If you're familar with American left back Euan Holden, younger brother of Bolton star Stuart Holden, you might have been wondering where the former New Mexico defender was plying his trade these days.
Holden is playing in England for Conference National side Stockport County, located near Bolton, and while he has helped his brother through an injury-hit 2011, Euan has continued to keep his playing career going.
Euan showed recently just what sort of skills he still possesses with this impressive goal against Kettering:
Cap him!!
why? he plays in england’s league 5 or 6 no reason he should prob sign with the MLS and get his career REALLY started.
(SBI-Settle down, I’m pretty sure the comment above was tongue-in-cheek. As for what level he’s playing in, it’s safe to say he could be playing at a higher level but he is where he is because he’s been helping his brother through his injury ordeal. He’s better than English 5th Division. No question.)
i agree. he was drafted by Houston in 2010. if he has european aspirations, playing in MLS would have been a better fit than the 5th tier of english football
Nice to see he’s earning his keep at the flat
Very pretty.
He is the future!!! I can’t believe bob didn’t cap him!
i don’t care if it’s a gutter pub league, we don’t have a NATS left back that would do that…
I’m pretty sure he didn’t want to make the same mistake as his brother and play for 40k a year for several years here in the MLS. He’s probably making more there, and has as good of a chance as progressing his career there than here. See Demerit, Jay.
“Holden is playing in England for Conference National side Stockport County”
That is all that needs to be said.
I scored a sick goal like that in HS once.
I bet he didn’t pay for any pints that night.
Left back… hmm, don’t we need one of ‘em?
Does he even get paid ?
I doubt non league football pays as much as MLS
Stockport County could probably beat most MLS teams….
Of course he does. However, according to the game Football Manager, player’s wage in Conference National is a few hundreds to couple thousands at best per week.
I thought that unlike his brother, Euan had indicated that he did not want to play for the US.
Maybe if Klinsmann is looking for flair.
Ives is right, I’m not totally serious. Although I’m sure he’s on our watch list.
I thought Euan publicly stated that he wanted to play for Scotland?
Which is close to what they make in MLS.
lolz no
GOD, STOP!!!. Stuart Holden was offered SEVERAL contract extensions with significant pay raises, he never took them because he wanted to go to Europe. That 40k salary was Holdens choice. And no, he probably does not make more there, go look at the 5 tier salary averages. Hint…They are low.
Lolz…he wouldn’t go to MLS because like his brother he’d rather play in Europe. I think MLS offered Stu more than Bolton did and he turned it down.
A new manager who will view the entire pool, will do wonders for what Euan may have perceived as no realistic chance of being called up.
After all, his last name *was not* Bornstein.
That said, I’m not really ready to reward someone who choose a 5th tier league, for whatever reason, over a chance to ply his trade in MLS or league of comparable quality.
Brother or not, he’s stil a professional.
Let’s see what career track leads to top flight football faster. MLS or a 5th tier division.
Want a must see goal?
Check out Leandro Damiao goal against Flamengo (bicycle kick) this past weekend!!
Yeah, and that’s because MLS doesn’t let their players leave for fair offers. It’s either take nothing and hope you don’t get hurt before you can get a payday in Europe, or take marginally more and be ready to play your whole career in MLS no matter what you actually want.
That’s not a good way to attract young talent.
Granted, the John deal is interesting, and hopefully a harbinger of a new way of doing business.
When I read Wonder Goal, I was waiting for a long range blast or something.
Many of the clubs in the Conference don’t have full time pro’s. Most are semi-pro’s who have other jobs to make ends meet. Bottom line is the money is very poor. My mom’s hometown team Mansfield Town dropped out of the league into the Conference a few years back I have a good friend who worked fro Exeter City when they were in the Conference. FWIW this is considered non-league football as it does not make up the 92 teams in the English league’s four divisions. its fun to watch however, its pretty obvious why most of these guys are playing at that level.
Stockton, since they were just relegated, more than likely, with the parachute payment, is still paying their players full time. Bottom line for most guys playing at this level is the skill and speed of the game is not so great. Feel good stories like Jay DeMerit rising to the topofo the English league football are extremely rare.
Anyone lookign for him to play for Scotland or the USA anytime soon better not hold their breath.
Most of the players are semi-pros in the league and hold otehr jobs to make ends meet. So the money is not good.
No way…I have been to both Conference and MLS games and the MLS teams would crush them week in and week out…you are talking about semi-pros in most cases, against full pros and many who play for their country….FWIW they do have an England non-league international team…my uncle was picked to play for them many years ago.
Its non-league football and most of the players are semi-pros who hold other jobs to make ends meet…that says it all to me….
If this guy wasn’t named Holden nobody would care at all. Cool goal in a semi pro setting. Hope he scores a million more of them, but USMNT? Come onnn
He has had trials and trained with several league clubs most notably Derby County, but was not offered contracts by any.
Stokcton is a nonleague team having recently been relegated out of the English Football League.
Scotland often picks players from the English second division (which is considered pretty much an equal to the SPL)players to represent them. Honestly I don’t see him playing for the USA at this point in time.
Looked like a better atmosphere than what you find in the stands at an MLS match outside of the Pacific Northwest or Canada.
(SBI-Or Philadelphia, or Kansas City, or Houston, or D.C., or Salt Lake City….)
Cap PCFC!!
Well, there’s the case of Jay DeMerit, but basically yeah you’re right.
If he wants to play with the nats he’s gonna have to do something about that hair…
It would have been a great goal had it been against tougher opposition.. This kind of goal happens every week in leagues of this level, the only reason why we’re aware of this one it’s because it came from Stu’s younger brother. A friend of mine scored a goal similar to this last year for his Sunday pub team but of course that doesn’t mean he should get a look at from MLS scouts..
I can’t tell if the comments disparaging MLS in this thread are by people trolling or by people who haven’t seen a game since the late 90′s.
no need to put down MLS fans.. but it did look like stronger support for a semi-pro game! Do you think Rookie-ball baseball or NCAA DIV II football ever get support like that.. no.
haters gunna hate.
Against non-league football competition they would
Ives, why would he put his career on hold and miss an important growth period in his development to help his brother? I can see him helping Stuart emotionally get through the injury, but I don’t believe that Euan is in the 5th division because of Stuart’s injury.
We need to.
Instead, you were rewarded by seeing something far more special.
+1…. who cares?…… this is a nice goal not a Wonder goal.
my younger brother scored a goal like this and he is 10.. with his WA CROSSFIRE team..he should sign with the MLS now. darnit.
right now, i dont see him figuring into scotland’s or the us’s plans
This is a common misperception that Bradley didn’t do a good job of calling in different players. In reality, Bradley called in a ton of players (dual-nationals, and players from leagues all over the world). Bradley had his shortcomings, but looking for Americans around the globe was not one of them.
it’s a semi-pro league
CAP HIM NOW
Playing in a semi-pro league at the age of 23 is not the way to go.
He’s an improvement over Bornstein for sure!
This kid is living a dream. Not THE dream but a dream none the less. Houston boy, living with his brother in England.
Back in 2003 someone would have made a reality tv show out of such stuff.
The attendance for the match was ~3,400. Plenty of D2 football teams get that many fans. In fact, the average for the entire D2 is ~3,500, with 55 schools averaging over 3,500. 15 D3 schools average more than that. Even some D1 soccer teams get that many fans. UCSB averages more than that.