa Dembele, according to reports.

The Belgian has been a key player for Martin Jol's side this campaign, and Arsene Wenger could consider launching a bid in the region of £10 million for him.

The ex-Alkmaar playmaker has had another imprressive season racking up two Premier League goals and two assists along the way.

By AVI CREDITOR

The U.S. national team has not played a match in almost three months, but that stretch will end with Saturday night's friendly against Scotland at Jacksonville's EverBank Field, where more than 36,000 seats have been sold ahead of the match.

photo by Bernd Feil/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

LANDOVER, Md. -- When the U.S. men's national team's starters walk through the tunnel at FedEx Field on Wednesday, two players who likely will not be among that group are Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore.

By AVI CREDITOR

LANDOVER, Md. -- Michael Bradley has had two of his best, most influential games in any uniform for club or country in recent wins for the national team against Italy and Scotland. He was able to turn in those performances after growing as a player during a standout season in Serie A for Chievo Verona, taking the road less traveled for U.