Bradley finally on the move?

According to the U.K.'s Daily Mirror, Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate has targeted Coach's son and time-waster Michael Bradley.

Bradley, who plays for Dutch side Heerenveen, was also rumored to be a target of Freddy Adu's new club Monaco but that move never materialized. Bayer Leverkusen was also reportedly interested in the 21-year-old midfielder.

MLS still better than EPL

For the fourth consecutive match, the MLS All-Stars were able to defeat their foreign competition, as MLS's best players beat the Hammers 3-2 at BMO Field in Toronto. But most importantly, no one got injured.

The Hammers jumped out to an early lead when Dean Ashton beat Revs keeper Matt Reis with a low, right-footer. But a minute later All-Star MVP Cuauhtemoc Blanco backheeled a pretty, no-look pass to Colorado midfielder Christian Gomez who returned the favor with a right-footed blast of his own.



MLS would take the lead in the 43rd minute, when FC Dallas winger Juan Toja (who had one of his better games in a subpar season so far for the mulleted one) flipped a ball over the retreating West Ham backline to Blanco who cut back and hit a curling shot inside the far post.



The halftime show was entertaining as well for a change, too. No, I'm not talking about whatever hack musician that was warbling outside of the stadium. I'm talking about Don Garber and Rob Stone getting pelleted with streamers by the TFC fans. And Stone chucking a roll back and exclaiming like a 12-year-old, "I got 'em in the head."

Back to the game, in the second half a deflection off Jimmy Conrad's head from an Ashton blast knotted things up again. But the entrance of native son Dwayne DeRosario had already breathed new life into the MLS attack and the dreaded Dynamo won and converted a penalty kick which proved to be the winner.



It probably should have been 4-2, if not for a terrible offside call that disallowed a goal by Red Bulls striker Juan Pablo Angel. See, even in the MLS All-Star game the referees in MLS are terrible. And, yes, it was entertaining, but I still hate the MLS All-Star game.

A side note, Garber announced that MLS would be adding two more teams by 2011, making it an 18-team league. I've already voiced my reservations about this. He also strongly hinted that the deal to bring Brian McBride home to Chicago had been worked out. Announcement forthcoming.

Friedel might bump Guzan to bench at Villa

The Daily Mirror (UK) is reporting that Aston Villa is attempting to sign 37-year-old American goalkeeper Brad Friedel for two million pounds as a "short-term solution" before going after Wayne Hennessey from Wolves next year.

This move would leave Villa's other goalkeeping target -- fellow American Brad Guzan -- as the odd man out.

Guzan, 23, is still awaiting a work permit so the $4 million move from Chivas USA can be finalized, but if Friedel is the "short-term" solution" and Hennessey is the "long-term solution," what is Guzan? Break only in case of emergency?

Villa, who is owned by American entrepreneur Randy Lerner, could become the new Fulham. In the past they targeted (but didn't sign) U.S. national teamer Frank Simek and they signed 18-year-old American defender Eric Lichaj.

Crew, Hammer fans brawl

It was just a friendly, but the fans didn't get the memo, as over 100 people were involved in fights during halftime of Columbus and West Ham United's exhibition at Crew Stadium last night.

According to reports, West Ham supporters entered the North end and were taunted by member of the Crew supporter groups that sit there. Several brawls broke out between over a 100 Crew fans and some 30 West Ham supporters according to reports in the Columbus Dispatch.

Police and stadium security were needed to separate the groups. Maybe they were fighting over who has the most racist fan base. By the way, West Ham won the game 3-1 if anyone cares.

West Ham whine like little girls

West Ham United are whining because the airline that was to be used to bring them to Toronto for the 2008 All-Star game went out of business. I'm not sure why they're "mad at MLS" because of this. And now they must fly in (gasp) economy, instead of first class. They are also worried about hurting themselves on BMO Field's artificial turf. Wow, they aren't even here yet and they're already setting up excuses for why they won't win. 

Guzan gets dream move to Villa

According to part-time ESPN writer/blogger, Ives Galarcep, Brad Guzan's English dream has been revived, as the American goalkeeper has been able to secure a work permit from the notoriously stingy British government.

According to the article:

The Chivas USA goalkeeper is heading to Aston Villa on a $1.5 million transfer after Villa and Major League Soccer agreed to the fee and completed the transfer on Friday, sources with knowledge of the deal confirmed to ESPNsoccernet.

Also according to Galarcep, several keepers, including fellow American Brad Friedel, were linked to Villa since the departure of their No. 1 keeper Scott Carson, but Guzan will be the first signed (which, of course, means bunk since they are getting him on the cheap).

This is surprising given the keeper's dreadful form in Major League Soccer this season that some have attributed to a psychological letdown after his "done deal" to England fell through back in January due to work permit issues. Others questioned if the 2007 MLS goalkeeper of the year had the stuff to begin with.

Guzan has a less-than-impressive 1.33 goals against average and is just a game over .500 in 15 games for Chivas USA. At midseason, he has almost allowed as many goals (20) as he did all of last season (25).

As Galarcep writes, Guzan qualified for the work permit only after playing in "five of the U.S. national team's eight matches this year." According to ussoccer.com, however, Guzan played in only four matches this year. He is 2-0 as a starter for the U.S. this year with no goals allowed against Sweden (not bad) and Barbados (clean sheets are a dime a dozen in Barbados). In relief against England and Spain, he allowed England's second (John Terry) and against the European champions, he allowed the winning goal (Xavi Hernandez).

TYH wishes him the best of luck in "Merry ol' Engerlund" but we hope this move doesn't cloud Bradley's judgement on the goalkeeping depth chart. You gave him his four games to help him get over there, but he's not at Tim Howard's level. He isn't better than a healthy Marcus Hahnemann. Old guys Kasey Keller and Brad Friedel are still a nothc above him. He's not even the best keeper in MLS anymore (see Matt Reis).

Here's to hoping he turns his career around, and we're eating our words by year's end.

Middlesbrough make room for Bradley

EPL club Middlesbrough are attempting to unload central midfielder George Boateng to clear room for American defensive midfielder Michael Bradley, according to reports in The Daily Star.

According to the British paper, Bradley's current club Heerenveen would receive £3 million for the 20-year-old Bradley, who is already penciled into the starting line-up for the U.S. Olympic team and in the mix for the 2010 World Cup. His father, of course, is Bob Bradley, head coach of the U.S. national team.

It would be a positive move for Bradley who has been a off the radar for American fans since moving to The Netherlands from New York. Major League Soccer should also consider a swoop for Boateng, 32, if the Ghana-born Dutch footballer is economical. But it is likely that he'll want to return to the Dutch Eredivisie, perhaps in a straight swap to Heerenveen.

Fulham's a little less American

English Premier League club Fulham released American centerback Carlos Bocanegra on Friday after the club narrowly avoided relegation this season.

Bocanegra, a regular starter and sometimes captain under former manager Lawrie Sanchez, was underutilized and underappreciated by Fulham's soon to be ex-manager Roy Hodgson. I give Hodgson five games into next season before he's sacked. Fulham fired Sanchez with Fulham in the relegation zone and Hodgson needed late game heroics in the final match of the season to avoid the drop. I don't really see the difference between the two bosses.

Americans Brian McBride, Clint Dempsey, Eddie Johnson and Kasey Keller all remain on the roster for now, although there are rumors that McBride and Keller may retire. Fulham also released Jari Litmanen, Philippe Christanval, Simon Elliott, Ian Pearce, Michael Timlin, Ismael Ehui and Bjorn Runstrom.