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Mid-Day Ticker: Ching nears return, Hull officially relegated and more

Brian Ching (ISIphotos.com) 

Photo by ISIphotos.com

 

By AVI CREDITOR

The Houston Dynamo's thorough beating of the Kansas City Wizards this weekend was a sign of good things to come for Dom Kinnear's squad. Now, there's even better news on the horizon.

Brian Ching is set to return to action this week, most likely in Saturday's match against Chivas USA, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Ching, who injured his left hamstring in the Dynamo's 2-1 victory over Real Salt Lake back on April 1, is reportedly resuming training Monday and Tuesday with the possibility of being available for Wednesday's Texas derby against FC Dallas.

A healthy, if not strong, showing from Ching this week could also be enough to re-insert himself in the national team discussion with Bob Bradley's roster selection just days away.

Here are a few more soccer stories from around the world:

HULL TIES WIGAN, OFFICIALLY RELEGATED

After a two-year stay in England's top league, Hull City has officially been relegated.

Steve Gohouri's goal in stoppage time brought Wigan Athletic level with the Tigers, and the two played to a 2-2 draw at DW Stadium, mathematically eliminating Hull from remaining in the Premier League.

Playing without Jozy Altidore, whose red card last week effectively suspended him for the rest of the season, Hull managed to battle back from a 1-0 deficit on goals from Will Atkinson and Mark Cullen.

Gohouri's equalizer was merely sealed the formality in Hull's relegation. Even if the Tigers had come away with three points, they'd still be trailing 17th-place West Ham by three points, and the Hammers would have had a better goal differential by 21. Hull will accompany drop-zone mates Burnley and Portsmouth in the League Championship next season.

ARSENAL FALLS TO BLACKBURN

Blackburn defended its home turf Monday by defeating Arsenal, 2-1, with Christopher Samba's 68th-minute goal providing the difference.

Robin van Persie opened the scoring in the 13th minute, but David Dunn equalized two minutes before halftime and Samba scored the winner, sending the Gunners to their third loss in four matches.

KURANYI WON'T MAKE GERMAN SQUAD

Despite scoring 18 goals in the Bundesliga this season, Schalke's Kevin Kuranyi will not be included on the German national team roster for this summer's World Cup.

Kuranyi, who was kicked off the national team in October, 2008, after leaving a qualifying game for which he wasn't selected at halftime, has not fallen back into the good graces of manager Joachim Loew enough to warrant a selection on the roster.

BORDEAUX COACH OFFERED FRANCE GIG

Bordeaux manager Laurent Blanc has reportedly been offered the French national team coaching job, a position that will become vacant after the World Cup.

Raymond Domenech is on the outs regardless of how the French finish this summer, and French publication L'Equipe reported that the French Football Federation president has already made an offer to Blanc.

Blanc guided Bordeaux to the quarterfinals of the Champions League before falling to Ligue 1 rival Olympique Lyon.

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Excited to see Ching return? Does he deserve a spot on the USMNT roster this summer? What do you think Altidore's next move should be? Do you think Germany has enough firepower to leave Kuranyi at home? Who is best-suited to guide the French?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Ching makes players around him better. I have read these statements time and time again from other players. If fit, he goes. Bradley obviously likes what he sees in him or else he wouldn’t keep bringing him along.

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  2. Ching can dribble, move the ball, pass and shoot. And forwards don’t take corner or free kicks, that’s for midfielders. Adam, do you even know how to play soccer?

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  3. Have you seen how many times he’s fouled but never gets the call? It’s ridiculous. Ching’s a warrior plain & simple. Sure, I’d like for him to score a zillion goals everytime but who wouldn’t? It’s all about the little things. Bradley knows this, that’s why he likes Ching. It’s all the little things that Ching does with and off the ball. He’s also the type of forward that comes back to help defend when necessary. Usually because of some lazy midfielder like Clint Dempsey.

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  4. Yea, i just cant believe Ching has never really faced any Great opposition. Its amazing to consider all the applause he gets for his things that he does does well in a US shirt, but when you look at the opposition, its like Who?

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  5. How did we know you were gonna say this Issac? I wonder if Ives called you to make sure you were the first poster so you can set the tone on a positve note for Ching….hehe.

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  6. Fox Soccer ‘Jozy a Dozy in training”
    30/04/2010 13:18 +0100
    Hull manager Iain Dowie has told departing striker Jozy Altidore he must improve his attitude to training if he is to fulfil his potential.

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  7. Kuranyi is the Guevara/Cunningham of Germany. A great player, but unless he’s getting exactly what he wants, he’s a problem in the locker room. Not that die Mannschaft couldn’t use someone with a nose for goal right now (Gomez hasn’t been cutting it and Poldi has imploded at Koeln)

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  8. agreed as along as bob includes the regulars bedoya and either buddle or gomez, maybe even both i’m fine.

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  9. Trapattoni is a much better candidate but i believe he is staying with Ireland for a few more years. Not only would Mourinho never take the US job based on playing style, prestige, wages, player quality, etc. he has said that he is not a national team coach.. he prefers the every day training aspect of running a club.

