FLASH ALERT

FLASH ALERT: ALL OF DC UNITED'S FANBASE STAGED A STEALTH VISIT TO SEATTLE ON SATURDAY! HERE ARE PICTURES FROM THE HISTORIC OCCASION!

Did Freddie Ljungberg Eat a KFC Double Down Sandwich Before Today's Game?

Rumor has it that Freddie demanded that a KFC Double Down sandwich, which replaces the bun with two pieces of fried chicken, be flown in from Rhode Island prior to today's game. Could that explain his on-field behaviour today?



We report. You get fat.

DC United is Working Really Hard to Sell Tickets to US Open Cup Final

The owner of DC United used his political connections in US Soccer to have the US Open Cup Final awarded DC without any sort of open bid process or explanation of how the decision was made. The game will be played at RFK Stadium, but there does not seem to be any interest at all in DC for it. They started out with a "We Win Trophies" campaign that basically set about to lecture Seattle about how good DC was, then they dropped ticket prices for the game from $25 to $12, and now they've stooped to begging barely-recognizeable "celebrities" like David Gregory to advertise for them:

Sounders - Toronto Pregame

MLSNet has a great writeup on the upcoming Sounders game against Totocrap FC.

Hooliganspotting

League Cup match in East London with Wet Spam hosting Millwall. Cops limit Millwall to 2300 away fans despite match being high profile and not selling out. Predictable enough result with plenty of non ticketed Millwall and Wet Spam having running streetfights. Crazy scenes before match when cops send trains to east ham and then millwall fans picked off by roving bands of Wet Spam. Why do non-ticketed fans travel………in many cases they don’t check tickets. They just let all the away fans in to keep the peace. Note the Millwall travelling support. Very few Christmas trees. This is the type of away support I was brought up on. Keep it really low key to avoid polis and local firm attention. When it is appropriate you then let them know you are there and are taking liberties on their manor.

US Open Cup Final Preview

Great writeup at USSoccer.com on the upcoming Sounders-DC United match:

CHICAGO (Aug. 26, 2009) – Now only a week away, the 2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup championship match will take place Wednesday, Sept. 2 at 7:30 PM at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. Pitting defending champions D.C. United against the Seattle Sounders, the game promises to be an exciting conclusion to the nation’s oldest annual team championship. The Sounders, the first expansion team to make the final since current U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Bob Bradley’s 1998 Chicago Fire squad earned a title, will be trying to win their first U.S. Open Cup while D.C. United will be going for their third overall and second consecutive championship. Fans can watch the match live on Fox Soccer Channel.

Seattle Sounders FC, a former USL First Division club with an established soccer presence in the Pacific Northwest joined MLS this year as the league’s 15th team. Their fan support has been well noted and is expected to break the MLS single-season record for attendance, currently held by the Los Angeles Galaxy with 28,916 in the league’s first season.

Seattle’s road to the Open Cup began with MLS play-in games, as only the top six MLS clubs from the previous regular season are automatically entered into the tournament. After victories against Real Salt Lake and the Colorado Rapids, the Sounders clinched a spot in the third round of the tournament. Their first matchup happened to be against a former USL rival in the Portland Timbers, and the match was a highly charged affair with more than 16,000 in attendance, the highest total for a non-doubleheader, non-final game in U.S. Open Cup history. The Sounders advanced with goals from Roger Levesque and Stephen King, holding on for the 2-1 victory.

Their quarterfinal and semifinal games, however, were filled with late game heroics. Sebastian Le Toux finished an 89th minute penalty against the Kansas City Wizards to win 1-0, while Nate Jaqua tied the semifinal match against the Houston Dynamo in the 89th minute to save the Sounders and send the match into overtime in the semifinals. In the 95th minute, Stephen King again provided the game winner that put the Sounders into a cup final in their first year as an MLS club.

D.C. United’s route to their fourth U.S. Open Cup title game has taken a much less stressful path for the fans, though no less difficult for the team. The Black and Red began their quest to defend the 2008 championship by winning their MLS play-in games, joining Seattle as the two MLS clubs given third round berths. Since then, the champions have shown their pedigree by winning gritty, physical matches. Facing a 0-0 score deep in the second half of their third round game against the Ocean City Barons (PDL), it wasn’t until a few rested D.C. United regulars came off the bench that the game was decided. Christian Gomez converted a 74th minute penalty before Ange N’Silu finished it off in the 90th minute for the 2-0 victory.

