Two red cards, two 3-1 losses, and yet two wildly different results: Accrington Stanley v. Fulham and USA v. Honduras

Jimmy Conrad: Not South Africa-bound

Yesterday morning (eastern standard time, at any rate), in England’s cold northwest, League Two side Accrington Stanley took the field against Premiership side Fulham. Despite Leeds United’s recent successes against top-class Premiership sides, few honestly expected Accrington–a full division lower–to pull off an upset. And they didn’t. After levelling the game at 1-1 in the 25th minute, their hopes were dashed when Darran Kemptson was shown a deserved red card after a bad foul on Zoltan Gera.

Saturday morning recommended reading

Things are quiet today (as expected) in pre-pre-season Union news. But one minor story that should resonate with fans is the news that two Union players–Jack McInerney and Amobi Okugo–have been called up to represent the US U-20 national team at the 2010 Copa Chivas in Guadalajara, Mexico. Let’s hope they are just the first in what will be a long line of Union players called up to youth national sides and to the senior side.

I’m a big fan of the new Philly Soccer Page blog, and have particularly enjoyed their pieces on Philly Soccer history.  Be sure to check out the most recent post in the series, which is on the Ukranian Nationals:

Tuesday morning links and a minor site update

Rico Clark: On his way to Germany?*

–Rico Clark just a medical test away from signing with Eintracht Frankfurt, reports ASN.

–A final agreement has been reached on the Wizards’ new stadium. Great news for MLS if it gets approved.

–I haven’t written much about the Dempsey injury because my first instinct is to panic! But US Soccer Daily says there’s no need. And Intelligent Soccer has some good thoughts too–although I’m not sure I agree that losing Dempsey drops the US below Slovenia on the quality scale.

–An Everton man loves his new Lando.

–The Shin Guardian. Just the whole site. It’s great.

–Please let me know if you like/dislike the new theme.

–School starts today, which means the glorious life that I’ve come to love to over the past month–reading and writing (and, uh, tweeting) about soccer, all day, every day–will now be over. Real-world responsibilities loom.

Still, I plan to cover the Union’s first season as in-depth as possible, and I’m hoping my workload won’t distract too much from this site. If it does I will start searching for guest bloggers to help keep the site afloat. So stay tuned future Union scribes.

*Photo: MLSnet.

Is Michael Orozco Union-bound? [updated]

The signing of Michael Orozco could mean some major shuffling of the Union's roster

By now everyone knows yesterday’s big story in Union-land: Michael Orozco is reportedly on his way to Philadelphia. The American defender, who has seven caps for the US U-23 national team and one cap for the senior side, has reportedly severed his ties with Mexican side San Luis and is ready to sign with the Union.

Numerous Spanish-language sources have reported the story, including Univision and Goal.com; SBI has also reported the story, citing another Mexican paper. All the reports that I have found are based on a single source: a press release on San Luis’ official website.

Today’s non-story Adu story–and a real Edu story!

Freddy Adu

So today’s biggest story in the world of American soccer is really a non-story. Freddy Adu, less than a week after being linked with Greek club Aris Thessalonika, and a few days after being linked with Premiership side Hull city, publicly (and foolishly) contemplated his options on Twitter in a discussion with his former U-20 teammate and current Hull City striker, Jozy Altidore. To many, the discussions seemed to prove that the Premiership side really was aiming for Adu–a surprising move, to say the least.

Responses in the US soccer world were quick: Ives Galarcep put up a post almost immediately, taking the tweets as fact (“Adu reveals decision is between Hull and Aris”); the Shin Guardian (a fantastic site), put up a thoughtful analysis of Adu’s options; and soccer twitterers everywhere re-tweeted the story to a fairly absurd degree.

Later, as Adu-in-the-Premiership excitement subsided, it was apparent that not all was as it seemed. How could Adu, who has made only sporadic appearances for the national team, obtain a UK work permit? Why in the hell would a Premiership side pay 1.2 million pounds for a player that can’t hardly see the field for a mediocre Portugese side?

