Group C: England (Roster)

Squad No.	Name	Date of birth (age)	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Goalkeepers
1	David James	1 August 1970 (1970-08-01) (age 39)	Portsmouth	50 (0)	v Mexico, 29 March 1997
12	Robert Green	18 January 1980 (1980-01-18) (age 30)	West Ham United	10 (0)	v Colombia, 31 May 2005
23	Joe Hart	19 April 1987 (1987-04-19) (age 23)	Manchester City	3 (0)	v Trinidad & Tobago, 1 June 2008
Defenders
2	Glen Johnson	23 August 1984 (1984-08-23) (age 25)	Liverpool	22 (1)	v Denmark, 18 November 2003
3	Ashley Cole	20 December 1980 (1980-12-20) (age 29)	Chelsea	78 (0)	v Albania, 28 March 2001
5	Michael Dawson	18 November 1983 (1983-11-18) (age 26)	Tottenham Hotspur	0 (0)	N/A
6	John Terry	7 December 1980 (1980-12-07) (age 29)	Chelsea	60 (6)	v Serbia & Montenegro, 3 June 2003
13	Stephen Warnock	12 December 1981 (1981-12-12) (age 28)	Aston Villa	1 (0)	v Trinidad & Tobago, 1 June 2008
15	Matthew Upson	18 April 1979 (1979-04-18) (age 31)	West Ham United	19 (1)	v South Africa, 22 May 2003
18	Jamie Carragher	28 January 1978 (1978-01-28) (age 32)	Liverpool	36 (0)	v Hungary, 28 April 1999
20	Ledley King	12 October 1980 (1980-10-12) (age 29)	Tottenham Hotspur	20 (2)	v Italy, 27 March 2002
Midfielders
4	Steven Gerrard (captain)	30 May 1980 (1980-05-30) (age 30)	Liverpool	80 (16)	v Ukraine, 31 May 2000
7	Aaron Lennon	16 April 1987 (1987-04-16) (age 23)	Tottenham Hotspur	17 (0)	v Jamaica, 2 June 2006
8	Frank Lampard (vice-captain)	20 June 1978 (1978-06-20) (age 31)	Chelsea	78 (20)	v Belgium, 10 October 1999
11	Joe Cole	8 November 1981 (1981-11-08) (age 28)	Chelsea	54 (10)	v Mexico, 25 May 2001
14	Gareth Barry	23 February 1981 (1981-02-23) (age 29)	Manchester City	36 (2)	v Ukraine, 31 May 2000
16	James Milner	4 January 1986 (1986-01-04) (age 24)	Aston Villa	8 (0)	v Netherlands, 12 August 2009
17	Shaun Wright-Phillips	25 October 1981 (1981-10-25) (age 28)	Manchester City	31 (6)	v Ukraine, 18 August 2004
22	Michael Carrick	28 July 1981 (1981-07-28) (age 28)	Manchester United	22 (0)	v Mexico, 25 May 2001
Strikers
9	Peter Crouch	30 January 1981 (1981-01-30) (age 29)	Tottenham Hotspur	38 (21)	v Colombia, 31 May 2005
10	Wayne Rooney	24 October 1985 (1985-10-24) (age 24)	Manchester United	60 (25)	v Australia, 12 February 2003
19	Jermain Defoe	7 October 1982 (1982-10-07) (age 27)	Tottenham Hotspur	39 (11)	v Sweden, 31 March 2004
21	Emile Heskey	11 January 1978 (1978-01-11) (age 32)	Aston Villa	58 (7)	v Hungary, 28 April 1999

Group C preview: England (About)

Nickname(s)	The Three Lions
Association	The Football Association
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Fabio Capello
Asst coach	Italo Galbiati Franco Baldini
Captain	Steven Gerrard as cover for Rio Ferdinand
Most caps	Peter Shilton (125)
Top scorer	Sir Bobby Charlton (49)
Home stadium	Wembley Stadium
FIFA code	ENG
FIFA ranking	8
Highest FIFA ranking	4 (December 1997, September 2006)
Lowest FIFA ranking	27 (February 1996)
Elo ranking	4

Group C

The following three posts will be a breakdown of the USMNT opponents in the group stage of the World Cup: England, Algeria, and Slovenia.