The quarterfinals saw United hang on for a 2-1 victory against the USL-2 Harrisburg City Islanders with first half goals by Boyzzz Khumalo and Andrew Jacobson leading the charge. Their semifinal match against the Rochester Rhinos (USL-1) proved to be the biggest test for the defending champions. Former Open Cup champions themselves, the Rhinos brought a physical game to the Maryland SoccerPlex. United took the lead into halftime with a 41st minute penalty conversion from Jaime Moreno, but Tai Atieno tied it up in the 68th minute. Several hard tackles later, a defensive miscue by Rochester allowed Christ Pontius to run in on goal with a breakaway. His shot was saved by Rhinos’ goalkeeper Tim Melia, but the rebound was put in by Khumalo to bring the title game back to D.C. for the second year in a row.

Despite the obvious difference in club experience, Seattle has some key players that belie its status as an expansion team. They are led in the back by U.S. World Cup veteran Kasey Keller, who made a career overseas with clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur and Borussia Mönchengladbach in the English Premier League and German Bundesliga, respectively. He started the year as the best ‘keeper in Major League Soccer, opening Seattle’s expansion campaign with four straight shutouts before his shutout streak ended at 457 minutes against the Chicago Fire on May 2. He currently sits third in MLS rankings with a 0.94 goals against average. Their midfield is run by former Swedish international and Arsenal midfielder Freddie Ljungberg, who feeds the feet of Colombian Fredy Montero. Currently tied for second in goals scored in MLS with ten, the speedy Montero will no doubt cause problems for the United defense. Surrounded by energetic youngsters like Patrick Ianni, Steve Zakuani and Nate Jaqua, the Sounders have performed admirably well for an expansion team and are currently fourth in the Western Conference table.

At the other end of the spectrum sits D.C. United, the most decorated soccer club in the United States. They are winners of four MLS Cup titles, four MLS Supporters’ Shields, and two Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup championships, including last year’s title. The club currently is tied for first with 34 goals scored this season. Led by captain and veteran Jaime Moreno, the Bolivian is the club leader in caps as well as the MLS-leader in career goals scored with 128. He returns to the title came along with last year’s goal scorers Luciano Emilio (currently in the top-10 in goals scored this MLS season with eight) and Fred. Along with those international stars are U.S. 2006 FIFA World Cup veteran Ben Olsen, as well as Santino Quaranta who was part of the U.S. team that reached the final of this summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup. With veterans such as these providing guidance to youngsters like Rodney Wallace and Chris Pontius, D.C. seems to have a squad built for continued success, even as they sit currently fifth in the Eastern Conference but within one point of Toronto and New England, who are tied for third.

With the MLS season coming into its final months, now is the first chance for both of these playoff contenders to earn their first trophy of the year. For Seattle, a victory will start them off on the right foot, while a D.C. United win will further cement their status as one of the most decorated teams in all of American sports.

The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the U.S. Soccer Federation’s national championship, is an annual competition open to all amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer. It is the oldest national annual tournament for team sports in U.S. history and among the oldest soccer tournaments of its type in the world. In 1999, the competition was renamed to honor long-time soccer pioneer Lamar Hunt.

Real Salt Lake Joins the 30 Point Club

Real Salt Lake beat up Chivas 4-0 tonight, moving them into a 4 way tie for seventh place with Colorado, Toronto, and New England in the league table. The result ended Chivas' two-game winning streak and RSL's two-game winless streak. The RSL lineup was shuffled by coach Jason Kreis for this game with regular starters Clint Mathis and Robbie Findley both sitting out the first half. The move seemed to work since Findley's replacement, Pablo Campos, ended up scoring the game-winning goal just before half-time. Chivas remains tied with Seattle for fifth place overall and third in the Western Conference.

Sounders Face Off Against Toronto on Saturday

Okay. We're officially in the homestretch of the Sounders inaugural MLS season. The Ravers have fallen down the league table over the weekend, but they're still tied for fifth overall with 33 points. One problem that they face is that most of the teams competing for the final few playoff spots have played one or two fewer games than the Sounders, so they need to pick up every point that they can from here on out. Based on previous years' league results, it's likely that the Sounders will need 40 points to guarantee a spot in the playoffs. That's definitely do-able with seven games left in the season, the final two against lowly Kansas City and Dallas. One nice thing about having played more games than most other teams at this point in the season is that, after Toronto, the Sounders will have at least 7 days to prepare for every single remaining game of the season.

