The U.S. men's national team moved a few steps closer to being a fully healthy group as recent word out of Europe revealed that injured midfielder Stuart Holden and defender Oguchi Onyewu have resumed full training with their club teams.
Holden, sidelined since suffering a broken leg in the U.S. team's 2-1 friendly loss to the Netherlands, is back training with Bolton, though Bolton manager Owen Coyle is being careful not to rush him back to action.
Onyewu had been spotted doing conditioning with AC Milan's first team last week, but revealed on Twitter on Thursday that he was back to full training.
"The kid is back!!!! Normal training from here on out, no restrictions," was the message Onyewu left on Twitter on Thursday morning.
Holden and Onyewu join Charlie Davies as U.S. national team players who have recently returned from lengthy injuries to resume training.
In other Americans Abroad news:
Midfielder Alejandro Bedoya continued his recent run of good form for Swedish club Orebro by delivering an assist in his team's 4-1 loss to Kalmar on Wednesday.
The loss wasn't the only bad news for Bedoya though. Bedoya, who turns 23 today, also picked up his third yellow card of the season, meaning he will miss the team's next match.
Here is Bedoya's assist (at the 22-second mark):
What do you think about the news? Excited to see Holden and Onyewu returning to action? Think they'll see time with their clubs before the end of the European season?
Share your thoughts below.
Although it may seem counterintuitive at first, it may actually benefit the USMNT that so many of the players were injured, but are now mostly recovered. If they can get some good training sessions in and some games under their belt, they will come into the WC mentally and physically fresh, unlike most of the other players.
I think all these injuries were a blessing in disguise…..come June 11th, we will have our full squad in the World cup
Great news for USMNT. I think that these preWC comebacks could end up being much mroe of a positive than most of us expect. Having these guys fresh off of rehab and a several weeks of solid training will give our squad some good competitiona in camp and ENG a headache trying to figure out what type of starting 11 we come out with on June 12. That said, it could also be a nightmare for us.
Maybe, but I think their recovery was just a little too late. A few more weeks of training and games would have been perfect. That, and having Jones would have been nice. Oh well. I’m pumped that these guys are getting back and will be ready for this summer.
When the injury bug bites it bites hard. Let’s hope the team has gotten it out of their system and it goes and bites a few lions out there.
The Milan fans aren’t yelling boo, they’re yelling “Goooooooooch.” (with apologies to David Letterman)
Leonardo is leaving AC Milan — I wonder what this will mean for Onyewu’s future.
I agree with what Glass said. I dont want to risk the health of our injured players. I want the best for them. Just coming back from the injury list and maybe playing one game or two at best, doesnt really show much. I tell you what…. you really cannot question our fighting spirit and overcoming anything attitute. USA USA USA USA USA
Mr. Burns: “Are you saying Boo or Boourns?”
Crowd: “Booooo”
Hans: “I was saying Boourns”
Bah, 90 minute fitness is highly overrated. : )
damn straight! the results might not come for us, but that would be the fortunes of war. nobody can question the character of our players or their resolve in trying to get ready for WC 2010.
hokie futbol? give me a break
Good to see them returning to action, have they go enough time to get fully match fit?
If you were trying to come off sarcastic you did a fantastic job
That’s fantastic news for the US. I wonder why Milan doesn’t announce Gooch back in training? It would seem after being out so long that it would be news he is finally back.
I read an article earlier this week that Holden is aiming to get on the pitch this weekend. It’d be great to see him back.
Is Bedoya captain of Orebro? He has some sort of armband. Horrible goalkeeping on the first goal. Oi.
Is bedoya their captain? Impressive if so, for such a young non european player.
I have 2 weeks of vacation scheduled starting June 11th. I honestly am dying here. What is it? 42 days away now? Struggling… it needs to hurry up.
good news coming from all around!
what on earth is sarcastic about that? Davies has shown great resolve. So has Gooch, so has Holden. these are guys who really want to play. no sarcasm ws intended, and i apologize if my remarks were interpreted that way.
