Yankee-doodle Holden ready to put one over on Beckham

DAVID BECKHAM may have been aware of Stuart Holden’s potential when the British-born USA international midfielder slipped under the transfer deadline radar and joined Bolton in January but his performance in a vital victory over Wolves suggests English football may be hearing much more from him before this year is completed.

In the short-term, Holden gained a large measure of vindication at the expense of Mick McCarthy and Sunderland, the manager and club who released him after an earlier, short-term, spell in the English game. Beyond this season, Holden is already hoping his efforts to keep Bolton in the top flight help cement his place in the US World Cup team and allows him a reunion with Beckham in group play in June.

Holden has already bettered Beckham once this season, winning man-of-the-match honours as his Houston Dynamo team lost to the LA Galaxy in the MLS play-offs but, on the far more important stage of a Premier League debut on Saturday, he once more excelled.