Stuart Holden's biography

Stuart Holden was born in Scotland. His family moved to the United States when he was 10 years old. In 2006, Stuart Holden obtained American citizenship. Stuart Holden is a very creative attacking midfielder who can play as either a left or right midfielder or as a central midfielder. In particular, his ability to set pieces and crosses was once compared to his idol Beckham.

Stewart Holden was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is said that he has started playing football since he was a toddler. He attended the Aberdeen FC School of Excellence as a teenager. Later, his family moved to Houston, Texas, United States when he was 10 years old, and his father worked in the human resources department of Chevron. After two years at Clemson University, Holden signed to join English club Sunderland in March 2005, and just three days later, on March 12, he was waiting outside a Newcastle bar for a rental. He was attacked while driving, causing his left orbital bone to burst in three places, and he missed the opportunity to play for the reserve team against Manchester United. Holden later returned to the United States and joined his hometown Major League Soccer club Houston Dynamo in the 2006 season. He made his debut against the New England Revolution on May 27, 2006, and scored his first career goal on July 22. He scored a goal on his first touch as a substitute against the New England Revolution; on August 9, he played as a starter against the Los Angeles Galaxy for the first time. In the first year, he played 13 games in the regular season, including 3 starts. The Houston Dynamo advanced to the playoffs in second place in the Western Conference. Holden participated in two games as a substitute, including the MLS Cup. The opponent was once again New England Revolution, the two sides were still tied 1-1 after overtime, and penalty kicks were exchanged to determine the outcome. Holden, who was a substitute in the second half of overtime, took his team's second goal and shot it into the upper right corner smoothly into the net. In the end, Houston Di Namor won 4-3.

In the 2007 season, Holden gained more playing time in the team. Although he was sidelined due to an ankle injury, he still played in 22 games, including 10 starts, providing 5 goals and 5 assists. On July 5, Holden handed over two assists against the New York Red Bulls and scored the last goal to seal the 4-0 victory for the team. This goal was selected as the "Sierra Mist Goal Of The Week". And he also became the "Player of the Week"; he attended all four playoff games of the team at the same time, and scored in the second round against FC Dallas in the league semifinals to equalize 1-1 for the team. After overtime, they defeated their opponents 4-1; in the Western Conference finals against the Kansas City Wizards and in the MLS Cup against the New England Revolution, they were sent on as substitutes, and the Houston Dynamo won the championship again. Holden also made a substitute appearance for the team after the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions' Cup semi-final against CF Pachuca; he also played in three SuperLiga group matches. Both played and contributed 1 assist, but missed the semifinals due to injury.

In the 2008 season, Holden has become the team's main force, starting 18 of the 27 games he played, contributing 3 goals and 4 assists, and the Houston Dynamo became the Western Conference regular season champion. In the semi-finals of the playoffs against the New York Red Bulls, who were competing with a foreign card, Holden came on as a late substitute in both rounds. Although he provided an assist to help the team draw 1-1 in the first round, they were defeated 0-3 in the second round. Defending title. Holden scored two goals in the 4-0 victory over Atlanta FC in the first game of the Super League group stage. In the third game against Washington D.C. United, he scored from the backcourt to secure a 3-1 score for the team. The total score in the three games was *** scored 3 goals in 135 minutes and missed the semi-finals and finals due to participating in the Beijing Olympics. In the 2008/09 CONCACAF Champions League (CONCACAF Champions League), he started 5 of the 6 group matches. In the second round, they played Pumas 4-4. Holden assisted in the first 3 minutes of the game. record, but retired due to injury in just 23 minutes; in the fifth round against Luis Angel (Luis & Aacute;ngel Firpo), he wore the captain's armband for the first time and scored 1 goal; he missed the last round of the game due to hernia surgery.

The 2009 season was Holden's harvest period in Major League Soccer. He started all 26 games in the regular season. After switching to the attacking midfielder position, he scored 6 goals and handed over 4 assists, and was selected. "MLS First XI" and "MLS All-Star First XI", won "Dynamo Humanitarian of the Year" for two consecutive years (Dynamo Humanitarian of the Year), and won the "Mr. Dynamo Fans' Choice Award" by fans. On June 5th and June 10th, he scored two consecutive winning goals against Chicago Fire and Chivas Regal USA, defeating his opponents 1-0. He was the fourth player in the history of the league, and the opposing teams were both ranked first in the league at the time.

