Photo by Tony Quinn/ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

U.S. Men's National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann must be feeling a bit of deja vu right now.

As was the case in the United States' first World Cup qualifier against Antigua & Barbuda back in June, Klinsmann will be without both first-choice left backs, Fabian Johnson and Edgar Castillo, for the Americans visit to Antigua this coming Friday. Castillo has been sidelined by a foot injury and will miss both upcoming World Cup qualifiers while Johnson, who is suffering from a flu, is expected to join the team prior to their match against Guatemala next Tuesday.

“Obviously it’s a difficult situation losing Fabian for the Antigua game and Edgar being unavailable for both," Klinsmann told ussoccer.com. "We were in a similar situation for the first match against Antigua & Barbuda in June, and we will be prepared.

“Fabian has been ill since the weekend, and we were waiting to see if he would be healthy enough to join us in Miami. At this point, it is in everyone’s best interest to allow him to fully recover from his illness and come into Kansas City ready to play against Guatemala.” 

Johnson and Castillo's absence now leaves Klinsmann without a natural left back for the match in Antigua and it also takes away two more of his wide options. Landon Donovan and Brek Shea were both ruled out on Tuesday with respective knocks.

As things stand now, the U.S. roster is down to 20 players. Klinsmann can summon replacements, but he will not do so for the Antigua & Barbuda match. How things stand after that in terms of injuries and suspensions will determine if he calls in any extra bodies for the Guatemala game.

-------

What do you think of this development? Who do you see playing left back on Friday? Think it would be a mistake for Klinsmann not to call in a replacement?

Share your thoughts below.

BY DAVE MARTINEZ

It has been a long and winding road back to the National team for Eddie Johnson.

Once considered the next great American forward, the 28-year-old striker has since seen his career come to a near halt as four nomadic years in Europe and an unsuccessful jaunt with Puebla FC of Liga MX derailed his progress.  Confidence became a clear issue, and the lack of playing time only compounded his woes.

Nearly a year since his confounding stay South of the Border, Johnson finds himself amongst Major League Soccer’s top goal scorers with 14 tallies over 26 games. A change of scenery, a return home, some self improvement and a supportive Sounders staff have brought him back to the place where his career took off – the U.S. National Team.

“I’m 28 years old now,” Johnson said.  “I’m a lot more mature. I’m a student of the game and you can never stop learning the game. My biggest thing, and a sports psychologist told me, ‘Eddie, you’re your own enemy.’ Sometimes I think I put too much pressure on myself and it shows in my game. (But) I learned how to relax more and control what I can control and not let others emotions affect or dictate my play in the game.”

“I think as you get older you get smarter as a player,” he said.  “You are always learning as a soccer player.  I think my time in Europe, I always told myself ‘man, the game is simple at the end of the day but sometimes you over think things and make the game harder than it really is.’”

Johnson’s road to rebuilding began after his failed attempt to sign with Puebla FC.  Looking to get back to his roots, he sought the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida to physically – and mentally – prepare for his next big move; another run at MLS.

“When you are not having confidence, you don’t believe in yourself, playing at this level, it has a lot to do with self confidence, belief in your own ability, and trusting in what got you to where you are,” he said.  “I lacked a lot of confidence when I went over to Europe.  That’s why I was on loan spells, in and out of teams.”

The added focus has helped him get noticed at a critical time.  Jurgen Klinsmann made headlines this week by not selecting red-hot AZ striker Jozy Altidore to join the team for their critical World Cup qualifying matches.  With Landon Donovan and Brek Shea unavailable due to injury, Johnson suddenly becomes a focal figure for the U.S. just as he was so many years ago.

“I’ve always talked about setting goals for yourself and writing your goals down and looking over them and visualizing them and I said I just want to put myself in positions to put in goals, work hard and be hard to play against,” Johnson explained.  “I talked about being consistent this year.  I want to be as consistent as I can be.  When you are consistent, you keep your starting spot, and your team does well, and when your team does well, everything else is a bonus.

“I think there's always doubt at some time in your career when things aren't going well. There are always perceptions of you that are out there from other people in the soccer world. I think the biggest thing going on in my corner is having a coach of German background,” he said with a laugh.  “Sigi (Schmid) told me when I first arrived in Seattle that he had a very good relationship Jurgen and if I was doing the business and I was believing in everything they were trying to accomplish in Seattle and the team was winning and I was scoring goals and my behavior was good and stuff that Jurgen would give me a chance. “

Johnson held up to his side of the bargain.  Most recently, that new found skill and confidence was center stage as the returning National team striker found the back of the net in an overall strong performance against the Portland Timbers.

