FanHouse Fulham

It's not going to make up for Wednesday's crushing 2-1 loss in Mexico City, but American midfielder Clint Dempsey got a spot of good news Thursday when Fulham extended his contract with the English club until the end of the 2012-13 season.

The contract extension might be considered a late reward for the 26-year-old Texas native, who's goal against Liverpool late in the 2006-07 Premier League season helped keep Fulham in the top flight as his contract was set to expire at the end of this year.

With some three minutes left in a crucial match between Newcastle United and Fulham, the skies – sunny all afternoon, but suddenly and ominously dark now – opened up and literally began to rain on our American parade.

Hull City was drawing with Bolton Wanderers and the Magpies (aka Newcastle United) were down a goal and a Bassong (Sebastien after an all too harsh red card) to Fulham with the clock creeping toward 90 minutes (aka full time).

We were getting drenched and the realization was settling in: once again, Newcastle was staring at a spot in the relegation zone, teetering over the abyss of Championship football.

It's no suprise that a club that's dressed in green and white, blue-and-black stripes, and maroon and sky blue, all within 13 years, has had a bit of trouble forging a lasting identity.

The Colorado Rapids have made the playoffs more often than not, play in a beautiful new stadium and have featured players like Carlos Valderrama, Marcelo Balboa and Pablo Mastroeni. Yet they barely resonate on either the American soccer landscape or in Denver, struggling to attract fans (just over 11,000 this season) and media coverage while falling behind several expansion teams in their national Q rating. They have an owner, Stan Kroenke, who's been accused of being more interested in raising his stake in Arsenal than with fielding a winner at home, haven't played a meaningful international match in more than 10 years and count two MLS reserve division titles as their only honors. The Rapids are boring, or even worse, anonymous.

Now, Gary Smith is on the verge of changing that.

Brian McBride has announced that he is leaving Fulham and will return to America to finish his career in Major League Soccer.

The American striker transferred to Fulham from the Columbus Crew in January of 2004 and scored 40 goals in more than 150 appearances for the London-based club. He was twice named Fulham's player of the year and was instrumental in helping the club escape the relegation zone and stay in the Premier League for another season.

McBride also scored 30 goals for the U.S. men's national team before retiring from international play following the 2006 World Cup. He has been rumored to be one of three overage players to join the U.S. Olympic soccer team.

Expect MLS to announce McBride's return to the league before this season is over.

(H/T: EPL Talk)

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.

All it took was one goal. It didn't matter that Reading was carving through Derby County like an electric knife through a cooked ham, or that Birmingham City had taken the lead at home against Blackburn. All Fulham needed was one goal to ensure their Premier League survival.

After 76 minutes, they got it on a Jimmy Bullard free kick that found Danny Murphy in the box. Murphy's header found the back of the net, giving Fulham a 1-0 lead. A furious attack by Portsmouth was stymied for 90 minutes by Kasey Keller, and the Cottagers got the win they needed to avoid the relegation that looked dead certain a month ago.

We no longer have to ask what will happen to American soccer stars Brian McBride and Clint Dempsey. They'll be back at Craven Cottage next season. Perhaps if McBride and Bullard avoid injuries and play full seasons, Fulham can avoid the relegation battle all together in 2009.

As for Reading, their six-game goal drought doomed them to the fizzy drink mixer, and manager Steve Coppell will face a huge struggle to bring his club back up. Same goes for Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish, who discovered the hard way that Scottish football doesn't always prepare you for English football.

It may be the smallest London club in the Premier League, but Fulham has big aspirations -- namely, to be just as big a brand name in America as the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal. That's one reason why they went out of their way to sign U.S. National Team stars like Carlos Bocanegra, Brian McBride and Clint Dempsey. Having Americans on the pitch will help pull an American audience and their American dollars.

That can't happen, though, if Fulham gets relegated to the Coca-Cola Championship, where Americans can't watch them play regularly. Fulham has dropped to 18th place on the league table, and their continuing decline resulted in the sacking of Lawrie Sanchez today.

How did the Cottagers tumble into the drop zone? Perhaps it was Sanchez' halftime speeches, because Fulham has had a nasty tendency to fall apart in the second half. Consider this: If you ranked Fulham based on halftime scores in their 17 league matches thus far, they would have 29 points and a goal differential of +5. That would put them 8th in the Premier League, just one point behind the likes of Liverpool, Everton and Portsmouth.

Somewhere in the second half, though, it all goes wrong for this club.