GREAT TO HEAR THIS.
. USA gonna beat England. I am so confident, the sky is the limit with our team.
Yes but 3 of our starting 11 will have MAYBE a combined 5 games between them before the World Cup – no where near enough to perform at 80% of their capacity.
No way has this benefited us in the slightest. The only time an injury benefited us was when Ching was out and Bradley finally realized he had a star on his bench – otherwise, we need our boys playing games.
my bad, i must have misinterpreted the general message!
Glad to have the boys back and fresh. Man, that was a good awareness pass from Bedoya…Hope he keeps it up and has further success during and after the WC!
sick pass
Random question, couldn’t think of where else to ask it, but does anyone know what TV channel the Coupe de France Final is played on in the US? (or if it’s on tv at all…)
does he play more centrally with his club team? anyone know?
I was thinking the same thing- you could see a pink armband on him after that nice shot to start the video and no other teammates had that armband in subsequent frames. Seems a little crazy though.
With three games prior to England, hopefully everybody who is recovering now will have a chance to get match fit before June 12.
I hope they are able to play at there best. I would hate it to be another Claudio Reyna vs Ganna WC game, clearly he wasn’t 100% ready and was put in anyway not because he was the best player at that position but because he was a coach’s favorite and it cost us going to the next round.
I had a channel in the past called TV MONDE 5, it played all those games…not sure if you have any idea what channel that is or if you would get it though
Haha, a new soccerbyives challenge! How many SBI readers can get match fit by June 12?
With Bedoya, I believe his club team employs him as a winger but he seems to be given the ability to roam a little more, which is good for someone with his speed.
Gooooch!
He plays left wing in a 4-3-3 formation
I dream for the day when every top player in college is hyped about being drafted into MLS…… To think if all our players in Scandinavia were in MLS…. it would be a thing of Beauty…. we would have been able to see Charlie Davies develop while playing for the Revs, that would have been awesome
The Day will come I am sure
Having returned from many long term injuries playing soccer, I can assure that the hunger and eagerness when first returning to matches outweights lack of recent games. I think this is a good situation for our team heading into the WC.
this is great news!!!
“and Coylewould also like to have such an important player available again.”
“He’s a great kid and he’s got a big role to play for Bolton Wanderers in the future.”
“I certainly wouldn’t rule him out playing again this season, he has got a heart the size of a lion.”
Really nice words from the manager for a player who has only started one game for them! This is great stuff. Can’t wait to see Holden out there every week.
thanks
I will be. I will eat one pound of nachos and and three hot dogs everyday in order to be ready
I get it here at University. I’ve watched some Ligue 1 games on it. Haven’t been able to watch Boca though.
Davies, Gooch, Holden:
- Full training with club teams
- 2-3 competitive club team matches (maybe)
- 2 weeks training with USMT
- USMT friendlies vs. Czech Republic & Turkey & Australia
- 2.5 months till World Cup
Enough? I think so.
Bedoya seems to be a lot like Adu. Not as skilled, creative, or composed as Adu but still very much so. What makes him great is that he is soccer savvy and has a very high work rate. He puts himself in good positions on the field and covers tons of ground so he doesn’t have to have a team built around him and can change things if he’s having difficulty in one part of the field, as opposed to Adu, who will wait in the attack for the ball and mostly only shines in games where the USA is built around him and he just isn’t there yet. He does the best when the USA has the majority of possession, which isn’t very often. In fact, the USA had less than 50% possession against ALL it’s opponents in the Confederations Cup. It had 47% against Egypt, 43% against Italy, 36% against Brazil both times, and 36% against Spain.
the pay must be something of a step up, because seeing those fields and the play of that league isn’t anything to be proud of.
2.5 months til the world cup? Try not even 1.5 months
check your math bro…. world cup is only a month and a half away
In my view, it all comes down to which US MNT shows up to play: the one that can hold the ball and play agressively, or the one that can’t hold the ball and plays passively.