“Just believe in yourself,” he said.  “The thing is that the talent doesn’t go anywhere; it’s about the desire, the willingness to get back to the top

“When the talent is there, yo get around the right people …  good things happen.”

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Add Fabian Johnson to the list of players who could be sidelined for the U.S. Men's National Team's upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

Johnson is currently suffering from a flu infection and is expected to miss out on Friday's trip to Antigua & Barbuda, according to German outlet Kicker. Johnson's status for next Tuesday's home game at Livestrong Sporting Park against Guatemala is also in question because of the flu.

The report makes it seem as if Johnson is not currently training with the U.S. in Miami, stating that he could join them this weekend if he recovers from the flu. U.S. Soccer did not respond to the validity of that in an immediate inquiry.

If Johnson is out, he would join Landon Donovan and Brek Shea as players called into this camp that will be unavailable for the final two games of this round of qualifying. It would also leave head coach Jurgen Klinsmann with one less option to deploy out wide, which might force him to call in some replacements.

Jermaine Jones has also arrived in camp carrying an injury.

What do you make of this development? Is it time for Klinsmann to summon some replacements? Who would you like to see Klinsmann turn to if Johnson can't play?

Share your thoughts below.

If anyone still had questions about Marquette's legitimacy as a national power this year, those questions were answered over the weekend, when the Golden Panthers toppled unbeaten UConn, the No. 1 team in the SBI College Soccer Top 25 at the time.

Marquette handed the Huskies their first loss of the season to not only maintain one of only two perfect records in the nation (Cornell holding the other), it also cemented Marquette's status as a serious contender for the Big East title and a potential NCAA run later this year.

Out West, we saw UCSB, UCLA and New Mexico all suffer defeats, with Washington and Cal-State Northridge benefiting from the upsets to secure their own places in the latest SBI Top 25. 

The biggest mover in the new rankings is VCU, which debuts at No. 20 after a 4-1 mauling of Charlotte. Other teams that enjoyed big jumps are unbeaten Xavier and surprising Elon.

Here is the latest SBI Men's Soccer Top 25:

SBI MEN'S COLLEGE SOCCER TOP 25

(last week's rank in parentheses)

1. (2)- MARYLAND (12-0-1)

2. (4)- NORTH CAROLINA (10-1-1)

4. (8)- MARQUETTE (12-0)

3. (5)- AKRON (7-1-2)

5. (1)- UCONN  (11-1-1)

6. (9)- NOTRE DAME (10-3)

7. (3)- GEORGETOWN (11-2-1)

8. (13)- XAVIER (9-0-2)

9. (14)- INDIANA (9-2-1)

10. (6)- UCSB (8-1-3)

11. (7)- NEW MEXICO (9-2)

12. (16)- COASTAL CAROLINA (9-1-2)

13. (10)- UCLA (8-2-2)

14. (11). OLD DOMINION (7-1-2)

15. (12)- ST. JOHN’S (8-1-4)

16. (19)- NORTHWESTERN (8-2-2)

17. (22) ELON (8-2-1)

18. (18)- SAINT LOUIS (7-3)

19. (17)- FURMAN (9-2-2)

20 (NR)- VCU (6-1-3)

21. (15)- CHARLOTTE (7-2-2)

22. (23) SMU (8-2-2)

23. (24) CORNELL (11-0)

24. (NR) WASHINGTON (7-3-2)

25. (NR) CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE (9-4)

------------------- 

HONORABLE MENTION- High Point (10-1-1), Wake Forest (7-2-4), Louisville (7-4), Tulsa (8-4), Creighton (8-3-2), West Virginia (7-3-2), Boston College (6-3-2), UAB (6-3-2), South Florida (6-2-4), Dayton (7-3), SIU-Edwardsville (8-4), Niagara (7-0-4).

Photo by isiphotos.com

By JOSE M. ROMERO

Colorado Rapids goalkeeper Matt Pickens will see his 75-match appearance streak end due to a groin injury that will force him out of the club's final two matches.

Pickens had the longest active streak in MLS before getting injured in Saturday's game against San Jose. He was replaced in the 69th minute by Stew Ceus.