In the "2009 Major League Soccer All-Star Game" (2009 Major League Soccer All-Star Game), he contributed 1 assist on behalf of the Star team and forced a 1-1 draw with the Premier League team Everton. On August 1st, he celebrated his 24th birthday by scoring a penalty kick and providing an assist against Washington D.C. United. Against the Chicago Fire on August 9, Holden scored the winning penalty kick in the 83rd minute to seal a 3-2 score. He imitated a "bobblehead doll" as a celebration of his goal. He played in three playoff games for the team, including a 2-1 overtime loss to the Seattle Sounders in the Western Conference finals. In the 2008/09 CONCACAF Champions League quarter-final against Atlante FC, he started both rounds and was eliminated 1-4. Played 5 games in the 2009/10 CONCACAF Champions League group stage, although he only started 1 game. After the first round, he came on as a substitute and assisted Cheng Bayern to score a 1-0 victory over Isidro Metapán; in the second round; Against CD Arabi (Árabe Unido), he also came on as a late substitute. He was ejected for refusing to accept the referee's decision and received two consecutive yellow cards within 1 minute. After being suspended for 1 game, Holden scored two goals to assist the team against CD Arabi. A 5-1 win, and with 6 goals, he became Houston Dynamo's player with the most goals in international competitions. However, the team only ranked third in the group stage and failed to qualify. Holden informed the Houston Dynamo that he would not renew his contract at the end of the season and hoped to venture abroad again. Aberdeen, his hometown in Scotland, was the first to explore the market, but gave up due to the high salary. It was reported that Glasgow Rangers also expressed interest in him. . Holden arrived in England in early January 2010 to prepare for a trial with Burnley, but as head coach Owen Coyle switched to Bolton Wanderers, he also followed him to Bolton Wanderers, although he injured his thigh during training. , whose performance was still praised by Owen Cole, was offered a contract by Bolton until the end of the season on January 26. On February 24, Holden made his first Premier League start against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup, and then made his Premier League debut against Wolves at home on February 27. Although he had to miss 6 weeks due to a foot injury on behalf of the United States against the Netherlands, his outstanding performance in the past two games allowed head coach Owen Cole to activate the terms of his contract to be extended to the end of the next season. Holden resumed training in early April and is expected to play in the last two games of the season.

In the 2010-11 season, he was named one of the best midfielders in the English Premier League that season by the Guardian. But he was never able to return to his peak level after suffering an injury against Manchester United in March 2011.

A series of setbacks caused Holden to miss the entire 2011-12 season.

The last competitive match of his career was in March 2014 for the Bolton Wanderers reserve team, but he was injured again during the game. Holden played 11 games for the U.S. U20 team, scoring one goal each against Brazil and Denmark. In February 2007, he was called up to join the training camp of the Olympic team to prepare for the trip to Japan, but he withdrew from the team due to injury. He was selected by Peter Nowak, the new coach of the Olympic team, to join the training camp in California in December to prepare for the trip to China. The U.S. Olympic team played two games against the Chinese Olympic team. The first game was tied 0-0 at Changsha Helong Stadium. In the second game at Guangzhou Yuexiushan Stadium, Holden handed over an assist to help the team lead 3-0 in the first half. He retreated from the firing line in the second half, and before the end of the game, China equalized 3-3 with Du Zhenyu's penalty kick. In February 2008, he was called up to a 24-man training camp to prepare for the Beijing Olympics Football Qualifying Tournament, and was selected to enter the competition list. The U.S. Olympic team qualified for the Beijing Olympics football event after defeating Canada 3-0 in the qualifying semifinals, but lost to Honduras 0-1 after overtime in the final.

In July 2008, Holden was selected as a member of the U.S. Olympic team to compete in the Beijing Olympics. Before the game, the U.S. Olympic team first participated in the ING Challenge in Hong Kong as a warm-up match. They had two games, one draw and one loss. In the first round of the Beijing Olympics football group match on August 7, the U.S. Olympic team faced Japan at the Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium. Holden scored a decisive goal in the 47th minute of the second half, helping the team win 1-0. Holden continued to start in the second game as the left midfielder, and the United States was tied 2-2 by the Netherlands at the end of the game. The last match of the group stage was played against Nigeria at the Workers' Stadium in Beijing. Only 3 minutes after the start of the game, Michael Orozco was directly shown a red card by the referee for an elbow hit. The United States ultimately lost 1-2. The third place in the group failed to qualify.

Since most of the main players of the national team were allowed to take a truce after participating in the Confederations Cup, Holden was selected by the national team to join the 2009 Americas Gold Cup roster on June 24, 2009.

On July 4, he represented the national team for the first time in the group match against Grenada. He scored his first national team goal with a header in the 31st minute, helping the team win 4-0. He did not play in the second game against Honduras on July 11. In the last game of the Japanese group match against Haiti, Holden started again. In injury time before the end of the game, he scored a 24-yard shot from the goal, leveling the game 2-2 for the team and becoming the team's first goal scorer. The goal was also assisted by him. The result not only enabled the United States to qualify first in the group, but also extended the national team's record of 25 consecutive unbeaten games in the Americas Gold Cup group stage and 56 unbeaten games at home against America's Gold Cup teams. Holden contributed two assists against Honduras in the semifinals to help the United States win 2-0 and advance to the finals. Unfortunately, they were defeated by Mexico 0-5 in the final, but Holden's performance in the event earned him selection to the All-Tournament Team.

On March 3, 2010, he represented the United States in a friendly match against the Netherlands. He was kicked by Nigel de Jong and left the field. After the game, it was confirmed that the fibula in his right foot was fractured.

In 2013, he returned to the national team and participated in the CONCACAF Gold Cup that year. However, he tore a knee ligament in the final against Panama.

As of his retirement, Stuart Holden*** has played 26 times for the United States national team (USA) and scored 3 goals.