The U.S. men's national team moved a few steps closer to being a fully healthy group as recent word out of Europe revealed that injured midfielder Stuart Holden and defender Oguchi Onyewu have resumed full training with their club teams.
Holden, sidelined since suffering a broken leg in the U.S. team's 2-1 friendly loss to the Netherlands, is back training with Bolton, though Bolton manager Owen Coyle is being careful not to rush him back to action.
Onyewu had been spotted doing conditioning with AC Milan's first team last week, but revealed on Twitter on Thursday that he was back to full training.
"The kid is back!!!! Normal training from here on out, no restrictions," was the message Onyewu left on Twitter on Thursday morning.
Holden and Onyewu join Charlie Davies as U.S. national team players who have recently returned from lengthy injuries to resume training.
In other Americans Abroad news:
Midfielder Alejandro Bedoya continued his recent run of good form for Swedish club Orebro by delivering an assist in his team's 4-1 loss to Kalmar on Wednesday.
The loss wasn't the only bad news for Bedoya though. Bedoya, who turns 23 today, also picked up his third yellow card of the season, meaning he will miss the team's next match.
Here is Bedoya's assist (at the 22-second mark):
What do you think about the news? Excited to see Holden and Onyewu returning to action? Think they'll see time with their clubs before the end of the European season?
Share your thoughts below.
I don’t know if the US team is in any worse position health wise than England. A few players that were considered locks for England are out and then there’s Rooney’s penchant for getting hurt due to his aggressive play. The Yanks don’t have the depth of talent that England does but the great thing about this sport is that the weaker team (on paper) can win.
Um…this ain’t the CONFED Cup!
Holden pleasantly surprised me at Bolton in the two games I saw, playing CM. I was dissapointed to see him go out. If he is back to that form, I’m looking for a 4-2-3-1
Spector – DeMerit – Gooch – Boca
Bradley – EDU
Dempsey — Holden — Landon
Altidore
Evans? Not a chance.
So he’s like Adu, but at the same time he’s not?
he’ll be called int he 30 man camp, no question. i want to see him on the plane to SA though. that’s the question.
about to post the same
Smithers…
May bad Bedoya, iPhone keyboard.
Besoya needs to be considered for the 30 man team and if he keeps up his good form the world cup team.
yo bedoya was wearing an arm band?? captain??
Heh – whoops. Yah. 1.5 months. Writing fast on iPhone = mistakes.
Coyle knows that he has a kind of goldmine in Holden, because Holden was arguably the best player for Bolton when he started and he only played one EPL game and the game against tottenham in the fa cup. It sucked having him getting an injury because he was playing really well, but glad that he’s getting back on the pitch (hopefully).
23 man roster: Howard, Guzan, Marcus, Onyewu, DeMerit, Goodson, Boca, Spector, Dolo, Bornstein, Donovan, Torres, Edu, Feilhaber, Holden, Bedoya, Dempsey, Bradley, Beasley, Jozy, Davies, Gomez, EJ
30 man roster: 23 above + Adu, Buddle, Rogers, Clark, Pearce, Casey and (Kljestan, Beckerman, Evans, Findley or Simek).
I really can’t decide on that last spot. Either way, I think your estimate is pretty accurate as to who Bob will call for the camp.
Do you think Gooch was talking about Charlie when he said “the kid is back?”
Here is my list of the 30 who will be invited to camp along with some replacements in parenthesis (in case of injuries that might happen between now and May 11).
Howard
Hahnemann
Guzan (Thorton)
Bocanegra
DeMerit
Goodson
Spector
Cherundolo
Bornstein
Onweyu (Conrad)
Peirce
Simek
Donavon
Dempsey
Bradley
Edu
Torres
Bedoya
Beasley
Evans
Holden (Adu)
Kljestan
Beckerman
Clark
Feilhaber
Altidore
Casey
Buddle
Gomez
Johnson
Davies (Cunningham)
I’ve not included the Argentines who are currently on youth national teams for Argentina as well as injured players who have been rarely or never called to a US Camp. (Jones, Castillo) and young players (Orozco, McCarty, Gonzalez) who will likely have to wait for 2014.
um….the USa couldn’t hold the ball more than 36% of the time against Spain or Brazil. The important thing is that we put players out there who can create chances against the best without sacrificing defensive sustainance that got us to the Confederations Cup final and half way to the finish line.
Exactly re Bradley’s belated insertion of Davies into lineup, just in time though to save day at Confed Cup last summer.
I have a crystal ball: Onyewu will never set foot on the pitch with an AC Milan shirt