[AMERICANS ABROAD] There was good news and bad news for Stuart Holden. The bad news: The injury he suffered when he was taken out on a tackle by Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong during the USA's 2-1 loss to the Netherlands Wednesday in Amsterdam was a fractured fibula in his right leg that will sideline him six weeks. The good news: Bolton Wanderers, the English club at which he had just made his debut a week earlier, thinks so much of him that it will extend his contract beyond the initial short term ending on June 30. Meanwhile, de Jong showed little remorse for the foul and yellow card, which he said "are part of soccer" ...

"It's disappointing for Stuart because he has come into the team and done ever so well," said Bolton manager Owen Coyle. "What we do know is he will come back bigger and stronger, but it is sad for him to miss out at this moment in time. He's come in with a real hunger and desire to do well for our club, and in the two games he's played, we've seen his quality."

Holden's injury, which follows a thigh injury he suffered in mid-January and delayed his debut with Bolton, means he'll miss all but the final month of the EPL season. But Coyle said he's seen enough from Holden to want to keep him.

"We've already spoken with him and his representative to assure him he will be here for longer because of the belief I have in him, and the quality he has shown since he came to the club," Coyle added. "When we signed him, within the contract there was the option there to extend it further, which we will do. It augurs well for his future and that of the football club."

De Jong, meanwhile, showed little remorse for the foul, which resulted in a yellow card.

"Such offenses are part of soccer," he said on the Dutch federation web site. "I went for the ball and got the opponent at the end. I had no evil intent. If the ball is between me and the opponent, you have to go in full. If you do not, then the opponent takes you. And if you're scared in a game, you get injured yourself."