Hansa Rostock's American defender Heath Pearce has been suspended for two matches for a vicious 64th minute foul he committed against Sidney Sam during his team's 6:0 debacle against 1FC Kaiserslautern on Monday night.

Rostock came into the season with big plans to climb back to the First Bundesliga but now they'll be fighting to prevent relegation to the third division. Click to continue reading...

Nachdem Hansa Rostock heute erst bekannt gab, dass Trainer Frank Pagelsdorf gemeinsam mit Co-Trainer und Timo Lange beurlaubt wurde, hat man scheinbar sehr schnell einen Nachfolger gefunden. Schon am morgigen Dienstag will der Vorstand Weltmeister Lothar Matthäus als neuen Cheftrainer in Rostock vorstellen. Click to continue reading...

Nachdem Hansa Rostock heute erst bekannt gab, dass Trainer Frank Pagelsdorf gemeinsam mit Co-Trainer und Timo Lange beurlaubt wurde, hat man scheinbar sehr schnell einen Nachfolger gefunden. Schon am morgigen Dienstag will der Vorstand Weltmeister Lothar Matthäus als neuen Cheftrainer in Rostock vorstellen. Click to continue reading...

Like a few other American players this past weekend, Hansa Rostock defender Heath Pearce had to watch from the bench as his team drew a home match with VFL Osnabruck 2-2 in Second Bundesliga play. The Hansa board and fans, after years spent in the First Bundesliga expected to be further along by now in their quest for promotion back to the top flight, not languishing in 12th place with only three wins in 12 matches. Click to continue reading...

It took 12 weeks but Borussia Moenchengladbach finally recorded its first road win of the season by downing Arminia Bielefeld 2-0. Michael Bradley went the full 90 and contributed offensively and defensively to the effort - a positive sign after only five previous appearances, mostly as a substitute. Click to continue reading...

The DFB-Pokal Round of 16 draw took place on Sunday, and the UEFA Cup group stage draw just concluded an hour ago. DFB-Pokal Round of 16 SC Freiburg - FSV Mainz 05 VfB Stuttgart - Bayern Munich Bayer Leverkusen - Energie Cottbus Hamburger SV - 1860 Munich Karlsruher SC - SV Wehen Wiesbaden VfL Wolfsburg - Hansa Rostock Carl Zeiss Jena - FC [. Click to continue reading...

The USA announced their roster for the Cuba match, to be played at RFK Stadium on 10/11/08.  With advancement to the next round close to a sure thing, Bradley has taken a few more risks (well...I'd be happy to debate anyone on how "risky" they actually are) and called in some younger players.  I, for [. Click to continue reading...

So, in about six hours the US team will take on Trinidad and Tobago in first round World Cup qualifying after tallying a wins in Cuba and Guatemala. A win tonight in Chicago would give the USA nine points and all but assure a trip to the CONCACAF final six.

Not to disrespect T&T, who put forth a fine effort in the 2006 World Cup (nearly nicking a point from England) but they aren't quite the same squad these days under Francisco Maturana. Click to continue reading...

OK folks, now that Michael Bradley has found a new home at Borussia Monchengladbach, we still have 12 hours before we know if Oguchi Onyewu is going to PSG, Espanyol, Lazio, Bologna, or someplace England. The Italian deadline is at 6PM (12 PM EDT) so if its a Serie A move, expect to know earlier in the day. Click to continue reading...

As I look at this roster, I feel a bit optimistic. We actually have a little bit of depth as a nation finally. Let's hope the team can start to gel a bit and show us a bit more consistency.

Beasley, DaMarcus | Glasgow Rangers (Scotland)
Bocanegra, Carlos | Rennes (France)
Bradley, Michael | SC Heerenveen (Holland)
Califf, Danny | FC Midtjylland (Denmark)
Cherundolo, Steve | Hannover 96 (Germany)
Ching, Brian | Houston Dynamo (MLS)
Clark, Ricardo | Houston Dynamo (MLS)
Dempsey, Clint | Fulham FC (England)
Donovan, Landon | Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS)
Edu, Maurice | Glasgow Rangers (Scotland)
Guzan, Brad | Aston Villa (England)
Hejduk, Frankie | Columbus Crew (MLS)
Howard, Tim | Everton FC (England)
Johnson, Eddie | Cardiff City (Wales)
Kljestan, Sacha | Chivas USA (MLS)
Lewis, Eddie | Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS)
Onyewu, Oguchi | Standard de Liege (Belgium)
Orozco, Michael | San Luis (Mexico)
Pearce, Heath | Hansa Rostock (Germany)
Wynne, Marvell | Toronto FC (MLS) Click to continue reading...

U.S. men's national team coach Bob Bradley has named his 20-man roster for the upcoming games against Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago.