Team for WC

No.	Players	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Birthdate	Hometown	Club/College	Caps/Goals
1	Howard, Tim	GK	6-3	210	03/06/79	North Brunswick, N.J.	Everton (England)	51/0
2	Spector, Jonathan	D	6-0	180	03/01/86	Arlington Heights, Ill.	West Ham United (England)	25/0
3	Bocanegra, Carlos	D	6-0	170	05/25/79	Alta Loma, Calif.	Rennes (France)	79/12
4	Bradley, Michael	M	6-2	175	07/31/87	Manhattan Beach, Calif.	Borussia Mönchengladbach (Germany)	43/7
5	Onyewu, Oguchi	D	6-4	210	05/13/82	Olney, Md.	AC Milan (Italy)	54/5
6	Cherundolo, Steve	D	5-6	145	02/19/79	San Diego, Calif.	Hannover 96 (Germany)	60/2
7	Beasley, DaMarcus	M	5-8	145	05/24/82	Ft. Wayne, Ind.	Rangers (Scotland)	92/17
8	Dempsey, Clint	M	6-1	170	03/09/83	Nacogdoches, Texas	Fulham (England)	62/18
9	Gomez, Herculez	F	5-10	165	04/06/82	Las Vegas, Nev.	Puebla F.C. (Mexico)	4/2
10	Donovan, Landon	M	5-8	158	03/04/82	Redlands, Calif.	Los Angeles Galaxy	123/42
11	Holden, Stuart	M	5-10	160	08/01/85	Houston, Texas	Bolton Wanderers (England)	14/2
12	Bornstein, Jonathan	D	5-9	145	11/07/84	Los Alamitos, Calif.	Chivas USA	32/2
13	Clark, Ricardo	M	5-10	150	05/10/83	Jonesboro, Ga.	Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany)	29/2
14	Buddle, Edson	F	6-1	185	05/21/81	New Rochelle, N.Y.	Los Angeles Galaxy	3/2
15	DeMerit, Jay	D	6-0	185	12/04/79	Green Bay, Wis.	Watford (England)	19/0
16	Torres, José	M	5-7	135	10/29/87	Longview, Texas	Pachuca (Mexico)	10/0
17	Altidore, Jozy	F	6-1	175	11/06/89	Boca Raton, Fla.	Villareal (Spain)	25/9
18	Guzan, Brad	GK	6-4	210	09/09/84	Homer Glen, Ill.	Aston Villa (England)	16/0
19	Edu, Maurice	M	6-0	170	04/18/86	Fontana, Calif.	Rangers (Scotland)	13/1
20	Findley, Robbie	F	5-9	165	08/04/85	Phoenix, Ariz.	Real Salt Lake	6/0
21	Goodson, Clarence	D	6-4	170	05/17/82	Alexandria, Va.	IK Start (Norway)	14/2
22	Feilhaber, Benny	M	5-9	150	01/19/85	Irvine, Calif.	AGF Aarhus (Denmark)	32/2
23	Hahnemann, Marcus	GK	6-3	220	06/15/72	Seattle, Wash.	Wolverhampton Wanderers (England)	16/0

Stars and Strikes is Back

After some time away due to School I am back to relaunch Stars and Strikes just in time for the world cup. I am hoping to be able to bring back all of the old readers since we had some real good conversations going. Anyone who has requests or advice let me know and I will try and make this site as good as it was before if not better.

ESPN Cofirmed!

Here's Hoping

Update: In a horrible twist in this never ending saga there will be no Jozy Altidore tomorrow. He has said via twitter:

“Still in the States trying to sort things out with my work permit,”

Its official! From EPLtalk.com:

It’s confirmed. ESPN2 will show the opening game of the 2009-2010 season between Chelsea and Hull City at 7:45am ET Saturday.

“Chelsea v Hull 7:45 AM on ESPN2 – and look for the EPL every or most Saturdays in that time slot,” reported ESPN Spanish-language announcer Roberto Abramowitz on the North American Soccer List. The news of the game being shown on ESPN2 has also been confirmed on ESPN News and ESPN Soccernet.