The Sounders are set to face off against Toronto FC on Saturday. Toronto (some would call them Totocrap FC) is in a four-way tie for the final playoff spot. They were knocked out of the Champions League earlier this month by Puerto Rico, so you can be sure that they will be bringing everything they have to Seattle on Saturday. TFC is led by Dwayne De Rosario, a Canadian National Team member and a prolific MLS goal scorer. Toronto coach Chris Cummins likes to pull his forwards back and let midfielders De Rosario and Amado Guevara make long runs looking for crosses above the box. This tends to wear down opponents' defenders and can make the offside trap counterproductive. Working in the Sounders' favor is the fact that Toronto is a terrible road team, having taken only five points (three of which were against San Jose) and been shut out three times in seven away matches so far this year.

Bookies
Three quarters of the betting money is on the Sounders for this one. I'd like to say that this is a good sign, but even more of the betting money was on the Sounders last home game against the Revolution and we know how that turned out.

ESPN Power Rankings
The MLS Power Ranking make no sense and seem to just rank teams based on how they did in their last game with no regard for callups or days rest or cards or anything, so I like to stick with the ESPN rankings. ESPN has Seattle ranked fourth overall behind Columbus, Houston, and Chicago (no surprise) while Toronto is ranked tenth.

Predictions
The Sounders are going to be at full strength for the first time in a while. Leo Gonzalez has settled in at left back and is looking more solid with each game. Brad Evans is looking sharp in the midfield, and Freddie Ljungberg was on fire against Houston. The only thing that isn't clicking is the scoring. There are plenty of opportunities being created (Seattle should have beat Houston) but they can't finish (see also: Steve Zakuani). I'm guessing that this is the game where the scoring drought ends. Watch for a goal from the midfield from Ljungberg or maybe even on an outside shot from Brad Evans. Montero is due for a goal as well.

Steve Zakuani Walks Into A Brothel...

...but Nate Jaqua ends up scoring.

C'mon Sounders!

DC United and LA Galaxy Tie 0-0 in DC: The Playoff Plot Thickens

DC United had plenty of scoring opportunities tonight but were unable to find the back of the net against the LA Galaxy tonight at RFK stadium in Washington, DC. Luciano Emilio seemed to have put United in front as he slotted past Donovan Ricketts to cap a great run by Fred, but the assistant referee's flag had gone up for offside - a decision replays showed to be an exceedingly tight call. Landon Donovan was quiet for most of the rain-soaked match by almost connected with former US National Team member Eddie Lewis on a run down the right side.

The tie between the two teams will make the playoff picture even murkier than it was before the weekend. There are currently four teams with thirty points, placing them all at sixth place overall in the MLS League table (the top 8 teams overall usually advance). In addition, Real Salt Lake is playing the New England Revolution on Sunday. Both teams are tied with 27 points, so a win by either side will make for five teams at thirty points and tied for sixth overall.

US MNT Watch: Jozy Altidore Needs 1 Minute to Make a Mark

Jozy Altidore had less than a day to prepare for the Hull City-Bolton match after his return from the International match in Mexico City last week. Immigration problems held him up. He didn't start, but he subbed in at 60 minutes and immediately made a beautiful over-the-head assist to Hull City forward and Algerian national Kamil Ghilas for the game's one and only goal. The pass allowed Ghilas to split the defense and go in for an easy finish. Altidore and Ghilas had plenty of opportunities throughout the rest of the match and Altidore shined both as a playmaker and a scoring threat. Not bad for a guy who's only 19 years old!

ESPN's Though's on the Red Bulls

ESPN has a great article on The New York Trainwreck That Calls Itself the RedBulls. The article is a fantastic tutorial on how not to run a soccer franchise (hint: don't put someone with no sports experience in charge of it). It's amazing that they are still able to get good coaches like Juan Carlos Osorio to put their reputations at risk by taking over the club. Osorio looked like a genius last year, but his complete lack of involvement in North American soccer for several years, combined with with the complete lack of soccer people throughout the franchise, led to create a disastrous draft and trade record over the past 2 years that has come back to haunt them.

Freddie Ljungberg Needs to Eat More!