Perhaps Adu’s twitter page was not a fountain of no-need-to-verify truth. Ives appended the following parenthical pseudo-mea-culpa to his post:

(It looks as though Adu may have been having a bit of fun on Twitter with the Hull City stuff and may have been joking around about his Hull and Aris decision. So where is Adu really headed? The Aris reports have more weight than the News of the World report on Hull interest.)

Right.

In other news, the other -du suffixed American abroad, Maurice Edu, came on in the 13th minute in Ranger’s 1-1 draw with Celtic today. This is the real Yank Abroad story of the day. Let’s hope the young man stays healthy and that his teammate, DaMarcus Beasley, recovers quicky as well. Seeing the two of them link-up together for Rangers will be a sight for the sore eyes of injury-fatigued USMNT fans. And it goes without saying that both players, if healthy, could potentially be huge for the US in South Africa.

Best of luck to Adu–who I still thinking is brimming with potential–but right now, Edu is a far more realistic and exciting prospect for the USMNT.

DaMarcus Beasley continues stunning return to form–scores winner against Dundee–adds an assist

DaMarcus Beasley is tearing up the Scottish Premier League. Just days after notching an assist in Rangers’ 3-0 win against St Johnstone, he added a goal and an assist in today’s 3-0 drubbing of Dundee United.

After the match, Rangers’ manager Walter Smith was effusive in his praise of the winger:

“DaMarcus Beasley played like that for us when he came at first before he got his bad injury. After he came back, he was hampered with hamstring injuries.

“A few months ago he started to show the sharpness that is required and he’s now back into the team and playing exceptionally well and scored a terrific goal for us.

Rest assured that Bob Bradley is watching Beasley’s resurgence closely, and don’t be surprised if he gets the call up for the Jan. 23 friendly with Honduras.

See highlights of the Dundee game here (including Beasley’s wicked goal).

Donovan to Everton?

The Guardian reports that David Moyes is pursuing Landon Donovan as a January transfer target. Blockquote!

A loan deal for Donovan would also suit Moyes in January. The Everton manager is unlikely to have money available for permanent signings and needs to bolster a squad depleted by several long-term injuries. The Scot has enjoyed success with loaned strikers from the MLS before, signing Brian McBride for a brief but productive spell during his first full season in charge, and while his needs are arguably greater in defence, Donovan’s versatility in attack would be welcome at Goodison Park.

My take? This would an excellent move for the 27-year-old. Donovan needs to go to a club that needs him and where he can compete for a starting position from day one. While I still think he’s more suited to the Spanish game, a loan spell to a side like Everton, under a manager like Moyes, would be pretty damn close to ideal. Let’s just hope he can stay healthy.

Jay DeMerit returns!

Jay Demerit came on at half time in Watford’s 3-1 victory against QPR today. The tough center back had been out since late September after a freak eye accident (“freak” here means “not only cutting his own eye with his contact lens, but also getting it infected”).

Suddenly the US’ back line is looking a lot less shaky. Let’s hope everything goes smooth for the veteran defender as he gets back to match fitness.

Charlie Davies: back in the twittering world!

From his twitter page: “I would like to thank everyone for all their prayers and best wishes. I’m on the road to recovery.” Awesome. Best of luck Mr. Davies.

US draws England, Slovenia, and Algeria for the 2010 World Cup

More late news (by about five hours). First of all, let me say that I don’t think this a catch-22 for the US–that is, our group is so easy that no one will care if we get through, and if we don’t get through it will be a major failure. Half of that is true: the boys have to get out of the first round. But the idea that getting into the round of 16 could be bad in any way is absurd. Even if we were in a group with North Korea, New Zealand, and Slovakia, getting through to the round of 16 would be a major achievement for the US. The US sports media and the casual fan only care about results–they simply don’t have the soccer savvy to understand anything else.

One final thought: Group A (South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France) is as much a group of death as Group G (Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal). The home team is always strong at the World Cup. None has ever failed to get to the second round. Mexico is in great form recently, especially if Giovanni Dos Santos brings his A game. Uruguay is an often over-looked South American powerhouse. And France is a tottering, weakened superpower, just waiting for any or all of these three hungry teams to knock them out of the tournament. I can’t wait to see what happens when these four teams collide next summer.