I Can't Stand It Any More More News

The big news of the day has DC United coach Peter Nowak not staying with the team! The two sides had been negotiating a contract but that is off. He is now set to join Bob Bradley at Team USA! WOW! Did ya see that coming? Maybe. He did play for Bradley in Chicago, and they had great success together. DC assistant Tom Soehn is set to take over the job now. The best source for the full story, no doubt, is Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
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Bob Bradley announces the roster of players for his first Team USA training camp & games beginning on January 2. (*There have already been changes/additions to this list due to injury etc & you should expect more before its all over.)
-Here is that team, by position:
G:
Joe Cannon
Brad Guzan
Troy Perkins
Matt Reis
D:
Chris Albright
Bobby Boswell
Jonathan Bornstein
Danny Califf*
Jimmy Conrad
Todd Dunivant*
Bryan Namoff
Michael Parkhurst
Heath Pearce
Dasan Robinson
Eddie Robinson
M:
Kyle Beckerman
Brian Carroll
Ricardo Clark
Clint Dempsey
Joshua Gros
Sacha Kljestan
Justin Mapp
Pablo Mastroeni
Brian Mullan
Pat Noonan
F:
Kenny Cooper
Alecko Eskandarian
Landon Donovan
Nate Jaqua
Eddie Johnson*
Chris Rolfe
-But 3 names that are not on that list or have been replaced already:
Brian Ching - Nothing official but I would guess he is getting that knee back to 100%. He had surgery mid-season and rumors always said it never fully healed, but he played on.
Jose Burciaga - Why no love for him? He is only the most offense minded left back in the league and on the du Nord First XI, who I guess is losing out to Bradley's guy Bornstein.
Taylor Twellman - replaced because he has not fully recovered from post season hernia surgery.
-And some others who could be there:
Ugo Ihemelu
Santino Quaranta
Chad Barrett
Brad Davis
Eddie Gaven
Chad Marshall
Carlos Mendes
Davy Arnaud
Drew Moor
Kevin Novak
Matt Pickens
-A couple of older players that did not surprise me by being left off: Steve Ralston, Jeff Cunningham & Ben Olsen.
-Many real young guys are not here because they are with the USA U20 team.
-It's not really surprising that nearly every player on that roster is from MLS. Heath Pearce was originally the only non-US based player. He was available cuz his team, Nordssjaelland, is on winter break in Denmark. Now Danny Califf has been added. His team Aalborg is on break too. There aren't really many others with time off ahead. The only 2 possibilities who might deserve a shot that I could think of were Adin Brown & Nat Borchers. Did I miss anyone else?
-Bradley does a Q & A with USA Today, but doesn't say much more than he did last week when he was hired.
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Steve Davis at Soccernet examines this USA roster.
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Speaking of Adin Brown, Yanks Abroad talks to him about his just completed Norwegian season with Aalesund, in which he helped them get promoted back to the top division.
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Many USA U20's are in Florida right now still auditioning for roster spots for the World Championship qualifying run that happens soon (January I think). They had a game yesterday and beat Canada 2-0 in Bradenton.
-Video interview with New York Red Bulls striker Jozy Altidore (surgically repaired thumb and all.)
-Podcast of an interview with Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Quavas Kirk.
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Andrea Canales at Soccer365 looks at what the real future holds for those players eligible for the U20's.
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Chicago's Bridgeview Stadium - Toyota Park - is "Soccer Specific" no more. A lacrosse team is going to play there.
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Kansas City has hired Chris Henderson as an assistant coach. I guess that means his playing days are over. He was never the greatest talent, but he was a supreme athlete with an awesome attitude.
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DC traded defender Brandon to Colorado for draft picks. Good move for him, but DC is looking really thin back there now. He has been their #1 back up the last two years.
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Rumor has it that Paco Palencia might be back at Chivas USA for next season after all.
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What do you make of this rumor of Boca Junior's forward Mad Martin Palermo heading to DC United! How cool would that be? I say, bring it home baby! It would be huge.
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The top American goalkeeping prospect to come along since Tim Howard is Chris Seitz. He just finished his second season at Maryland, but has decided to leave them and turn professional. He is weighing all options and all offers now.
-His teammate Maurice Edu is leaving school a year early to go pro as well. He was named an All-American this year.
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USL First Division rookie of the year, Cam Weaver, from the Seattle Sounders, has signed a deal to play for Haugesund in Norway starting in January.
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times with his tribute to the recently departed modern era pioneers of American soccer Lamar Hunt and Ahmet Ertugun.
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Several great people have written to correct to me, and say that Hugo Perez will be the ASSISTANT coach for the California Victory of the USL First Division. Glenn van Straatum will be the head man. Thanks to everyone for the help on that one.
-Also on a Cali Victory note, the highly controversial owner Dmirty Piterman has posed for a very odd, and if I could say, disturbing, picture for a Spanish newspaper. Thanks to Matthew for this insane pic. It could be what caused my illness.
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Another piece of USL 1st Div news I heard, says the league will expand the playoffs from 6 teams to 8. That sucks. I like the way it was.
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Joe Lapira of Notre Dame was named the top player in college soccer this year, but this picture makes he think he might have been named the top college soccer player in 1974!
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Did you see Internacional beat Barca 1-0 for the World Club title? Good for them.
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Boca Juniors sold big-potential midfielder Fernando Gago to Real Madrid for way too much money.
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FIFA likes the quick changes they have seen from the Iranian football federation and reinstated them into international competition. I bet money was involved?
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Colombia is going to challenge Brazil's bid to host the 2014 World Cup. Fat chance of that happening. But it will put pressure on Brazil to up their bid.
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I am sure there is plenty more news out there, but this is all I could find the energy to muster up for now. Yes I am still ill, but feeling a little better. Thanks for all the well wishes! I really appreciate it.