In the meantime, we’re working on getting confirmation from ESPN that the Disney-owned network will also carry the Monday 3pm ET kickoffs for the 2009-2010 season in addition to the 7:45am ET game each Saturday (and at 10am ET when there is no 7:45am ET game available).

This is truly a historic day in the rise of soccer in the United States.

Great news and I’m excited to see Jozy tomorrow!

Swine Flu News Everywhere

looks sick to me

So Landon Donovan has Swine Flu… You would think he got this in his time in Mexico but it turns out that he probably got it from his Galaxy Coaches during his trip to New England:

According to the Los Angeles Times, a pair of Galaxy team staffers (an administrator and chiropractor) who travel with the squad fell ill during the team’s trip to the Massachusetts to play the New England Revolution.
Soon after, Donovan began to feel poorly.

So he was sick during the game vs Mexico probability not a good combination with the altitude, pollution and heat…. so take that for whats its worth. However the USMNT is saying they had no idea that Donovan was sick:

“As part of the press release that announced the preventative measures U.S. Soccer expressed that they had no knowledge of Donovan being sick while he was in camp or during their trip to Mexico and it is presumed that he most likely came in contact with the virus while with his club team in L.A.
The most troubling issue is that Donovan never mentioned his illness to the U.S. team, opting to fight through it rather than alert the doctors ahead of the match against Mexico.
Donovan is quoted in the L.A. Times as saying that he began coughing on Monday and felt tired ahead of the match on Wednesday.
With the conditions is Azteca already hard enough to deal with, playing with an illness could have been a very costly mistake, both for Donovan and for the team. With the news not breaking until the team had split and was once again spread out all over the globe, the preventative measures could be hard to implement.
According to Galaxy manager Bruce Arena Donovan could be an option on Saturday for his club team but his availability will be determined by how he feels before the match.”

Because of this the US national team is taking measures to protect their players:

“U.S. Soccer is trying to take preventative measures against the further spread of the influenza A virus which star midfielder Landon Donovan tested positive for a day after the U.S. lost to Mexico.”
“We have prescribed the medication to players, coaches and staff members who may have come in close contact with Landon Donovan solely as a preventative measure,” said Dr. David Wallis, a member of the U.S. Soccer medical staff in a press release. “Based on CDC recommendations, individuals who did not experience close contact with the player, such as journalists, fans or opposing players, do not need to take any preventative measures. As of now, no other member of the U.S. team delegation has indicated any symptoms associated with the virus and at this time we do not believe additional steps are necessary. However, we will be continuing to monitor the situation and CDC recommendations very closely as we continue to learn more.”

And now club teams have begun to worry as Cherundolo has been quarantined:

“Unsure of whether U.S. Men’s National Team defender Steve Cherundolo is infected, Hannover have decided to quarantine the 30-year-old until it has become medically clear he doesn’t have the virus.
“Until we have clarity, it would be irresponsible not to isolate Stevie from the team,” Hannover director of sport Joerg Schmadtke said of the preventive measure to the club’s website.”

Hopefully this dose not affect any playing time for USMNT players, however it is speculated that Michale Bradley will be quarantined soon as well, with their clubs because its time for us to start using all of our new additions to top European Clubs as a way to improve our players and team as a whole.

ESPN and EPL

So as I search everywhere for news about the EPL I found some good information from EPLtalk.com:

“We understand that ESPN and Fox Soccer Channel are still feverishly working on concluding the contract so that the early Saturday morning and Monday afternoon ET Premier League games will be available on ESPN2. However, no agreement has been completed as of writing, and we’re now less than 24 hours away from the kickoff of the 2009/2010 Premier League season.

We’re still very hopeful that an agreement can be made in time, so that ESPN2 can carry the game, but the closer it gets to the kickoff time without the paperwork signed, the more nervous soccer fans become. There is the possibility that Fox Soccer Channel would still show the game either on television or online at FoxSoccer.tv since they still technically own the rights (until the agreement for sub-licensing the broadcasting of the game to ESPN is concluded).”

