January 18, 2010
MLS Daily - Dempsey suffers knee injury
Yanks Abroad - Dempsey diagnosis expected Tuesday
Daily Soccer Fix - Donovan appreciation society growing at Everton
MLS Daily - Donovan thinking about extending Everton stay
Two of the top Americans in the EPL had very different weekends.
On the up side, Landon Donovan was very effective in his Everton home debut, played 90+ minutes before being subbed off to a generous applause, and Everton defeated Manchester City 2-0 to move up to 10th in the table.
On the down side, Clint Dempsey hobbled off the field in the 62nd minute of Fulham's 2-0 loss to Blackburn. Both Fulham and US Men's National Team supporters will be waiting with baited breath until tomorrow when the results of the medical review of Dempsey's injury are expected to be made public.
If the worse case scenario comes true, then Dempsey could miss the remainder of the EPL season. along with the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
With Charlie Davies unlikely to make it back in time for the World Cup, the US can not afford to lose another attacking player like Dempsey.
News & Notes:
- There have been some positive reports over the weekend on the MLS CBA talks. I hope that they get things done and the season can start on time, especially given the fact that it is a World Cup year.
- Lee Nguyen and Michael Orozco appear headed to MLS. Now as for the Thierry Henry and Raul to NY rumor.......
- Bolton is apparently going to make a decision on Stuart Holden within the next few days. After the stadium rally recently, I wonder if Houston supporters will march to try and get the team to re-sign Holden?
- Traffic has signed another former US U-20 player in Bryan Arguez. I wonder what the odds are that he ever suits up for Miami FC?
- Former US U-17 player Korey Veeder has signed with Crystal Palace Baltimore. But like in the Arguez case, it will be interesting to see if he ever suits up for Crystal Palace Baltimore.
- A couple of Puerto Rico Islanders are safe after the recent earthquake in Haiti.
- TIAS.com has been relatively busy lately with this article on FIFA and the year of African Football being posted today.
- I find it funny how Greg Lalas starts this SI.com piece saying that foreign coaches in MLS shouldn't be stereotyped and then he ends the article talking about on of those stereotypes that foreign coaches have a hard time dealing with some of the MLS-unique rules and regulations like the draft, salary cap, and allocation process. I've always thought that those were the things that tripped up foreign coaches more than dealing with "The American Player".
- DC United will try and replace Luciano Emilio with Australian striker Danny Allsopp.
- The NASL posted an open letter to fans when NASL.com went live on Friday.
- Manny Lagos talks about his job with the new club in Minnesota.
- MLS Insider had a quick chat with Gooch.
- Brian Ching talks about turning down a chance to go to the recent USMNT camp, Stuart Holden's status, and other stuff. I wonder if he went over that decision with Bob Bradley first?
- Manchester United doesn't want their players on Twitter. I hope that no American clubs follow suit as I don't believe that they can afford to turn a blind eye to social media like Twitter, Facebook, and the like.
- Pitch Invasion takes a nice look at the recent NSCAA convention in Philly.
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.