Good news:

"TUKWILA -- Sounders FC star midfielder Freddie Ljungberg has been diagnosed with hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, a condition which he said contributed to his feeling disoriented with memory loss last week.
The condition is manageable by eating the proper foods, in this case more carbohydrates, throughout the day, which was good news for Ljungberg and the team.
Ljungberg practiced Friday and could be ready to play half the game Sunday when Seattle takes on the Houston Dynamo in Houston.
"I found out why I get migraine-like symptoms. I'm hypoglycemic," Ljungberg said. "I can't eat too much sugar.
"What happened on Friday was that we were traveling, and in Europe when travel we have our own chef at training so we eat all the time," Ljungberg said. "When you're hypoglycemic you need to eat all the time, good food. So what we did was I just went to the airport and got some bagels or something, not really helping me. So my body crashed."
Ljungberg explained that his body shut down, and his memory was first to go. He also said he feels the condition has also triggered the migraine-like symptoms that have limited his ability to play in games and practice this season.
"Normally I've had one migraine in 18 months, and now I've had three in two months, so we had to find what was different," Ljungberg said. "That's what the doctors think, and hopefully we're on the right track and we can fix it."
Cheese and red wine are the biggest triggers of Ljungberg's migraines, but now he has learned that if he doesn't eat properly, he doesn't get the energy his body needs, which leads to those migraine symptoms he has felt this season.
Ljungberg admitted to being scared last week.
"It's a major relief," he said. "You can imagine yourself sitting in a hotel room and all of a sudden you don't know the numbers or the names on your phone or what anyone's name. Of course I was scared. You think maybe like the worst thing, that there's a tumor in your head or something. But we did the MRIs and everything was clear...it's a big relief and now we can fix it."
Long road trips in the U.S. have cut down on the number of times Ljungberg eats, and in England Ljungberg was used to a different meal time routine.
"There's no medication. There just has to be long-lasting carbs, not [expletive] food like sandwiches and stuff. It has to be proper food, like brown rice or brown spaghetti, whole grains or whatever," he said.
The seven-to-10 day protocol of rest on which doctors placed Ljungberg was effective as of last Friday, so this Sunday will be nine days. Ljungberg hopes coach Sigi Schmid allows him to play 45 or 60 minutes in Houston.
"It takes the availabilty of food items, it also takes the responsibility to bring in the food items," Schmid said, "but I think we can manage it that way.
"We'll see how he feels [Saturday]," Schmid said. "That'll make the determination of him traveling with us to Houston. And obviously if he travels with us, we expect him to play.""

-From Jose Romero at the Seattle Times Soccer Blog

MLS Shocker: Osorio leaves Red Bulls coaching post

What a surprise!

The revolving door that is the Red Bulls head coaching job has revolved yet again. This time it's Juan Carlos Osorios. The really sad part is, he left a good coaching gig in Chicago to take on the basket case Red Bulls.

Memo to all MLS coaches: Don't leave a well-run franchise to become the scapegoat for a crappy franchise!

US MNT Watch: NY Times Interviews Gooch

Oguchi Onyewu is the first American to play with a top table Italian club team. The NY Times has an interview with him here. If the US is going to do anything in the World Cup in South Africa next year, Gooch is going to play a big part of it.

ESPN Highlights

Highlights from last night's game are available here

Sounders are in yellow card trouble again.

Who's Your Father, Referee?

Here's an idea for MLS: Instead of paying full-time refs to officiate matches, just swing into Labor Ready before a game. You'll get the same quality at a lower price without all the hassles of payroll.

PK Update: So far this year, the Freddies are o for 2 on PKs while Seb LeToux is 1 for 1. Hey Sigi, remember the old superstition about not letting the player who was fouled take the penalty kick? Maybe not so superstitious after all!

Game Summary Here

Who's Your Father, Referee?

Houston Gets It!

We've been saying for years that the way to build professional soccer in the US is to sign lots of fast and talented latin american players instead of 1 or 2 hugely paid stars and a bunch of hacks (LA Galaxy, anyone?). Well, Houston has gone out and signed 24 year old Luis Angel Lundin from Cruz Azul as their designated player. He's on loan until 2010, at which point Houston has an option to sign him permanently.