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  10. If I had to pick the 23 right now I think the forwards would be Dempsey, Altidore, Ching and Buddle. I’m just not sold on Gomez. Mexican league defending is notoriously soft. I think Dempsey goes as a forward, and Bedoya takes the last roster spot.

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  11. Great suggestion, too. Let’s not forgot Sigi Schmid as well.

    All things being equal, I still favor Kinnear in that three horse race but sincerely all I’m asking is the Federation give strong consideration to Dom during the process, including all candidates world-wide.

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  12. Dear patrick and Isaac,

    Ching has many good qualities but at the end of the day ( a Bradleyism) he needs to be in top shape if he is to be useful in SA. There is every reason to believe he won’t be in that conditon by the time the SA rolls around.

    Furthermore, he has been injured numerous times on and off is since the early part of 2009 and we haven’t seen the best of him since then.

    Ther is every reason to assume he won’t make it trhoughthe CUp.

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  13. Adam,
    you’re operating under the assumption that we’re a good, or great national team. We are not. Who are these good strikers you speak of? Jozy (still young but looking good and performing for the US) and the still questionable Charlie davies? you’re content and confident that they’re going to log 270 successful minutes?

    In amsterdam, a big complaint of demerit was his booting the ball. That’s going to happen in the world cup, wouldnt it be nice if we had someone, maybe from hawaii, to grab those balls and wait for troops to come up?

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  14. I agree the USMNT talent pool is paper thin but it does you no good to bring a large percentage of half fit players (see England 2006). Remember that the guys you are talking about aren’t stars even when fully fit.

    Ching has a recent history of breaking down and he is older so he’s too much of a risk.

    It would be a major accomplishment for Davies to be fit for the first game but even then there are 3 games at least to be played and the man is not in game shape. What are the odds he would be good for the second and third games? He should not go.

    I would rather take both Buddle and Gomez over these two. At least I know they will probably get through 90 minutes ( in Gomez’s case, he actually has been great at the late sub scoring the goal bit, something the US has NEVER had and sorely needs).

    Holden seems to be less of a risk from an injury stand point but he hasn’t proven a thing yet at the international level. He was

    great at he Gold cup but has been largely anonymous for the US since so I see him as 50/50.

    Benny seems recovered which is too bad as he has proven pretty mediocre overall. A good late sub, a latter day version of Ben Olsen.

    If DMB is actually healthy and is being held out of the Rangers games to develop the younger guys then I say bring him along. He should have enough experience to get through.

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  15. I’m not sure why you keep assuming I’m talking about bring ching logging 270 minutes in the WC. If you can’t see ching’s value on the US team I don’t need to continue discussing this with you. NO ONE has said, or implied that ching should start. Were discussing the skills he brings to the table for the US IN 2010. You may WANT us to play in the ground but we’re NOT GOING TO. SO face the facts, we need ching’s skill set, otherwise you’re gonna get conor casey’s.
    If it were up to you I’m sure we’d take gomez buddle davies chris rolfe and jozy. Something tells me you also fall into the camp of people who think M bradley isn’t good.

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  16. Ching has a 1 in 4 strike rate wearing the stars and stripes, not bad if you ask me. I don’t think ching should start, but those people saying that ching brings nothing to the table are living in the video game world. As we saw in amsterdam our midfield is not talented enough to keep the ball on the ground and pass it around. Therefore, there will be many occasions where it’s booted forward, and SOMEONE up top needs to hold it so that bradley, donovan, dempsey etc can make their runs. If you can’t see the value in that, especially given the way the US plays then i don’t know what to tell you.

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  17. For you Bradley haters:

    How about Ericksson then? He’s a foreign coach with a pedigree. Or how about Maradona? He speaks Spanish and knows all about top level pressure as a player?

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  18. I’m sorry, but which good national or club team in the world plays “hold up” or devotes a player to that lone task? Every good team I know has strikers that can dribble, move with the ball, pass, and perhaps most importantly, shoot. Ching can’t do any of those things reaonably well and he doesn’t take corners or free kicks or do anything else with proven ability. When you have good mids and strikers with any kind of technical ability, as we do now, Ching-type players are no longer needed to bounce the ball off of. The notion of Ching as a point guard is ludicrious on its face. But what you don’t seem to get is that Bradely has moved past the hold up game.

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  19. We beat European Champion Spain and African Champion Egypt, had South American Champion Brazil down 2-0, and played our best against World Cup holders Italy playing the exact opposite of hold up Brian Ching style soccer. We are not “there yet,” but we are thankfully past what Brian Ching does.

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  20. I effing hate the Revs, but Nichol seems to be able to make something out of nothing pretty much every year with only one particularly good player (Joseph) on his roster. If we’re thinking about MLS coaches he might merit consideration.

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  21. When the big teams came to the US for last summer friendlys, they only played with half a starting roster, that was a curtesy gesture to the host team.

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  22. its simple, the role that brian ching would play, would be to make goals happen, not score them. Kinda like, how, ya know, point guards distribute, hold the ball up when their outnumbered and facilitate scoring

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