Hopefully this gets resolved in time because I really want to see Jozy and because I feel this will be a huge stride in making soccer huge in the US. Just in case EPLtalk.com also offers alternatives to watch (illegally) or listen the game:

Sirius Satellite. The Chelsea against Hull City match will be available to all Sirius radio customers on channel 125. If you’re not a Sirius Satellite Radio customer, they do offer a free trial of their product online, but unfortunately channel 125 isn’t one of the stations available.

Hull City Player. You can subscribe to Hull City’s audio commentary of the gamefrom its website for as little as £3.99. ‘Player’ was formerly known as ‘World’ and now works on both a Mac and PC. Chelsea FC may have their own commentary available, but you’ll have to check back here. Right now, it still says ‘Coming Soon.’

BBC London 94.9. BBC’s local London radio station streams live on the Internetand often features live commentary from matches as well as match reports from around the grounds. There’s no guarantee they’ll be broadcasting the Chelsea match (they always broadcast from a match featuring a team from London; the times when I’ve listened, it’s been either Tottenham Hotspur or Crystal Palace). Plus, their sports program doesn’t begin until 9am ET, but at least you may be able to catch the second half of the game from its stream.

Justin.tv. We hate to recommend this one because any streaming video of the match online would be illegal, but unless Fox or ESPN show the game, this will be one of the few sources where football fans can watch the game online.

Ustream. Similar to Justin.tv, Ustream will carry streaming video of the match. Note however that Ustream videos are illegal. We hate to recommend illegal avenues, but if that’s the only way we can be able to watch the match live, what else are football supporters supposed to do?

I will try to update if any news on this matter breaks… How do you all plan to watch if it is not on TV?

Weekend TV… ESPN?

Here's Hoping

So there is also an update from Ives about which games will be available to US fans if you own every channel available on cable and satellite and whatever else there is, but there is one glaring exception… no Chelsea v Hull or ESPN at all.  Ives who works with ESPN has not said anything about the game, although he was the one who initially said that it should be available on ESPN.  However on the ESPN website they have a new guide for the EPL season which has in the preview:

“The new Barclays Premier League season is here and we have all you need to know, including which games will be shown on ESPN.”

Yet when you go to the link there is no info about ESPN games on TV.  I think this means one of two things; either 1. they are planning to announce it later with a big announcement, maybe for the nights Sportscenter or after the PGA Championship round is over or 2. They are still negotiating the deal and are leaving the door open to announce the deal if it happens in time.  I really hope that we get to see Jozy debut, and if its on ESPN there will probably be lots of coverage about him. But for the rest of the games on TV:

