By AVI CREDITOR
Stuart Holden's wait appears to be over.
According to Bolton's team Web site, Holden will be included in the first team for Wednesday's FA Cup tilt with Tottenham.
Bolton manager Owen Coyle said at his Tuesday press conference that the American midfielder has worked shown well in practice and has earned his chance to contribute.
The fact that fellow on-loaners Jack Wilshere and Vladimir Weiss are cup-tied to Arsenal and Manchester City, respectively, also bodes well for Holden, who appears to be healthy after battling a thigh injury.
Holden was also featured on the team's site, talking about his thoughts leading up to the match with Spurs.
In other Wednesday soccer news:
EVERTON FANS PLEAD FOR DONOVAN TO STAY
Landon Donovan's success at Everton has been well-documented. The team has played its best soccer ever since the American's short-term loan began, and he recently won the club's Player of the Month award.
With his loan set to expire so he can return to Los Angeles for the (scheduled) start of the Major League Soccer season, Everton fans are making a final plea for Donovan to stay in England.
About 5,000 fans – and counting – have joined the "Keep Landon Donovan at Everton!!" group on Facebook. The group has zero bearing on whether his loan gets extended, regardless of how many fans join. The ongoing MLS labor talks clearly have more to do with that than anything else. But for a player who wanted to prove his worth overseas after a couple of disappointing tries, Donovan has certainly made a name for himself at Goodison Park and has stated that he is more than open to a return to the Toffees someday.
RAFA WON'T RUSH TORRES
Despite being healthy, Liverpool striker Fernando Torres is not going to be rushed back into the Reds' lineup, so says manager Rafa Benitez.
Torres, who played 16 minutes in Liverpool's 0-0 draw with Manchester City, missed 11 of a possible 27 league matches with a lingering knee injury. He has managed to score 12 goals in his 16 appearances and would figure to bolster Liverpool's chances at securing a Champions League spot for next season, but Benitez is being cautious with the Spanish international.
Liverpool faces Unirea Urziceni in their Europa League second-leg match on Thursday before facing Blackburn in league play on Sunday.
VAN PERSIE EYES EARLY APRIL RETURN
Arsenal and Dutch striker Robin Van Persie could return to action sooner than expected as he recovers from an ankle injury.
Van Persie was injured in a November friendly against Italy and suffered ligament damage in his ankle, but Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk claims that his star forward is progressing quickly and could return in early April. Initial thoughts were that we would return at the end of April at the earliest.
He clearly won't be in the lineup when the United States faces the Netherlands in a friendly on March 3, but a healthy Van Persie boosts the Netherlands' chances in South Africa.
MORE VIOLENCE HAUNTS RANGERS
More details are emerging after Glasgow Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor was attacked outside a Scotland nightclub over the weekend. McGregor suffered eye and facial injuries that required hospital care.
The incident comes just weeks after U.S. international DaMarcus Beasley had his BMW set on fire.
Rangers is staying mum on the issue and hasn't commented on whether McGregor will have to miss Sunday's Old Firm match with rival Celtic.
Rangers holds a seven-point lead over second-place Celtic in the Scottish Premier League standings and also has a game in hand.
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Happy to see Holden finally get a chance to play for Bolton? Dreaming for Donovan's loan to get extended? Think Liverpool can crack the Top 4 in England? Are you worried for Beasley and Maurice Edu considering all the violence involving Rangers players?
Share your thoughts below.
Now, I like that reasoning. Funny.
Okay, I’ll try to clarify my point: Beasley seems to be a targeted victim by people he likely doesn’t know. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce that racism might be involved. Practically all the examples mentioned by posters above, including you, are between athletes who know each other, domestic problems, or athletes who are the source of the crime (dog fighting, pulling guns). Did Beasley’s girlfriend torch his car? Did one of his teammates or opponents on the field do it? Did he do it himself to get attention?
Get a grip.
Holden only Bolton player rated higher than 4.0 looks like: http://www.skysports.com/football/user_ratings/0,19768,11065_3247961,00.html
While all this is true they aren’t concentrated in one area. It seems like most of the problems are happening in Glasgow to the Rangers players.
Beasley and Edu need to get the hell out of there.
Yeah, but he has no challenge in MLS. He is clearly the best player on the field in any given game. He needs to stay. Getting a good salary doesn’t mean anything if your game is not developing.
Umm…you mean Scottish? The Welsh don’t care to be called British either.
4-0 Spurs. Watched the last 20 minutes of the match. WOW, Bolton is horrible. As for Holden, he placed 2 pretty nice free kicks in the box and got two shots off, 1 on goal and 1 cleared out by a defender, in the 20 minutes I watched. Not bad. Too bad his old team (Dynamo) are much better than his new one.
WOW! That’s jacked. I hadn’t seen that.
Walter Zenga created a Myspace page trying to keep Donovan at Everton?
You scoff at this? It’s just that simple. Iran’s government is screwed up because of you and your non-green color scheme. I don’t know how you live with yourself.
No, you’re right, they’re just thrown from the backs of pickups during domestic disputes or draw guns at parties and in locker rooms, or run dog fighting rings, or run into the stands to pursue fights. North American athletes are free and clear of cultures of violence.
Oh, and Cincinatti Red Outfielder Dernell Stinson was kidnapped, robbed, and Murdered THIS WEEK!!!!
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=184236&c=2
Oh look at that, Scott Boras (MLB AGENT) had his car attacked.
