Davies is on the road to recovery

With the horrible loss to Honduras hanging over my head, and actually keeping me away from posting out of sheer disgust, I really could use some good news regarding the state of the United States mens soccer team. Well, Ives Galarcep had an opportunity to speak with Charlie Davies about his rehabilitation and to say it's positive would be an understatement. Davies is jogging and will be heading back to France shortly to start training with his club team Sochaux and hopes to return to game action in April. This article is a must read for all U.S. soccer fans. For more from Davies, check out this post on Soccer by Ives. Looks like the World Cup is no longer an impossible dream for Davies and that is probably the best news we could have gotten as fans.

Donovan stars, Dempsey falls, Clark signs and Holden waits

The news has been flowing in like the river Nile recently and I've been drinking it all in waiting to release it in one gigantic explosion of cholera enduced blogging diarrhea. Now that I've painted that pretty picture I think it's time to begin.

The biggest news of the last 72 hours has been the fall and probable rise of Clint Dempsey. The Fulham star was injured during this weekends match against Blackburn and the initial diagnosis was knee ligament damage. Reports out of England yesterday indicate that Dempsey suffered "moderate" damage and will not require surgery. Early estimates are putting Clint back on the field before the end of the EPL season. All American soccer fans are collectively exhaling.

Also in England, Landon Donovan has enjoyed two stellar performances for Everton and both the player and the club may be looking to extend the loan past the March return date. If Donovan continues to be a vital cog in the starting eleven for the remainder of his time, the club might be forced to pay up to extend him or even buy him outright. He won't come cheap but if Everton is serious about moving up the pecking order they'll need to splurge a little bit and I'm sure Donovan is much better than a lot of the other players you'll see being picked up in his price range.

I'm going to close this post with some updates on players who are trying to get the hell out of Houston before it gets over 100 degrees again. Ricardo Clark has reportedly signed with Eintracht Frankfurt of the Bundesliga while Stuart Holden has been linked with Bolton and Sporting Braga in Portugal. Both players need to play wherever they go and hopefully they will put themselves in good positions to join the U.S. at the World Cup this June.

Orozco signing with MLS to increase World Cup chances?

American defender Micheal Orozco has been a solid starter for his Mexican club side San Luis for the past few years but has not been able to move up the U.S. national team depth chart and has seemingly been exiled since his silly red card in the Olympics back in 2008. Well, reports are indicating that Orozco has cut his ties with San Luis in the Mexican first division and is planning on signing with MLS and joining the Philadelphia Union in an effort to catch the watchful eye of Bob (Bad Ass) Bradley.

Orozco is a young talent who can play almost anywhere along the back line and was deployed on the left for the U.S.A. during the Olympics. Although Mexico is not exactly a top-tier league from top to bottom, Orozco's ability to succeed in a respected league at a young age has to be looked at by the American brain trust. Making a move to MLS and playing for Bradley's former assistant coach could turn out to be a great move for the player. He has played under Peter Nowak during the Olympics and I'm sure that and Nowak's connection with the head man have something to do with his decision.

This could be a great move for Orozco and could see himself getting the call this summer if he out performs players like Chad Marshall, Danny Califf, Jonathan Bornstein, Marvell Wynne and Kevin Alston during the early part of the season. I know he doesn't have much time to show his worth but current form is always an important factor leading up to the World Cup and the starting defensive spots are not exactly locked down at this point by any means.

USA World Cup bid narrows host city list to the final 18

The U.S. Soccer World Cup committee has narrowed the list of potential host cities from what felt like 150 a few weeks ago to a more manageable 18. If selected to host either the 2018 or the 2022 World Cups, the final host cities would be chosen from this group. Which cities are in this group you ask? You guessed it, Las Cruces, New Mexico and Corvalis, Oregon.

Here's the real list: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa and Washington, D.C.

The biggest surprise is the absence of Chicago which hosted World Cup matches in 1994 and is also the home to one of my friends. Soldier field has hosted large scale soccer matches in the past few years so not seeing it make the final list is a bit of a shocker. And I'm going to take it laying down.

Landon Donovan's successful EPL debut and more

I guess the questions have been answered for the time being. Landon Donovan not only got on the field for Everton this weekend, he started and had an assist in his 68 minutes of work. Everton manager David Moyes played Donovan in a wide right position and sung the praise of his new player after his impressive debut which included an assist off of a corner kick in the 13th minute.

Check out this weekend recap of all of the other Americans who saw the field in Europe over the weekend. Not all that much was going on due to the postponed matches in England and the fact that Eddie Johnson and Freddy Adu are not yet eligible to suit up for Aris. The other big news is the lack of playing time for Carlos Bocanegra who has not seen action for Rennes for a long time. Could be time for a move out of France. I hear that Aris is hiring Americans.