FRIDAY

• 8pm- FSC- Miami FC Blues vs. Minnesota Thunder

SATURDAY

• 9:30am- GolTV- Hamburg SV vs. Borussia Dortmund

• 10am- FSC- Stoke City vs. Burnsley

• 10am- Setanta Sports- Fulham vs. Portsmouth

• 10am- Setanta Sports- Blackburn vs. Manchester City

• 10am- FSC, FSE- Aston Villa vs. Wigan Athletic

• 12:20pm- Setanta Sports- Newcastle United vs. Reading

• 12:30pm- GolTV- FC Koln vs. VfL Wolfsburg

• 12:30pm- FSC, FSE- Everton vs. Arsenal

• 3pm- Setanta Sports- Toulouse vs. Saint-Etienne

• 4pm- Direct Kick, Telefutura- D.C. United vs. Toronto FC

• 5pm- GolTV- Palmeiras vs. Botafogo

• 5pm- Setanta Sports- West Ham vs. Wolves

• 6pm- FSC, FSE- Real Salt Lake vs. Houston Dynamo

• 6pm- Telemundo- Monterrey vs. CD Toluca

• 7pm- Direct Kick- Columbus Crew vs. FC Dallas

• 7pm- MSG- New York Red Bulls vs. Chivas USA

• 7:30pm- GolTV- Millonarios Bogota vs. Nacional Funchal

• 8pm- Telemundo- Chivas Guadalajara vs. Queretaro FC

• 9:30pm- GolTV- Medellin vs. Envigado

• 9:45pm- Telefutura- Pachuca vs. San Luis

• 11pm- Direct Kick- Los Angeles Galaxy vs. Seattle Sounders

SUNDAY

• 3:30am- FSC- Sydney FC vs. Adelaide United FC

• 4am- Setanta Sports- Portsmouth vs. Fulham

• 6am- FSC- Blackburn vs. Manchester City

• 8:30am- Setanta Sports- Manchester United vs. Birmingham City

• 11am- FSC, FSE- Tottenham vs. Liverpool

• 11am- Setanta Sports- Nice vs. Rennes

• 11:30am- GolTV- Schalke 04 vs. VfL Bochum

• 1pm- FSE- Morelia vs. Indios

• 1pm- Telemundo- Pumas UNAM vs. Tigres UANL

• 1pm- Setanta Sports- Olympique Lyon vs. Valenciennes

• 2pm- Setanta Sports- Marseill vs. Lille

• 2:30pm- GolTV- Napoli vs. Salernitana

• 3pm- Telefutura- Kansas City Wizards vs. Chicago Fire

• 4:30pm- GolTV- Gremio vs. Flamengo

• 5pm- Telefutura- Santos Laguna vs. Cruz Azul

• 5pm- Univision- America vs. Atlas

What are you planning to watch? Most of the EPL Americans are on and Everton v Arsenal seems like an excited game and a big challenge for Tim Howard. Anything else people plan to see?

Americans Abroad Weekend

Now that our Americans have returned to their clubs its time for some real seasons to start! Ives Galarcep has a list of the players in action this weekend outside of the MLS:

FRIDAY

Matt Taylor and FSV Frankfurt face SpVgg Greuther Feurth.

SATURDAY

Jozy Altidore and Hull City faces Chelsea.

Clint Dempsey, Eddie Johnson and Fulham face Portsmouth.

Brad Friedel, Brad Guzan, Eric Lichaj and Aston Villa face Wigan Athletic.

Jonathan Spector and West Ham United face Marcus Hahnemannand Wolves.

Tim Howard and Everton face Arsenal.

Charlie Davies and Sochaux face Bordeaux.

Steve Cherundolo and Hannover face Borussia Dortmund.

Kenny Cooper and 1860 Munich face Hansa Rostock

Jay DeMerit and Watford face Sheffield United.

Frank Simek and Sheffield Wednesday face Peterborough United.

Jemal Johnson and MK Dons face Swindon Town.

Mike Grella and Leeds face Jon-Paul Pittman Wycombe Wanderers

Zak Whitbread and Millwall face Carlisle United.

Ian Joyce and Southend face Walsall.

Maurice Edu, DaMarcus Beasley and Rangers face Falkirk.

Benny Feilhaber and Jeremiah White and AGF Aarhus face FC Copenhagen.

Michael Parkhurst and FC Nordsjaelland face Koge.

Marcus Tracy and AaB face Sonderjyske.

Mikkel Diskerud and Stabaek face Tromso.

Jose Francisco Torres and Pachuca face Michael Orozco and San Luis.

Jesus Padilla and Chivas de Guadalajara face Queretaro.

SUNDAY

Michael Bradley and Borussia Moenchengladbach face Hertha Berlin.

Carlos Bocanegra and Rennes face Nice.

Luis Robles and Kaiserslautern face Ahlen.

David Yelldell and TUS Koblenz face Arminia Bielefeld.

Troy Perkins and Valarenga face Lillestrom.

Marco Vidal and Indios face Morelia.

Edgar Castillo and Tigres face UNAM Pumas.

MONDAY

Kamani Hill and Guimaraes face Vitoria Setubal.

Dan Califf and FC Midtjylland face Odense BK.

Alejandro Bedoya and Orebro SK face Djurgarden.

Who are you most excited to see this weekend? Personally I can’t wait for Chelsea to play Hull City (hopefully on ESPN) tomorrow at 10am eastern.  His first game, hopefully lots of playing time, vs a favorite of many to win the EPL and possibly the Champions League as well.