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Evening Roundup: Edu poised for Old Firm debut, the premature Jozy call-up and the latest Tottenham signing

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Hello all. With the day winding down, here are some tidbits to pass along after another eventful Tuesday in the soccer world:

Edu poised for ‘Old Firm’ debut

U.S. national team midfielder Maurice Edu could be in for the mother of all debuts for Glasgow Rangers. He is in line to play in the latest installment of ‘The Old Firm’ the derby between Rangers and Celtic, at Celtic’s Parkhead on Sunday.

"When I first met (Edu) he came across as one of these boys who would not be fazed by a great deal," Rangers manager Walter Smith told the club’s website. "He seems a quite confident lad.

"If we can get him over in good time then I have no doubt that he would be involved on Sunday at some stage."

Edu was in Toronto as of Tuesday, securing the final documents to complete his $5 million transfer from Toronto FC to Rangers.

No Altidore call-up…….yet

When Spanish club Villarreal included newly-signed striker Jozy Altidore in its list of players being called up to national team duty, revealing that Altidore was joining the U.S. national team for it’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Cuba (Sept. 6) and Trinidad & Tobago (Sept. 10), the news create quite a bit of buzz among American fans eager to see Altidore back with the national team.

The only problem is the announcement wasn’t completely accurate.

Altidore has been included in a group of more than 30 candidates to called in for the U.S. team’s upcoming qualifiers, but the actual roster for those matches has yet to be chosen. U.S. Soccer must notify clubs in advance of its plans to call players in so the federation sends notification to all the clubs of all the players who may get called in.

So yes, Altidore may get the call to play in Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago, but he still hasn’t been named to the team yet. The roster won’t be finalized until Thursday at the earliest.

Pavlyuchenko set to join Tottenham

Russian striker and Euro 2008 star Roman Pavlyuchenko has revealed that he is set to move from Spartak Moscow to Tottenham Hotspur. If the deal is, in fact, done, then that would lead most to believe that Tottenham is set to unload disgruntled Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov, who has been linked to Manchester United for weeks.

Spurs will be hoping Pavlyuchenko can kick-start an attack that has struggled through the season’s first two weeks with Darren Bent at lead striker.

As for Tottenham’s well-publicized pursuit of Pavlyuchenko’s Russian national team comrade Andrei Arshavin, that deal looks to be dead in the water, that is unless Zenit St. Petersburg comes down on its price for the Euro 2008 star.

What do you think of these stories? Excited at the possibility of Edu playing in ‘The Old Firm’ ? Think Tottenham can still find a way to squeeze Arshavin onto the roster? Eager to see Jozy Altidore lighting up Cuba’s defense?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Cardiff boards have been mixed-to-negative in their review of EJ’s first game. He definietely needs time to settle in, as McCormack and Bothroyd are making an early push to be the starting strikers most games.

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  2. CH — I was mostly being facetious with the USL-1 comment (sorry if I struck a nerve…you a Wiz fan?). Obviously, EJ is more than good enough to play in MLS and maybe will shake out of this funk he’s been in since January. But as for impressing Maradonna? We lost 4-1 and EJ score the only goal on a PK. Who else was Maradonna gonna talk about? EJ may finally realize his potential and become a bona fide goal threat in England but it won’t be because Maradonna mentioned him a year ago.

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  3. So, same old EJ. He needs to come back and play in USL-1.

    Posted by: Bill | August 27, 2008 at 10:15 AM

    ——————————————-

    stupid comment seeing as he lite up the league last year, impressed in the Copa America( yeah even maradona acknowledeged him in the game vs Argentina) and has more talent and is better than 70% of the strikers in MLS.

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  4. Aquaman — the following is from the MK Dons match tracker:

    86mins – Wonderful chance for Cardiff to finish it there as the Dons only half-clear a corner, Ledley clips it towards the far post from the right and Eddie Johnson, under no pressure at all, completely misses his kick six yards out.

    So, same old EJ. He needs to come back and play in USL-1.

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  5. I like how a Spurs fan up top mentioned a couple players that are still there, but forgot lennon…possibly the best of those mentioned….

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  6. I was wondering if anyone was able to actually watch Eddie Johnson play for Cardiff yesterday against MK Dons. I saw he played the whole match, but was wondering if he did well at all. I read the official match report on the Cardiff city website of which my favorite quote was: “it was McCormack’s turn to outdo Whittingham…looking up he waited for Eddie Johnson to make a run that didn’t materialise”. It seemed like he was more involved in the second half, but it makes me wonder if he wouldn’t have been subbed out if Cardiff hadn’t used two subs in the first 20 minutes.

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  7. The article says that Altidore a promising USA forward of only 18yrs of age, signed by Villareal this past summer, has turn into Juanma Lillo’s first option ahead of Victor Casadesus to complete Real Valladolid’s forward tandem to play along side Alex Geijoahead or Diaz de Ceiro. Valladolid has shown great interest for Villareal’s “Pearl” and it looks like it will be he’s destiny since Aguirre and Escudero are in the process of acquiring dual citizenship and leaving a couple of slots open to foreign players. At least this is what Jozy thinks, since this Tuesday he was almost saying bye bye to his Villareal team mates during the luncheon that the team held today. BUT (a Big But) all this, pending Aguirre and Escudero assure dual citizenship before the end of the tranfer window. Sorry guys, best I can do for now.

