Apparently, Fulham loves its American players just a little bit less than we thought.American center-back Carlos Bocanegra was released by Fulham today after falling out of favor with manager Roy Hodgson, who replaced Lawrie Sanchez last December. Bocanegra was Fulham's team captain after Brian McBride went down with a knee injury early in the season, but a poor run of form saw him replaced last January by Paul Stalteri, who was on loan from Tottenham Hotspur and has since returned to the club.
Interestingly enough, Bocanegra is now the fourth out-of-contract American soccer player who was called up by Bob Bradley for next week's England v. USA friendly. Forwards Josh Wolff was released by second-division German club 1860 Munich. Nate Jaqua was let go by Austrian club SC Rheindorf Altach, despite scoring five goals for Altach since January. Goalkeeper Dominic Cervi's trial with Celtic ended recently.
All those players are likely to be in the shop window at Wembley next Wednesday and possibly again in Spain the following week. The question, though, is who will take a chance on them. I suspect none of them are all that interested in returning to MLS anytime soon.