You gotta love how Scottish coaches in the epl treat American players. The chance that moyes gave Landon could pay big dividends in the world cup. The kid knows he can crate against the best!
louis z,
Reyna cost us our chance to advance? Are you forgetting Mastroeni’s dimwitted red card before half-time of the Italy match when we were a man up? Are you forgetting Carlos Bocanegra’s over-head kick into our penalty area which resulted in a PK just before half-time of the Gana match?
Reyna may have been overrun on that play but it was no where near the catastrophic errors that Pablo and Carlos made in the tournament.
I’m still holding out for Jones.
I keed I keed
I have a crystal ball: Onyewu will never set foot on the pitch with an AC Milan shirt
Exactly re Bradley’s belated insertion of Davies into lineup, just in time though to save day at Confed Cup last summer.
um….the USa couldn’t hold the ball more than 36% of the time against Spain or Brazil. The important thing is that we put players out there who can create chances against the best without sacrificing defensive sustainance that got us to the Confederations Cup final and half way to the finish line.
Here is my list of the 30 who will be invited to camp along with some replacements in parenthesis (in case of injuries that might happen between now and May 11).
Howard
Hahnemann
Guzan (Thorton)
Bocanegra
DeMerit
Goodson
Spector
Cherundolo
Bornstein
Onweyu (Conrad)
Peirce
Simek
Donavon
Dempsey
Bradley
Edu
Torres
Bedoya
Beasley
Evans
Holden (Adu)
Kljestan
Beckerman
Clark
Feilhaber
Altidore
Casey
Buddle
Gomez
Johnson
Davies (Cunningham)
I’ve not included the Argentines who are currently on youth national teams for Argentina as well as injured players who have been rarely or never called to a US Camp. (Jones, Castillo) and young players (Orozco, McCarty, Gonzalez) who will likely have to wait for 2014.
Do you think Gooch was talking about Charlie when he said “the kid is back?”
23 man roster: Howard, Guzan, Marcus, Onyewu, DeMerit, Goodson, Boca, Spector, Dolo, Bornstein, Donovan, Torres, Edu, Feilhaber, Holden, Bedoya, Dempsey, Bradley, Beasley, Jozy, Davies, Gomez, EJ
30 man roster: 23 above + Adu, Buddle, Rogers, Clark, Pearce, Casey and (Kljestan, Beckerman, Evans, Findley or Simek).
I really can’t decide on that last spot. Either way, I think your estimate is pretty accurate as to who Bob will call for the camp.
Coyle knows that he has a kind of goldmine in Holden, because Holden was arguably the best player for Bolton when he started and he only played one EPL game and the game against tottenham in the fa cup. It sucked having him getting an injury because he was playing really well, but glad that he’s getting back on the pitch (hopefully).
Heh – whoops. Yah. 1.5 months. Writing fast on iPhone = mistakes.
yo bedoya was wearing an arm band?? captain??
Besoya needs to be considered for the 30 man team and if he keeps up his good form the world cup team.
May bad Bedoya, iPhone keyboard.
Smithers…
about to post the same
he’ll be called int he 30 man camp, no question. i want to see him on the plane to SA though. that’s the question.
So he’s like Adu, but at the same time he’s not?
Evans? Not a chance.
Holden pleasantly surprised me at Bolton in the two games I saw, playing CM. I was dissapointed to see him go out. If he is back to that form, I’m looking for a 4-2-3-1
Spector – DeMerit – Gooch – Boca
Bradley – EDU
Dempsey — Holden — Landon
Altidore
Um…this ain’t the CONFED Cup!
I don’t know if the US team is in any worse position health wise than England. A few players that were considered locks for England are out and then there’s Rooney’s penchant for getting hurt due to his aggressive play. The Yanks don’t have the depth of talent that England does but the great thing about this sport is that the weaker team (on paper) can win.