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  8. white kix- kind of unfair on Jozy there…. Nowak played Jozy as a Solo Forward, which plays against his strengths…. he was left not only to run up n’ down the top half, but also all the way across it…. it wore him out before he had the chance to succeed…

    i mean if Jozy can light up the U20’s WC (with the help of Adu) when he’s got help up top, then he can light up a Cuban Defense when he’s got help up top… BB plays a 4-4-2 religiously…. he’ll have Ching or dempsey to work off of…

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  9. “Eager to see Jozy Altidore lighting up Cuba’s defense?”

    You mean how he lit up Cuba’s defense in Olympic Qualifying? oh wait, that was Adu. Adu is the guy we need on the squad. Altidore does have a lot of potential, but as of right now, he hasn’t proved that he is better than Buddle, or even EJ. Does he have more potential then them? Yes, but his play has not been above that of Donovan, Adu or even Buddle. Hopefully, he does continue to grow and becomes a Must Have player. But until he lights up Cuba’s u-23 team, how can we expect him to light up their full team (Unless of course all of their best young players defect every year, which could very well be the case).

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  10. You go, Paul.

    Rangers fans didn’t exactly distinguish themselves with their civilized behavior at the UEFA Cup final in Manchester in May.

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  11. Tim, Surely it’s you who are having the joke. Rangers wouldn’t play a Catholic until the 1990’s. Their goalkeeper, whose name escapes me, wore a black armband on the death of Billy Wright, a racist, psycho serial killer,and by non catholics in Glasgow you mean Protestant establishment with all its ugly history.

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  12. If you’re gonna quote Rangers songs at least get it right, poseur.

    Then go enjoy your supposed moral high ground while listening to an IRA song or two..

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  13. >mark one catholic who roots for the yanks in rangers jerseys.

    How will you feel when they tell you that they’ll soon be “up to their knees in Catholic blood”?

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  14. If we want to win in the qualifiers, altidore must play!!!

    As a die hard Tottenham fan I am excited for the signing.. With Berbatov being a non-factor anyway, which is sooo depressing to think he will be gone soon! He was such a force up top that it will be tough to adjust. Though the Spurs need someone other than Bent up top and the new russian is a good move! Lets hope it pans out!

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  15. Any word on who the thirty names are on the preliminary list? Of course it will be wittled down…but I’m sure it would be grounds for a few posts if we saw who was included/excluded.

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  16. You’re joking right Ching in Chinese Taipei. Rangers is the club of everyone who isn’t Catholic in Glasglow. If you’re not Catholic in Glasglow you support Rangers. Rangers of is the team of multi-races and creeds. They haven’t seemed to have much a problem with Demarcus Beasely.

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  17. Eric,

    I go by prior BB USSF stupidity. If he isn’t called I will be the first to apologize.

    Second. Great season? Really. Great one third of a season. That’s it. At the end most KC fans were happy to see him go. Didn’t even soce a single goal after the all start break, and only an LD charity pass in the Gold Cup.

    Virtually all of his golas in that early streak for KC came from long ball out sprint with zero pressure stuff.

    He has done precious little in hi whole career except for a couple of streks where the goals virtually have all been scored the same way. Gimme’s, or outsprinting D’ with zero pressure on him. A coupel of exceptions. His MLS career is a joke in general for the number of seasons played.

    EJ doesn’t know soccer. Never has. A US youth built myth. I apologize to midgets. Soccer brain of a 5th grader is more appropriate. The guy has nothing but in US world we hype him as a star, and he keeps playing.

    Joke. Nothing more, nothing less. Joke.

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  18. TK: Did you mean to imply that “midgets” have inferior intelligence? Also, are you USSF staff? I would like to know if you have an inside source on EJ callup, or if you just like to lay down a heap of speculation and disrespect.

    I don’t believe many were calling him out when he posted great numbers in his final KC season. We know he was behind the learning curve, but we didn’t expect to learn that the colaship was part of that curve.

    Hopefully he’ll get his head on straight, or he should eventually lose his USMNT spot (in WC’10).

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  19. I’m eager to see Altidore work his way into the Villarreal first team. I think the national team can deal with Cuba without him.

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  20. Scottish soccer must be in even more dire straits than I realized if Edu, a mid-range MLS talent with a giant upside, falls right into Rangers’ lineup.

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  21. Wow, quite a show of confidence for Mo, there. Sounds like they think he can be a top performer for a main draw Champions League level team. That’s impressive. Not many American field players have ever had that kind of ability. Is he even better than we think he is? Could he become a true world-class player?

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  22. He won’t be called in.

    EJ will get the call.

    One match into his Cardiff career and the reporters are trashing him for being lazy, sloppy and clueless already.

    A true US youth prodigy. Brain of a soccer midget.

    He is guaranteed to come. The US way.

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  23. Steve- team turnover? Heck, we’ve been clamouring for a striker for 3mo now. All we had was Bent, and Berbs and his agent are playing tiddlywinks in the tunnel for the last match, Keane was sold, and Defoe was sold last season. Pretty much the whole starting line up is new (save Huddlestone, Jenas, Bale-if you don’t count the season ending injury last year, and King and company on the back line). This was long over due and should have been done months ago. Now we are two games in the hole and we’re ending up with the same players at pretty much the same fee they were offered for two months ago. Kinda farsical if you ask me. Lets round up a CDM and CB and we’ll be done.

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  24. Can’t wait to see him…Unfortunately I’m rooting for Celtic so hopefully Celtic will be up like 3 goals and Edu can have a good appearance.

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  25. Just what Tottenham needs more squad turnover. Better hope for another Cup run Spurs fans. Your team won’t be settled until the holidays and by then the Top 4 will just be a dot on the horizon.

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