19-year-old English-American Duane Holmes started and played 75 minutes in Huddersfield Town’s 4-1 friendly win yesterday. Along with being involved in almost every goal scoring opportunity for Huddersfield, he scored the opening goal and assisted on the next. Holmes was born in Georgia to an American father and an English mother, but moved to England when he was four, where he has resided since. However, he identifies himself as an American. Holmes has had no international experience between the youth teams of England or the United States, but now that he will likely be seeing regular playing time in England’s second division, he is bound to get a call soon.
In other news, DaMarcus Beasley (currently without club) is reportedly very close to signing a Designated Player contract in the MLS. Because of the DP contract, he would bypass the MLS allocation process, but there is no word on a team yet. However, reports say the deal should be finalized before the end of the week. Beasley played for the Chicago Fire from 2000-2004 before completing a transfer to PSV Eindhoven.
As was expected, Julian Green was included in Bayern Munich’s roster to travel to the United States next week. The 19-year-old winger is still enjoying some time with family after this summer’s World Cup, but will join up with the Bayern first team before they head to the United States, where they will play the MLS All-Stars on August 6 in Portland.
And a quick note to follow up on a previous post, Rubio Rubin had what appeared to be nose surgery yesterday morning. The 18-year-old played only six minutes of a friendly the day before and was on the receiving end of a hard challenge and a blow to the face. He was stretchered off the field, but seems to be in good spirits after the operation. Still no word on how much, if any, time he could miss. Rubin has been playing and training with FC Utrecht’s first team this preseason.
The Yanks Watch 