Rapids coach Oscar Pareja said he doesn't expect Pickens to play any more this season and will go with Ceus or Ian Joyce in goal the rest of the way for the Rapids, who are out of playoff contention.

Pickens, 30, has a career high 107 saves this season. He also has the record for most consecutive matches played in Rapids' history.  

Here are some more soccer stories making the rounds: 

FELLAINI OUT OF WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS

Everton forward Marouane Fellaini has been ruled out of Belgium's World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Scotland, and will miss three weeks with a knee injury. 

Fellaini was injured in Saturday's match with Wigan and according to the Belgian Football Association website, suffered a small tear at the juncture between the muscle and tendon. 

He'll miss the international matches plus a league match at Queens Park Rangers and possibly the Liverpool derby Oct. 28. 

BARCELONA'S ALVES OUT THREE WEEKS 

FC Barcelona defender Dani Alves will miss three weeks with a left thigh injury suffered against Real Madrid in last weekend's Clasico, and his replacement could very well be Martin Montoya. 

Alves will also miss Brazil's friendlies against Iraq in Sweden and Japan in Poland this coming week. 

Montoya is in his first season with the first team and has started three matches and appeared in 15 since joining Barca. The club is 11-2-2 with Montoya on the pitch.  

MCCARTHY TO REPLACE COYLE AT BOLTON?

Mick McCarthy is the lead candidate to replace fired manager Owen Coyle at Bolton, according to a report from England. 

McCarthy has led two clubs out of the League Championship into the English Premier League, Wolverhampton and Sunderland. Other candidates for the Wanderers job include former Manchester United players Roy Keane and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Bolton seeks a return to the EPL to improve its financial situation but is currently 10 points away from promotion after it was relegated to the Championship last season.

RSL-SEATTLE PICKED UP BY NBC SPORTS NETWORK

The Seattle Sounders-Real Salt Lake match on Oct. 17 at CenturyLink Field has been picked up for a national telecast on the NBC Sports Network. It will kick off at 10 p.m. ET.

At present, RSL and Seattle are in second and third place in the Western Conference, so this is an important match for playoff seeding. It is the only MLS match being played on that day.  

It was a good week in MLS for playoff-bound forwards. 

Fabian Espindola, Sherjill MacDonald and Chris Wondolowski are all key figures on teams heading into the MLS playoffs, and all three showed they are ready for post-season glory as they each turned in outstanding performances over the weekend.

Espindola, MacDonald and Wondolowski all scored multiple goals to lead their teams to important victories, and all three earned SBI MLS Best XI honors in the process.

FC Dallas is still trying to make the playoffs, and while their chances are slim at this point, the only reason they have any chance at all is the heroics of goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, who made several key saves to help Dallas salvage a point against Chivas USA.

Eddie Gaven did his part to help the Columbus Crew keep their playoff hopes alive, scoring a vital late equalizer to earn the Crew a precious point against Sporting Kansas City.

For the second straight week we had so many outstanding performances by forwards that some very deserving candidates fell just short of the Best XI. This week, Philadelphia's Jack McInerney barely missed the cut, while Seattle's Fredy Montero was also a worthy option who came up just short.

Here is the rest of the SBI MLS Best XI for Week 31:

SBI MLS BEST XI (Week 31)

Fabian Espindola------Sherjill MacDonald----Chris Wondolowski

----------------------------Javier Morales----------------------------

--Camilo Sanvezzo---------------------------------Eddie Gaven----

---------------------------Gabriel Gomez----------------------------

Ray Gaddis---------------Arne Friedrich----------------Andy Najar

-----------------------------Kevin Hartman---------------------------

HONORABLE MENTION-  Troy Perkins, Brandon McDonald, Nat Borchers, Marvin Chavez, Osvaldo Alonso, Graham Zusi, Juninho, Oscar Boniek Garcia, Jack McInerney, Dax McCarty,  C.J. Sapong, Robbie Keane, Fredy Montero.

-----------

What do you think of this week's selections? Who didn't make the Best XI that you felt should have? Who made the team that you're happy to see on it?

Share your thoughts below.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

By FRANCO PANIZO

After repeated attempts to call him into the U.S. Men's National team this year, only to be turned down on more than one occasion, It appears U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has grown tired of Timmy Chandler's unwillingness to commit to the U.S. national team.

Chandler's absence from this month's U.S. roster is not because the fullback denied a call-up, but rather because Klinsmann did not offer him an invitation, sources at Chandler's club team, Nuremberg, told SBI on Wednesday.