Check out this gooooooaaaaaaaaaalazo by Lundin:

Revolution Game Preview From the Other Side

Here's what the NE Revolution's blog has to say about Thursday's game between the Sounders and the Revolution:

Seattle – sorry, Toronto – has the toughest away environment the Revs are going to have to face in MLS this year. 30,000-plus isn’t the whole story, it’s the culture, the vibe, the noise. It really is a twelfth man.

And the Sounders are tough at home. SFC is 4-0-4 in their last eight home games and have lost just once in 11 previous MLS games (6-1-4) at Qwest Field.

Unlike a sharply sloped field, however, the opposing team can do something about a howling mob of home fans…they can take the crowd out of it. There are several ways to do that – an early goal and/or possessing the ball and bossing the match are all good ways to do so.

The Revs have a shout to do that if they have the team on the field that I think they will on Thursday night.

Two keys are, as usual, the big men, Shalrie Joseph and Edgaras Jankauskas. If Jankauskas can go the whole game as the target forward, Shalrie can drop into his preferred midfield destroyer role and there is more front-to-back balance to the side.

Shalrie, as well know, is simply a massive presence in the middle. As good an impersonation of

Jankauskas, who is still trying to get to full match fitness, mind you, has the ability to keep the Revs build-up play flowing. That is so key, not just in terms of overall time of possession, but also as far as the Revs getting into the patterns of play they thrive off of in the build up.

I plead guilty to sometimes taking Steve Ralston’s amazing abilities for granted. Well I shouldn’t – this guy is like a Kung Fu master with so many grasshoppers running around at his feet. And I think he is the key to unlocking the Sounder’s defense in this game.

With Rallie’s vision (and timing), I’m not sure that Seattle’s expected center-back tandem of Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Patrick Ianni (Tyrone Marshall is out suspended) is up to stopping Rallie’s wiles over ninety minutes.

Seattle is also likely to miss Freddie Llungberg with what’s being termed “disorientation”. As with any head injury, you gotta just wish for the best and hope that the former Sweden international and Arsenal star is OK, whether he’s out for Thursday or not. He’s been a terrific player for SFC this year.

But the Revs will be just as happy to not see Freddie out there, since the Sounders also have another Fredy…Montero that is. The Colombian leads Seattle with 10 goals and has been one of the revelations of the MLS season. When he’s switched on, his quick feet and finishing ability can kill ya.

Working the big end of the little-and-large act is old nemesis Nate Jaqua. The Revs don’t have the biggest back line, so Jay Heaps & Co. need to respect his strength on the ball. Look for Emmanuel Osei to take marking Jaqua as a badge-of-honor project similar to the way he went at Conor Casey of Colorado.

Seattle also has a real flyer in rookie wing forward Steve Zakuani. The Revs do have speed at the back but Montero and Zakuani will test it. Another player who could be a big factor - Sounders midfielder Brad Evans - is starting to get the notice he deserves, having followed Sigi Schmid from Columbus to Seattle.

The battle on the wings should be a very interesting one all night. There are, I’m told, a lot of Gambians in Seattle so Kenny Mansally and Sainey Nyassi (facing his twin brother, Sanna, of Seattle) should have plenty of motivation to do well.

The Revs should have the edge in the middle of the park with Joseph and Jeff Larentowicz versus Peter Vagenas and Osvaldo Alonso.

Kasey Keller in goal, meanwhile, is a great backstop for SFC, but in my view Matt Reis makes that position a wash.

Hey, at least it’s a level playing field.

Champions League: Houston Wins Group Opener

The Dynamo beat Isidro Metapan 1-0 on a Brian Ching goal in the 68th minute. Stuart Holden looked good.

From the CCL Feed:

HOUSTON - Second half substitute Brian Ching scored the lone goal in the 68th minute to lift the Houston Dynamo to a 1-0 victory against Metapan of El Salvador in a Group A CONCACAF Champions League match Wednesday night at Robertson Stadium.

Seven minutes after replacing Adi Akinbiyi, the United States international struck for the game's lone goal. The Hawaiian pushed a well-timed through ball by Stuart Holden, who came on at halftime, past charging Metapan goalkeeper Alvaro Alfaro.

Holden injected much-needed life in the attacking third for the Dynamo, which had nothing to show for their dominance in first-half possession. The midfielder, who had a breakout performance for the United States at the CONCACAF Gold Cup, replaced Brad Davis at halftime.

Houston will head to Panama to take on Arabe Unido on the second day of the group stage next Wednesday, while Metapan head to Mexico to face Pachuca on Tuesday night.