By the way, this article contains an actual “That’s What She Said” in it.
http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2009/07/02/scott-boras-car-attacked-outside-california-restaurant/
And Chelsea is down… 2-1
It’s been awhile… but Gilbert Arenas and a teamate pulled guns on each other, and Shelden Williams (Atlanta Hawks) had his car stollen at gunpoint. Four other NBA stars have been robbed. NFL’s Sean Taylor was murdered by a home intruder, Eddie Curry (NY Knicks) was bound with ducktape as he was robbed. Indiana Pacers’ Jaamal Tinsley was shot 3 times in a 14 month span…
So let’s not pretend no athlete ever gets hit with violence in America.
I hope LD comes back to the MLS, but *after* Everton’s season is over. I want the MLS to grow. I don’t see how it can when the MLS continues to lose it’s stars to other leagues. LD of all players should stay because he will make a good salary and not fill a DP slot.
If it was another player who wasn’t grandfathered into the MLS I might say go for the money.
You actually can sometimes…i think you just have to give it a second. I’ve been able to before, but I think you’d have to sign up with TypePad
If only there was an Italian who plays for Scotland, then we could lay to rest the Rossi hate… We would have worked out a three way trade, America got a Scot, Italy got an American, and Scotland got an Italian.
Soccer players are much more ‘average’ in terms of size. It’s not like there are a bunch of Ray Lewises and Rasheed Wallaces in soccer anywhere.
That is pretty crappy to have to deal with that however for any person, let alone an athlete. They need to get a handle on stuff up there, making themselves look like a bunch of buffoons.
First, it’s Xanga and by god it was perfect… for reading what your student’s do outside of school.
Seriously, it’s like kids these days WANT to get caught.
Geekiest Response Ever!
Facebook users crack me up. It’s like “If I set it to a Green background I can make Democracy happen in Iran, right?”
Hahahahaha
Bolton down 3-0. 2 own goals.
gah, I hate it when I leave a word out, if only we could edit posts: “…acclimate to the new culture AND the big step up he was making”
Does this mean that we can stop our national mourning, and we won’t see any more posts about those know nothing idiots at Bolton who didn’t play the guy the instant he stepped off the plane, but instead wanted to wait a few weeks for his injury to heal, and for him to acclimate to the new culture the big step up he was making?
Stu has payed really well many of his teamates have just been looking to hitting long balls up the field while everytime stu has possession he is very calm and makes smart passes. He’s had a few nice tackles also.
34 minutes into Holden’s first start and the live commentary has not mentioned his name one time on ESPN. : (
When was the last time a major athletic star in the US had is car fire bombed?
A gaffer is another way to say the person in charge and has the intimation of age/wisdom. In soccer it is the manager/coach. BTW it is how Sam Gamgee refers to his father in The Lord of the Rings.
And no one has seen how Everton plays when Donovan is on the field with a fully recovered Arteta. I would love to see what those two can put together once Arteta has shaken off the rust.
He was born in Scotland and lived there for 9-10 years. That makes him British even if he has a USA passport. Not to mention that his parents probably speak “British”.
I have to wonder whether the quick impact of Landon Donavon has helped Stu get a chance at his club. Hopefully England will begin looking more towards MLS as a feeder league.
yeah but in America it is usually the athletes doing the injuring to others not the athletes getting injured
Ok, I need an American English translatio.
What is a Gaffer? Why use the word Gaffer and not Manager? or are they seperate?
What is a Jock?
I never thought I’d need english translated.
Because no crimes or legal trouble have EVER happened outside nightclubs in America?? Yeah.
oops I meant to say:
“creating a facebook GROUP hasn’t been creative since back when people still used myspace.”
Anyway, that’s a complete non-story, Avi
According to Boltons website Holden is starting. Finally.
Myspace? That ain’t creative. People still use Xenga. 😉
frankly our D is more a problem in CONCACAF, I think we scored the most goals…
creating a facebook hasn’t been creative since back when people still used myspace.
I’m glad Stu likes the lads at Bolton…really hope The Gaffer sees fit to give him some solid PT today … And I really love the articles from the British press that adjust the quotes from American players so that they sound more British.
your post doesnt make sense. altidore and davies will do just fine at the WC.
Are we the only country with the most utter depth in strikers? We have Altidore, Davies, Casey, Cooper and Ching. Also the likes of Findley, EJ and maybe Dempsey or Donovan up top. We can barely manage in CONCACAF with some of them, no chance at the WC.
Looking forward to Holden’s debut, hopefully I can find a good feed!
Yeah, Beasley’s gotta get outta there….
I can’t wait for the World Cup especially to see Spain play. Torres/Villa up top scoring goal after goal. A thing of beauty when those 2 on duty.
I wonder if Van Persie coughed on Torres sometime during Euro2008. Van Persie is like the most injured striker in the PL next to Michael Owen and suddenly Torres is taking that mantle.
Wow, whats up with scotland. Thats just crazy.
It’s so amazing that Donovan is a hit with Evertonians. I pray that MLS lets him leave. He needs to be in the PL. He could realistically start every match with Everton for years to come and make his mark in Europe.
All our NT players need to be playing in Europe. No ifs and ands about it. Heck even Connor Casey could be playing for some club in Scandinavia right now.
Torres needs to rest. I have no clue why Rafa even included him on the game against Reading. Surely he could have let Babel and N’gog start up top and they could have squeaked out a win. That injury is part of the reason why L-pool so crap now.
So Torres needs at least 2 more games out and no international duty.