Chandler told SBI last month that he was open to receiving a call-up and getting cap-tied to the United States during the October qualifiers, but Klinsmann apparently did not deem it necessary to select the 22-year-old fullback.

That Klinsmann ignored Chandler for this coming camp may not be entirely surprising given that Chandler has rebuffed call-ups from the U.S. head coach in the past, not to mention previous coach Bob Bradley. Still, Chandler not getting selected when he said he was publicly open to doing so now means he cannot be cap-tied to the U.S. until the 2013 Gold Cup or World Cup qualifiers.

Chandler and Nurnberg have endured some struggles in the German Bundesliga in recent weeks, but whether that is part of the reason for the snub is not clear at this time. What is clear is that the Chandler saga is still not yet over and it won't be for quite some time.

What do you think Klinsmann not calling in Chandler? Is it the right move given how many times Chandler has turned down call-ups in the past? Do you even want Chandler on the U.S. national team at this point?

Share your thoughts below.

The Big East Conference is widely-regarded as the strongest men's soccer conference in the nation this year, but Northwestern scored a big one for the Big Ten on Tuesday night by knocking off Notre Dame in the evening's only battle of teams ranked in the SBI Top 25.

First-half goals by Joey Calistri and Lepe Setane helped the No. 19 Wildcats knock off the No. 9 Fighting Irish, 2-0, in Evanston, Illinois.

The victory, which should help Northwestern move up in the new SBI Top 25, which will be released later today, improves the Wildcats' record to 8-2-2 while the loss drops Notre Dame to 10-3.

In other action on Tuesday night, No. 1 UConn rebounded from their first loss of the season to beat Iona, while likely new No. 1 Maryland rallied from an early deficit to knock off Rutgers. No. 24 Cornell posted another impressive victory to remain one of only two teams in the nation with a perfect record. The other perfect team, Marquette, edged Northern Illinois, 1-0.

Here is a rundown of all of Tuesday's top scores, as well as a look back at results from the weekend in men's college soccer.

COLLEGE SOCCER SCOREBOARD

TUESDAY

(1) UConn 2, Iona 0 (RECAP)

(2) Maryland 2, Rutgers 1. (RECAP)

(3) Georgetown 2, Lehigh 0 (RECAP)

(4) North Carolina 1, Davidson 0. (RECAP)

(8) Marquette 1, Northern Illinois 0 (RECAP)

(19) Northwestern 2, (9) Notre Dame 1 (RECAP)

(17) Furman 3, Clemson 2 (OT). (RECAP)

East Tennessee State 2, (22) Wake Forest 2 (2OT). (RECAP) 

Colgate 1, (24) Cornell 3. (RECAP)

Princeton 2, Creighton 3. (RECAP)

MONDAY

(10) UCLA 1, Washington 2. (RECAP)

Tulsa 5, Nebraska-Omaha 2. (RECAP)

SUNDAY

(6) UCSB 0, Cal-State Northridge 1 (RECAP)

Delaware 0, (11) Old Dominion 0 (RECAP)

(7) New Mexico 1, Denver 0 (RECAP)

Richmond 0, (15) Charlotte 2 (RECAP)

(13) Xavier 2, Butler 1 (RECAP)

Dayton 0, (19) Saint Louis 1 (RECAP)

Sacramento State 1, UC-Riverside 0 (RECAP)

West Virginia 2, Buffalo 0 (RECAP)

VCU 3, George Washington 0. (RECAP)

SATURDAY 

(8) Marquette 3, (1) UConn 2. (RECAP)

(9) Notre Dame 3, (3) Georgetown 0 (RECAP)

(12) St. John’s 3, Cincinnati 0 (RECAP)

(14) Indiana 2, Wisconsin 0. (RECAP)

(16) Coastal Carolina 3, UNC-Ashville 0 (RECAP)

Winthrop 1, (20) High Point 2 (RECAP)

(21) Wake Forest 0, Boston College 1 (RECAP)

(22) Elon 1,(17) Furman 0 (RECAP)

(23) SMU 2, Kentucky 0 (RECAP)

Harvard 1 (24) Cornell 3 (RECAP)

Creighton 1, SIU-Edwardsville 0 (2OT) (RECAP)

South Florida 2, Rutgers 2 (RECAP)

Michigan 1, Penn State 1 (RECAP)

Syracuse 1, Louisville 2  (RECAP)