Landon Donovan settles in at Everton

Landon Donovan has about 10 weeks to prove to the world that he can play, and succeed, in European soccer. Donovan started training with Everton this week and will be available for selection during Saturday's match against Arsenal even though it is unlikely that he will play due to fitness and comfort level.

Donovan has tried to break into European soccer on three previous occasions but this will be his best chance to succeed and may be his last chance to succeed. Fortunately for Donovan, he is more mature and more confident than he has ever been before. He is also coming off of his best two seasons on the field, or pitch as they say in English football, which makes this the best possible time for Donovan to try his hand in the best league in the world.

The biggest question mark going into this loan stint has to be what role Donovan is going to be expected to play for David Moyes side. He will likely deployed on the wing but could be used as a withdrawn forward or possibly a traditional striker. It also is difficult to bring in a player on such a short loan and integrate him into the squad with the knowledge that he'll be gone by March. The ball is in your court Senior Moyes. We all know that Donovan can play, now it's up to you to get him on the field. Just throw him out there and see what happens. I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Eddie Johnson and Freddy Adu join forces at Aris FC in Greece

With the news that Eddie Johnson and Freddy Adu are both going to be playing for Aris FC in the Greek Superleague, there is a new sense that both of these players have finally found a place to start their career revivals. Check out this story about American players in Europe and this one about Aris FC and Eddie Johnson and it'll become increasingly obvious that the internet is buzzing over these moves.

I'm not going to pretend that I know anything about the Greek league or Aris FC but it doesn't take a genius to realize that this isn't one of the top leagues in Europe. But that is why this move makes so much sense for these players. Both Adu and Johnson have been stuck in a career rut since moving to Europe from MLS a few years ago and both have bounced around on loans that have failed to pay off on the field. Now these two promising, young Americans have joined forces in Greece to help Aris hold get into Europe while trying to get their confidence back. This could be the best move that either of these two players have made since moving to Europe and this could be the boost that helps them get back into the national team picture just in time for the World Cup.

Of course, Adu and Johnson need to put themselves in a position to get on the field and to succeed and both players have had issues with their training and work ethic. Aris is the perfect springboard for the revival and now is the perfect time.

Bold predictions for 2010

Happy New Year! Now that we got that out of the way lets get on with the good stuff (and by good stuff I mean a bunch of things that most likely won't happen).

Landon Donovan will end up in Europe after a strong stint with Everton and a strong World Cup. Whoever buys him will need to pay about $20 million to get him so expect him to be heading to a pretty big club.

Charlie Davies will play in the World Cup...and he'll score a goal.

DaMarcus Beasley will make the World Cup team and will be in the starting lineup for the match against England.

Jermaine Jones will also make the World Cup team despite his constant injury problems. Once he gets healthy it will be too hard for Bob Bradley not to pick him for his squad.

The United States national team will make it to the round of 8 at the World Cup this summer in South Africa.

Bob Bradley will not return to the national team after the World Cup and will take a job in a European league.

The next coach of the national team will be a well known International manager with World Cup experience.

Stuart Holden, Ricardo Clark and Robbie Findley will all make the move to Europe in 2010.

And finally, Omar Gonzalez and Chris Pontius will be the break out stars of 2010 and will begin to plant seeds for future national team stardom.

U.S.A. Soccer round-up

As 2009 comes to a close, the sleepy December days have picked up a little bit of steam lately on the news front. Oguchi Onyewu, Eddie Johnson and Freddy Adu all showed up on the news wire this week. Lets get it rolling.

Reports are indicating that Oguchi Onyewu is on target for a March return to training for AC Milan. With such a small window between Onyewu's return and the beginning of the World Cup, a March return is pretty much the best case scenario for the hulking central defender. With Onyewu in the lineup, the Americans can be a dominant defensive team and we all know that solid defense can get you deep into a tournament.

Soccer by Ives is indicating that Eddie Johnson may make a move from Fulham FC to Greek club Aris Salonika. Johnson has not been able to establish himself at Fulham and has always seemed like he would make a move at some point. At this point in his career playing time is most important and Johnson should take it anywhere they can get it. Aris Salonika has long been considered to be the Columbus Crew of Greek football and should afford Johnson a much better shot at seeing the field than he had at Fulham. Hopefully this move will go through and will be fruitful for Mr. Eddie.

And finally, the saga of Freddy Adu continues. Belenenses, where Adu was playing on loan from Benfica, fired their manager and the new head honcho has decided to terminate Adu's loan and send him back to Benfica. Not good news for young Freddy considering he doesn't have much of a shot of seeing the field at Benfica. Just like Eddie Johnson, Adu needs to find a team that will play him so he can develop as a player. Adu will likely move in the January transfer window and may even have opportunities to return to MLS or possibly a smaller European league. Frankly, I still think Adu can be an impact player but time is running out since he can't seem to get any playing time. So my advice is to find anyone that will play you and go there. Even if you end up in Bratislava, just do it.