Here it is:

• GOALKEEPERS : Brad Guzan (Aston Villa: 2/2 SO), Tim Howard (Everton FC: 4/3 SO)
• DEFENDERS: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes: 14/2), Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland: 2/0), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96: 16/0), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew: 12/1), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege: 9/0), Michael Orozco (San Luis: 0/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 3/0), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC: 0/0)
• MIDFIELDERS: DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers: 17/4), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen: 3/1), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo: 1/0), Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers: 2/0), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 1/0), Eddie Lewis (Los Angeles Galaxy: 20/3)
• FORWARDS: Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo: 8/4), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy: 22/8), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC: 9/2), Eddie Johnson (Cardiff City: 8/8)

*numbers indicate all-time World Cup Qualifying caps/goals

Michael Orozco and Marvell Wynne are the new faces, earning call-ups after their performances at the Olympics while Ricardo Clark replaces injured central midfielder Pablo Mastroeni.

Click to continue reading...

U.S. Coach Bob Bradley has just announced a 20-man roster for the pair of upcoming World Cup Qualifying games against Cuba Sept. 6 in Havana and Trinidad & Tobago on Sept. 10 in Chicago.

There are just two changes and two additions to the squad Bradley selected for the recent qualifier in Guatemala.

Click to continue reading...

United States Men's National Team coach Bob Bradley has unveiled his 18-man roster for the upcoming World Cup qualifying group game against Guatemala, which will take place in Guatemala City this coming Wednesday, August 20th. The game can be seen on ESPN2 and Galavision starting at 10 p.m. ET.
Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton FC)

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock)

Midfielders: Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Eddie Lewis (Derby County), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers)

Forwards: Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC) Click to continue reading...

Everyone out there is upset that Kenny Cooper wasn't called up. Considering he's scored like 82 goals a game for FC Dallas this season, I'm upset too.

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England), Tim Howard (Everton, England).

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes, France), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Jay DeMerit (Watford, England), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege, Belgium), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock, Germany)

Midfielders: Michael Bradley (Heerenveen, Netherlands), Maurice Edu (Toronto), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Eddie Lewis (Derby County, England), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado)

Forwards: Brian Ching (Houston), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Eddie Johnson (Fulham, England)

Young midfielders rule. Click to continue reading...

Interestingly no Freddy Adu called into this squad even though four other returning Olympians from the US side are called into the squad. The numbers are caps and goal in World Cup qualifying.

GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa: 2/2 SO), Tim Howard (Everton FC: 3/2 SO)
DEFENDERS (6): Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes: 13/1), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96: 15/0), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC: 1/0), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew: 11/1), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege: 8/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 2/0)
MIDFIELDERS (5): Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen: 2/1), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC: 1/0), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 1/0), Eddie Lewis (Derby County: 19/3), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids: 10/0)
FORWARDS (4): Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo: 7/4), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy: 21/8), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC: 8/2), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC: 8/8)

What are everyone's thoughts about this squad?

Click to continue reading...

GOALKEEPERS: Tim Howard (Everton FC), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa) DEFENDERS: Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock) MIDFIELDERS: Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Eddie Lewis (Derby County), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids), DaMarcus Beasley [. Click to continue reading...

The Galaxy's Landon Donovan will lead the U.S. against Guatemala.
Photo by Scott Varley.

Galaxy hotshot Edson Buddle - 12 goals in 15 starts this season - was overlooked yet again by U.S. Men's National Team Coach Bob Bradley today when he announced the squad for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Guatemala in Central America.

Click to continue reading...

Here it is. Initially, don't see any big surprises. Of the Olympians, Bob Bradley chose to bring four along - Brad Guzan, Maurice Edu, Sacha Kljestan and Michael Bradley.

Also, it's not a surprise but still disappointed to see Brian Ching selected over Kenny Cooper. Knowing Bradley, he'd probably like to get Cooper in a friendly or two before calling him for a qualifier so I suppose that's why I'm not surprised. Click to continue reading...

VfLBochum 2-0 Borussia Dortmund (10:03:07)
Kickers Offenbach 1-1 Hansa Rostock (11:03:07)


The 'march' of Dortmund fans from Bochum station to the ground.

Rewirpower Stadion home to VfL Bochum.

6,000 Dortmund fans in 'You'll Never Walk Alone' mode.

And you thought the opening ceremony in Beijing was impressive! Click to continue reading...

Pit your wits against our final Euro-themed quiz 1. Career path Servette, Tenerife, Hansa Rostock, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Mönchengladbach (current) 2. Multiple choice Before David Villa's hat-trick against Russia, who was the last man to score a hat-trick in a... Click to continue reading...

