Stuart Holden life and biography

Stuart Holden (born August 1, 1985, in Aberdeen) is a Scottish-born American soccer player currently playing for Bolton Wanderers in the English Premier League.

Holden grew up in Sugar Land, Texas, after moving there at age 10 with his family. His father worked for Chevron Corporation in its human resources department. After playing two years of college soccer at Clemson University, Holden signed with English club Sunderland in March 2005. However, just days later, on March 12, Holden was attacked outside a bar in Newcastle, leaving him with a fractured left eye socket and preventing him from making a first-team appearance with the club.

Holden returned to the United States to play in Major League Soccer (MLS) with hometown club Houston Dynamo for the 2006 season. He made his MLS debut on May 27, 2006, and scored his first professional goal on July 22, 2006, in a 1–1 home draw against New England. He appeared thirteen times in the 2006 regular season and twice as a substitute in Houston's run to the MLS Cup 2006 championship. In the championship penalty shootout, Holden took the Dynamo's second shot and scored to the top right corner.

Holden's playing time increased in the 2007 season. He mostly started on the left wing when teammate Brad Davis went down with injury. In July, Holden scored goals on consecutive Thursday night games and added three assists in league play and another in SuperLiga play, as of July 25. Holden was awarded the US Soccer Humanitarian of the Year award in 2008.

Having spent several weeks training in England following the end of the 2009 Major League Soccer season, Holden officially joined Premier League side Bolton Wanderers on January 25, 2010. He made his Bolton debut on February 24, 2010, in a 4–0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup, starting and playing the full ninety minutes. He made his first league appearance on February 27 2010, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 victory over Wolves.

Holden was capped eleven times as a United States youth international at the U-20 level. Early in 2007, Holden was called in to the U.S. U-23 squad for a camp in California and in December for a camp and trip to China to play matches against the China U-23 team. In July 2008 Holden was named to the U.S. squad competing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. On August 7 he scored in the USA's opening match, a 1–0 victory against Japan. In December of 2008 Holden was called into a camp set to begin in January of 2009 preceding a friendly against Sweden on January 24. He sustained a hip injury prior to the friendly and was forced to withdraw from camp.

Holden was named to the United States Gold Cup squad on June 25, 2009, as nearly all of the senior regulars were rested following the Confederations Cup. Holden scored a goal for the U.S. in his national team debut against Grenada on July 4, 2009. On July 11, 2009, Holden scored his second international goal against Haiti with a thirty-yard strike that tied the game in the ninety-second minute, and assisted the USA's first goal in that match, which was scored by Davy Arnaud. Holden added two more assists in the 2–0 semi-final win against Honduras. Stuart was selected to the Gold Cup All-Tournament Team. On May 26, 2010, it was announced that Holden would be part of the 23-man roster for the U.S. National Team which will play in this year's FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Holden's brother, Euan Holden plays for Danish club Vejle BK.

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