Beasley to Hannover

DaMarcus Beasley recently signed with Hannover 96 after having been released by Rangers. Beasley was picked up by the team to fill in for Carlitos, a left winger, who recently suffered a torn ligament in his knee. The Hannover roster doesn’t contain any  superstar wingers, so Beasley looks set to get playing time there.

While Beasley might not start every game, he will at least be the third best winger on the team. Even if Beasley doesn’t start, he will still probably get more playing time than he did at Rangers, where Beasley saw the field sporadically. Of course, much of that was due to injury problems. Beasley is also coming into a team with a veteran American player, Steve Cherundolo. His transition into the team should also be made easier by the fact that Cherundolo is currently the Hannover captain.

Beasley recently showed his worth by scoring a goal during a friendly match with Czech team, Mlada Boleslav. Beasley will be around 32 come the next World Cup and could be a valuable asset, so it is good that he will be playing in a quality league, the Bundesliga. In addition Beasley could still be very valuable in World Cup qualifying and the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Beasley has a chance to resurrect his career at Hannover and is in good position to make that happen barring any more injuries.

U-20 team gets embarrassed by Paraguay

The US under-20 team got thrashed 5-0 by Paraguay at the Cuadrangular Internacional in Arequipa, Peru. The U-20 team travelled to this tournament with a number of players not included on the Milk Cup Roster. Of course, there were a few talented U-20s on the squad like Juan Agudelo, Omar Salgado, Adrian Ruelas, and Gale Agbossoumonde. The keeper, Samir Badr, had a terrible night and will look to bounce back with his next opportunity.

Paraguay’s Oscar Ruiz scored two early goals and blasted in a 3rd just after halftime. Oscar Correa then completed the rout late in the game with two goals. The result was horrible, but the statistics show a more equal match with 8 shots on goal for the US compared to Paraguay’s 11 and the US having 6 corners to the Paraguayans 2 corners.

This result is especially bad news for bubble battlers, who made up the majority of the squad. Thomas Rongen is using this tournament as an opportunity to give some fringe players a chance to play a larger role in the U-20 team. Samir Badr will have to have much better performances if he is going to break into the team that will go to the World Youth Championship next year in Colombia.