John Terry named England's captain for US match

US vs. England
Wednesday, 3pm ET/12pm PT
TV: ESPN Classic, Galavision (delayed 7pm ET)

England's coach Fabio Capello has named John Terry as captain for tomorrow's match against the USA at Wembley. Terry becomes Capello's third English captain in as many games.

Capello said: "I told him he'll be the captain and he was very, very happy. It's very important to be a leader and John Terry is a leader."

It seems this game will take place a week after Terry missed some sort of penalty kick. Anyone know anything about this?

Snark aside, Capello hopes to have the full-time captain position decided before England's World Cup Qualifying matches begin in September.

On another note, I didn't realize this until just a few moments ago but every player on England's roster plays in the EPL, except one. The one is David Beckham. So does this mean English players can't make it outside of their own county? Okay, too much snark.

In US roster news, Maurice Edu has been called to London by Bob Bradley after Benny Feilhaber suffered a knee injury in last week's Toulon Tournament while Frankie Hejduk is making the trip to possibly cover for Jonathan Spector who has been experiencing hip joint irritation.

Nowak names his US Olympic Qualifying roster

Peter Nowak has selected the roster that he thinks will return the US men to the Olympic games. After an impressive showing in 2000, the U-23s won their qualifying group in 2004 but lost to Mexico in the semifinals and missed a trip to Athens.

The US should have a good chance of taking their group again this time around, however the question is can Mexico do the same or will they finish in second and force another semifinal showdown? Either way, this roster looks to be the best U-23 group the US has ever put forward, so they should be ready.

Here is Peter Nowak's full Olympic Qualifying roster:

GK (2): Dominic Cervi (out of contract), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)

D (7): Hunter Freeman (New York Red Bulls), Kamani Hill (Vfl Wolfsburg), Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo), Michael Orozco (San Luis), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United), Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)

M (7): Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas), Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96)

F (4): Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire),
Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake)

Jonathan Spector (West Ham United) is on this roster even though he was not called into the final training camp early this month. Oddly enough Benny Feilhaber (Derby County) did not make the final roster. Not sure if he suffered an injury, was called back to his club or just didn't fit in with Nowak's plans.

Overall, this is a great group, however there seems to be some weakness in the back. Look for Spector to play a big roll. I'll be watching Orozco as I haven't really followed him much in the Mexican league. He might just be the surprise of the group.

As far as which teams have the most players on the list, Real Salt Lake have the most with three while Houston, New York and Toronto each have two.

The US gets things started on Tuesday against Cuba at 8pm ET/5pm PT. Fox Soccer Channel and ESPN Deportes will air all the matches live. ESPN360.com will also stream the matches on the internet.

Here is the full Concacaf Olympic qualifying schedule.

Feilhaber not moving to Houston

US international and Derby County benchwarmer Benny Feilhaber is not going to Houston. Although the midfielder is interested in a possible loan deal to a MLS club, the Dynamo will not be his team of choice.

This should come as no surprise as Houston already has more midfielders then they know what to do with. It is in the striker position that the MLS champs are lacking, so why go with a midfielder, even if he is as talented as Feilhaber.

The one way this might have worked is moving DeRosario up top along with Ching, but DeRo has said that there is no plan for such a move.

Feilhaber could still end up in MLS with San Jose and Chivas good possibilities. Chivas has a lot of quality in their squad and Benny could fit in just right. Teaming him up with Jesse Marsch and Sacha Kljestan (not to mention Ante Razov and Jonathan Bornstein) would give them an 'all-over' feel.

With San Jose, he would pretty much become their heartbeat as the team is still very under whelmed when it comes to players (especially when it comes to attacking players).

In the end, it doesn't really matter where he goes as long as he gets some playing time. Although he looked good against Mexico last week, he obviously wasn't ready to be a starter.

EPL's Derby sold American

The bottom feeders of this season's Premier League are under American ownership as Derby County chairman Adam Pearson has managed to find new investors for the club.

Although the new faces are, at this point, unnamed, the article does mention that "the group were previously involved in talks with a takeover of Manchester City, only to lose out to Thaksin Shinawatra."

So will this in some way help keep Derby up this season? Unless the new owners include a magically fairy, probably not. However, it should help provide manager Paul Jewell the needed funds for the summer transfer window, but will it finally help American Benny Feilhaber see some decent playing time?

This move means four of the twenty teams currently in the EPL are owned by Americans (Manchester United, Liverpool and Aston Villa are the others). If only we could convince these people to throw some of that money into MLS.

Feilhaber staying in England for now

He might not be playing much for Derby, but they are sticking with him after rejecting Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv's offer for the midfielder. In the end, Derby just didn't think the club's offer was equal to Feilhaber's value. The reported offer was £275,000, or more then £700,000 less then the club paid for him five months ago.

It is a shame that the reason behind this was the low figure instead of a desire to play Feilhaber, but that is the way of international football.

So Feilhaber finds himself benched on a club that is just about certain of relegation. Unless another club and move in with a better offer, it's going to be a difficult spring for Benny.

Benny Feilhaber looking towards Israel

Just five months after landing at Derby County in England, US midfielder Benny Feilhaber is looking at a possible move to Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv. Although a move from the EPL to Israel can only be seen as stepping backwards, this is a smart choice since he is not getting playing time at Derby.

In order to get a work permit to play for Derby, US coach Bob Bradley had to provide a statement to English officials saying that Feilhaber would be a big part of the future US team, however his lack of appearances, is putting his US position at risk (as was seen in his below par performance against South Africa). If he wants to get pack in the roster picture as we head towards 2010, he needs to make some change. Since it looks like Derby doesn't want him, and needs to go elsewhere.

Israel is not one of the big leagues, but playing time is better then the bench just about any time. It is a difficult choice but I think his time in Israel would be short.

Feilhaber to Derby County - It's official

Benny Feilhaber's move to EPL newbie is complete after he received his work permit from the UK Home Office.

He will arrive in England tomorrow and under go his medical before finalizing and signing his new contract.

The most interesting part about this whole process has to do with his work permit, which looked unlikely at first. However, US coach Bob Bradley stepped in and told the Home Office that Feilhaber will be a big part of future US teams. Turns out that did the trick.

"Bradley played a big part in Benny's move," (Derby's Matt) Reeder continued. "He sent in a statement that Benny was a big part of the future of the US team, and that he has a secure place in the starting eleven."

Congratulations to Benny and nice assist by Bradley.

Benny Feilhaber off to the EPL

Derby County might not have got the first American they went after, however it looks like they might land their second as Mr. Gold Cup winning goal himself, Benny Feilhaber is close to closing a transfer deal to the club.

"We are very close," he told American Soccer Daily on Tuesday morning. "The basics have been agreed, and now we get into the details."

"The contract is supposed to be for three years. We hope it's going to work out. This would be good for Benny."

Feihaber is still training with Hamburg in preparation for this Saturday's opener against Hannover 96, however he has asked to be part of the first team or be traded to another club.

These reports put the transfer figure at €1.5 million or about $2 million.