Americans abroad

As someone who has high hopes for the US national team, does anybody know the ongoings of the following players at their clubs:

1. is Michael Bradley moving away from Heerenvden (or however you spell it), or..what's his deal, where is he playing this season?
2. will Jozy Altidore have any role at all for Valencia this season, any word on how his preseason has been going?

I'm not sure about Michael Bradley, but I can give you some good news about Jozy.

First off, he's at Villareal, not Valencia. He should play a role for them this season as their star striker, Nihat, is injured for a few months. Jozy will be lucky enough to be playing alongside fellow young American Giuseppe Rossi (who used to play for United and will be one of the top players of his generation. He declared himself for Italy, though).

As far as Jozy's preseason goes, it's being interrupted by the Olympics. He made his debut for Villareal in one match but then left the club for Olympic duty. He'll rejoin them once the tournament is done.

So are you boys expecting big things from your national squad soon?

Absolutely. Jozy Altidore, Freddy Adu, Michael Bradley, DeMarcus Beasley, Landon Donovan, Michael Parkhurst, Clint Dempsey, Eddie Johnson...all extremely talented youngsters that are a few years away from doing big things.

Altidore is at Villareal now. Adu should do very well at Monaco. Beasley is doing fantastic at Rangers. Donovan - well, he's just Landon. Parkhurst was wanted by Fulham and should move soon. Dempsey is showing his worth at Fulham. Johnson should have a better role at Fulham this year.

As you can see, a bunch of Yanks overseas and that's only good for the national team.

Well i can only really comment on Dempsey, who has looked pretty impressive for Fulham.

Although as a team you looked very poor at Wembley.

Yeah, that's still a hump that the US National Team needs to get over. We need to start performing while overseas. We seem to never do well on European soil (compare the 2002 World Cup in Japorea to the 1998 WC in France and 2006 WC in Germany).

Joe, I agree we looked very bad at Wembley, but I think it was just nerves and the team tried too hard to NOT make a mistake instead of making something happen. It was the team's first game since Bradley took over against a top flight team (yes I know you might go on about how England never do much at major tournaments, but theyre obviously very solid). But in their next 2 games vs Spain and Argentina they only lost 1-0 and tied 0-0, and looked much better once Freddy Adu was put into the game, who seemed to have no nerves at all. Once the rest of the young players go through the Olympics I think it will do wonders for them just getting used to playing against the best.

Bradley needs to have a good tournament, he was MIA for a lot of those 3 friendlies.

John, in 8 days you'll get a great view of Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore, and all the other American boys in the Olympics. Where do you see us finishing?

I'm gonna say that the only team that will beat the US, if any, is Brazil. I'm basing this on both the senior national team game vs. Argentina and the Copa America tournament, in which Argentina fell behind early to Brazil and just played like a desperate team as soon as the goal went in. Brazil ended up winning something like 3-0. Also I think Brazil is the team that is least prone to nerves in the tournament, because they just seem to play "beautiful football" no matter what stage of the tournament theyre in. But against Argentina I can see the US playing strategic and winning a game without playing the more attractive game.

So for the purpose of making a concrete prediction, I say the US reaches the final and loses.

Joe, I'm interested in a global perspective-- do you think I'm asking too much of the US to make the final?

Joe's away on vacation until Tuesday, so I'll take a stab at it for you, John. I think it might be a little too much to expect the US to make the final, but at the very least we should be looking at the semifinals. An unfavorable draw there and there's not much we can do about it. If we draw Argentina or Brazil in the semis then we are most likely out. It's very possible that we'd draw one of the two, anyways.

Back now John.

I think the opinion in England of USA's chances are not really taken seriously in all honesty.

Beckham's transfer there hasn't helped. The domestic football has been alot more publicized and many people see the league as a very poor standard of football. I hate to say it, but i agree with that. I know i`ll probably get shot down, but i haven't been impressed with what I've seen club-wise.

But not many people are aware of the likes of Donovan and Altidore (two players i personally rate highly). As they haven't had as much hype as Freddy Adu, nobody really knows what there capable of.

Hope this cleared things up.

Yeah, thanks for the response Joe. I agree with you about the MLS, but, especially after seeing the US's game vs Netherlands this morning (see my post in International section), I have more confidence than before the Olympics started that the future of the US national team is much brighter in the very near future than is the MLS's future.

I do really like a few MLS teams, especially New England, Houston and Chivas, and occassionally I've seen flashes of what the MLS COULD be in 5-10 years when those teams play. Also, over here I do think the signing of Beckham has made a huge impact already in the game's exposure here. I think we're slowly on the up.

Oh and does anybody remember a year ago Alexi Lalas (GM of the LA Galaxy) said that if you watch an MLS game from a helicopter you'd never know that it's not a Premiership game? I'd like to point out here that I do not agree with that. I'm just hopeful that someday that will be a reality.

There is no reason it can't be.
The money is certainly there, and the attraction of living there is a big one.
I think they need to target more than world-class "has beens" though.
Everybody likes fresh young talent.

I agree with Joe, i'm not 100% sure but i bet a bit more publicity in the US wouldn't do it any harm, i'm a huge Moto GP Fan have been all my life, was never very big in the US but now they have a couple of American riders and they get good publicity with the likes of Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise turning up at the US gp it has helped the sport immensely in the US

I agree with Bob, the publicity will help. I think that USA are a good international team, but basing on the display at wembly against a poor england side, could improve on away soil. Although i don't see much of football in the states, but the opinion of the MLS in england is that most of the teams wouldn't survive in the championship. Which could be an exaggeration. But to the americans here... how do you think the MLS teams would do in a league over here?

Boro, Blackburn, and Everton are now joining the chase for Michael Bradley. Article on the main site.

Fulham have let Cardiff City have Eddie Johnson on loan. He deserves much better, but hopefully he can prove himself.

Of all the times I've watched Eddie Johnson, I've never understood his appeal. I like Beasley a bit more.

Rangers are in Champions League again this season aren't they? They just signed Maurice Edu--who, by the way, I really really liked in the Olympics-- so that's another American to watch.

Rangers were in the Champs League

John, Eddie Johnson hasn't really shown his worth with the US Nats, but if you've ever seen him for club then you can understand his value. Last time I saw him in person was at Gillette Stadium against the Revs where he scored a hat trick against the league's best defense. He absolutely ripped us apart with his pace.

OGUCHI ONYEWU TO AC MILAN 3 YR CONTRACT

We in the US have been hoping the Confederations Cup would land some of our players in bigger European leagues this season, guys like Onyewu from the Belgian league and others playing in Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, and other leagues of that caliber. I had no idea Onyewu was being watched by Milan, and this is awesome.

The end.

Bad singning for Milan. I'm not a fan of the guy. That being said, I hope it works out for him and that he can make a name for himself there.

Guch did fantastic for the US in the Confed. Cup, so I can only hope that that carries over for him with AC Milan...I am pumped for him!