Bob Bradley named his squad today for the irrelevant return World Cup qualifying leg in Barbados Sunday (caps and goals are in parentheses): goalkeepers Dominic Cervi (out of contract: 0/0), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA: 1/1 SO), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake: 0/0); defenders Carlos Bocanegra (out of contract: 12/1), Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland: 1/0), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC: 0/0), Drew Moor (FC Dallas: 0/0) Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege: 8/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 1/0); mikdfielders DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers: 15/4), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen: 1/1), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 0/0), Eddie Lewis (Derby County: 18/2), Danny Szetela (Brescia: 0/0), John Thorrington (Chicago Fire: 0/0; forwards Freddy Adu (SL Benfica: 1/0), Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire: 0/0), Chris Rolfe (Chicago Fire: 0/0).

Click to continue reading...

GOALKEEPERS: Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Dominic Cervi (out of contract),  Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake) DEFENDERS: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Drew Moor (FC Dallas) Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock) MIDFIELDERS: DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Eddie Lewis (Derby County), [. Click to continue reading...

World Cup 2010 qualifying gets underway for the States on Sunday when the lads host Barbados in Carson (Sunday at 5:00 Eastern on ESPN2).

Here's an article.

Here's Greg Lalas' 3-5-2 that breaks down the upcoming match and looks at the current national team scenario.

There's (to the left) a picture of Barbados. Click to continue reading...

GOALKEEPERS (3): Dominic Cervi (out of contract), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Tim Howard (Everton FC) DEFENDERS (7): Carlos Bocanegra (out of contract), Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock) MIDFIELDERS (7): Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), [. Click to continue reading...

The 21-man squad for Sunday's game against Barbados is exactly the same as the 19-man squad named for the Argentina game with the addition of Houston Dynamo striker Brian Ching (rewarded for his five goals and three assists in 12 MLS games so far this season) and defender Carlos Bocanegra.

That means goalkeeper Brad Guzan and midfielder Sacha Kljestan of Chivas USA and the Galaxy's Landon Donovan all retain their places, as does Fontana's Maurice Edu.

Click to continue reading...

Bob Bradley has named his team for the qualifier versus Barbados.
I guess the big story here is that Kenny Cooper wasn't called in.

U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION
GOALKEEPERS (3): Dominic Cervi (out of contract: 0/0), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA: 0/0), Tim Howard (Everton FC: 3/2 SO)
DEFENDERS (7): Carlos Bocanegra (out of contract: 11/1), Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland: 1/0), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96: 14:0), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC: 0/0), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew: 11/1), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege: 7/0), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock: 0/0)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Freddy Adu (SL Benfica: 0/0), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers: 14/4), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen: 0/0), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC: 0/0), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA: 0/0), Eddie Lewis (Derby County: 17/2), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids: 9/0)
FORWARDS (4): Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo: 6/2), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy: 20/7), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC: 7/0), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC: 7/7) Click to continue reading...

1. Nuremberg complete relegation double. Schalke scored two goals. Schalke almost scored two own goals. In between Nuremberg squandered their chances, like they squandered their chances all season. Eventually those were Nuremberg's final 90 minutes in the Bundesliga. Nuremberg are now in sole possession of two less than flattering relegation records. Click to continue reading...

It was a busy week of Bundesliga football. And it was a busy week for me as well, so I focused my attention on the inevitable and the ugly. But there was more happening in the league, and it's time to catch up with it in this double header edition. 1. Bremen and Schalke win Champions [...] Click to continue reading...

1. Only math stands in Bayern's way now. Bayern beat Stuttgart 4-1 on Sunday. Angela blogged about how it happened and then Anna blogged about why it happened. Now I blog about how Bayern top the table with a 12 point lead. 20 goals stand between them and Werder Bremen. 24 goals stand between them and [. Click to continue reading...

Habe gerade mal ein kleines Assoziationsspiel gespielt. Namen von Fußballern lesen und das erste Wort bzw. der erste Gedanke, der einem dazu einfällt aufschreiben. Da gab es dann an diesem Wochenende so einige, zu denen mir spontan was einfiel: Willi Sagnol - Leberwurst Oliver Kahn - Victoria Beckham Jan Simak - Back to bedlam Stefan Wächter - Michael Tarnat HSV [. Click to continue reading...

(Summary is not available.) Click to continue reading...

1. Nuremberg can no longer finish their matches. Last week Nuremberg's match against Frankfurt was stopped for 20 minutes, after some people from Nuremberg's travelling support burned firecrackers and threw a flare onto the pitch. This Friday Nuremberg's match against Wolfsburg got abandoned after heavy rain rendered the pitch unplayable. Click to continue reading...

(Summary is not available.) Click to continue reading...

(Summary is not available.) Click to continue reading...

(Summary is not available.) Click to continue reading...