Casual Friday: News and Random Thoughts

Here are some pieces of news to help get you to the weekend:

*Bolton manager Owen Coyle has stated that Stuart Holden will play this weekend, though he's not sure whether that will be as a substitute or a starter.  Obviously, this is great news for the USMNT, as Stu will get some competitive minutes in before heading off to international duty.

*Elsewhere in Europe, Eintracht Frankfurt have picked up Ricardo Clark's 3-year option after his solid pair of starts in recent weeks.  I couldn't be happier that my gloomy predictions made way back when in this post didn't come to fruition.

*England's Gareth Barry might not be available for the World Cup after suffering an ankle injury in Manchester City's 1-0 loss to Tottenham on Wednesday. 

*Also dealing with ankle issues is Honduras striker Carlo Costly, who suffered a fracture during club play yesterday.  A team spokesman, however, was optimistic that the striker would still be fit in time for the World Cup.

*Via Twitter, Grant Wahl has stated that the CAF has lifted Togo's ban from the next two Africa Cup of Nation tournaments that was put in place in the aftermath of the bus attack in Angola back in January and the Togolese camp's subsequent decision to withdrawal.  The original decision angered and puzzled a lot of people, myself included, so it's good to see that it has been reversed.

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Also, since it's Friday and I'm bored, I figured I'd share with you some pointless, scattered, unrelated thoughts that have been in my head that I felt like putting down somewhere:

*Paul Caligiuri's goal against Trinidad and Tobago was great and all, but am I the only one who thinks it probably should have been saved?  Also, Andres Escobar got all the blame in Colombia back in '94, but what was their keeper doing on Earnie Stewart's goal (at 6:55)?  Not complaining about either, but just saying...On a related note, keep an eye out for an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on Escobar, which will come out in June according to Wikipedia.

*Max Bretos' mis-call of Tim Howard's spectacular save (at 1:20) in the dying minutes of the 2007 Gold Cup final was, in retrospect, very disappointing (something I didn't realize/hear at the time because I was yelling at my TV).  It's like the USMNT equivalent of Joe Buck completely underselling one of the greatest Super Bowl plays of all-time (Eli Manning's scrambling escape act and hopeful heave followed by David Tyree's helmet catch).  If you're reading this Joe, just know that I think you are absolutely awful behind the mic.  Max, I have no problem with you most of the time, just this one instance in particular.  I'm not exactly sure why I care so much about this, but it's always bothered me.  I suppose you're call of Benny Feilhaber's stunning volley (at 2:11) makes up for it; the raw emotion was great.

(Those last two came to mind after watching this video over at WVHooligan)

*Slovenia may be our Group C rivals, but I have to admit, I like their World Cup jerseys.  It kind of has a Charlie Brown feel to it.

*Landon Donovan's loan at Everton could have been even more productive if he didn't have Phil Neville playing behind him for many of the games.  I don't know how many times he opted not to pass to an open or running Donovan in favor of just hoofing a hopeful yet woefully inadequate ball into a mass of defenders.

*If there was a drinking game that involved taking a drink every time that John Harkes referred to a player as "the number...", the USMNT fan base would quickly shrink due to alcohol-related deaths. 

*The draw against Argentina in 2008 was easily the most memorable pre-qualifying 0-0 friendly that I've ever seen.  I would use that game as evidence when countering anyone who claims that soccer is boring because there isn't a lot of scoring. 

*DC United's Bill Hamid looked good in his professional debut.  I'll be keeping my eye on him now, and I suspect many others are going to do the same.  But what does getting benched in favor of a 19-year old kid say about Troy Perkins?


Like I said, pointless and scattered; these things build up when your friends and family don't care about soccer nearly as much as you do.

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Happy Friday, everybody.