Stoke City is in Germany for the next week and a half and they played their first friendly against Fabian Johnson’s Borussia Monchengladbach side. With Fabian and Geoff Cameron still on holiday, the only American involved in the friendly was Brek Shea. Shea played the second half of the match and got a good 45 minutes in. After struggling for time since moving to Stoke two seasons ago, Shea desperately needs to prove his worth with the club. An unsuccessful preseason will most likely see him go out on loan again.
18-year-old Rubio Rubin was only able to play six minutes in FC Utrecht’s 2-1 friendly win over Dundee United. He was stretchered off after a nasty hit to the head on a hard challenge. Early reports from Utrecht say he suffered a mild concussion. No word on how much time he could miss.
After much transfer speculation surrounding Sacha Kljestan, it looks like he may stay at Anderlecht after all. He was an available sub in the Belgium Super Cup today. Anderlecht won the trophy 2-1, but Kljestan did not play. After it was reported earlier this week that Greek-club Panathinaikos are no longer interested in Kljestan, the Anderlecht manager supported his stay at the club and said he would certainly be used this season.
Mix Diskerud started for Rosenborg as they beat Sogndal 1-0 in Norwegian top league action. It was only Diskerud’s second start since returning from the World Cup for a struggling Rosenborg side, who have only scored one goal without Mix on the field in their last three matches. Rosenborg travels to Ireland for Europa League action on Thursday as they play Sligo Rovers in need of a big win after losing 2-1 at home in the first leg.
The Yanks Watch 
I’d really like to see Shea earn consistent time on the field somewhere in Europe. If that’s not going to be at Stoke, and I don’t think it will be, he needs to get out of there permanently. Another loan move would only continue to put his career on hold.