More to come.

Ljungberg is Definitely Out for Revs Game

So is Stephen King. King has a hamstring injury (those take forever to go away...). Ljungberg is being held out for 7-10 days for observation after he complained of dizziness and memory loss. This means that Freddie might also miss the Houston game on the weekend. Fortunately, Peter Vagenas is proving to be a good pick in the expansion draft and can pick up lots of the slack. I'd guess that Sebastien LeToux will also get the start. So the midfield would be (Left-to-Right) Alonso, Vagenas, LeToux, Evans. Wow, you take out Ljungberg and King and the Sounders still have a good-looking midfield. Sigi talks about building a core like he did in Columbus...it looks like that's coming along nicely!

US MNT Watch: Charlie Davies Shines for Sochaux against French Champions Bordeaux

Charlie Davies scored two goals in the game against Bordeaux in the French First League yesterday. He is turning out to be a good signing for Sochaux.

Argentina: Bail out Soccer Leagues, Not Banks

The Argentinians are so sensible. After destroying their economy yet again with a massive debt bomb (hey, we've only done it once here, Argentina does it every 10 years) they have decided to bail out the top soccer league. Perhaps MLS could learn a few things from this: their long term strategy should be to run up so much debt and make themselves so influential that the government has to bail them out when it comes time to pay the piper. Wait, that would make them a bank...

Turf Hockey Down Under

Think MLS is the only place that allows turf-hockey? Check out this clip of Robbie Fowler playing Kung-Fu Fighter. No foul was called on the play (ht SoccerBlog.com).

DC United Loses Opening Game of Champions League Group Stage

Our new Most Hated Opponent lost 3-1 in its opening Group B match against Honduran squad Marathon tonight. The game was in Honduras. The Crew beat the Islanders in their opener, while Houston plays tomorrow.

Full Highlights Here

Thursday Matchup: Reis versus Keller

Matt Reis is one of the top goalies in MLS, a big part of the reason that the Revolution are competitive year after year, and probably the reason why they have any chance of making the playoffs this year. He's going to be tested early and often with Steve Zakuani's newfound role as run-at-the-net kamikazi guy. With New England's defense as weak as it is, Zak should have plenty of opportunity to get past NE's offside trap and go for the net.

My guess at the lineup
Defense Left-to-Right: Gonzalez, Hurtado, Ianni, and Riley. Marshall is out due to the red card from last game.
Midfield: Nyassi, Vagenas, Ljungberg?, Evans
Forwards: Zakuani, Montero, Jaqua

On New England's side, they are missing their coach Steve Nicol who is still sitting out a suspension due to his sideline antics of a few weeks ago.

Who to watch for on New England
Sanna Nyassi's twin brother Sainey starts for New England. It should be fun to see them challenge each other at midfield. Watch for Matt Reis to come up big after the Sounders pour through the weak NE defense. Also watch for Steve Zakuani to be trying to time runs through the offside trap. He was caught lots last game, but his timing should be better this time. Peter Vagenas' success on the corner last game (resulting in a Montero goal) means he might have the honors this game as well, although Ljungberg might not like that.

Bookies
There is huge money on the Sounders for this one. The moneyline on the Revs is +385, meaning that a $100 bet will get you $385 back if they win. This works out to about 85% of all the outstanding bets being placed on the Sounders. What a huge turnaround from the Galaxy game when about 2/3 of the money was on LA. Even a draw is paying 240, which is not surprising given the league's newfound distaste for ties.

First Goal Wins?

A couple of weeks ago, there were rumors that MLS brass was freaking out over all the ties that were happening as a result of the refs give-em-a-chance-to-even-the-score attitude. Subsequently, the refs have been much tighter in calling games when one team is winning. The result has been a huge increase in the number of shutouts (15 so far in August vs. 12 for all of July. The number of ties is also down so far this month.

US World Cup Bid: Spread the Word

Spread the Word!

Sounders 2:0 Galaxy...Beckham we hardly knew ya!

Game highlights here

In case you haven't heard, the Ravers beat the Galaxy 2-0 last night to earn their first win on grass (playing on grass, not smoking it).

The theme of this game was experimentation. David Beckham wanted to find out just how hard you could foul in the MLS before you draw a foul.

Beckham's experimental subject was Peter Vagenas. Unfortunately for Beckham (and Vagenas, and the Galaxy), the experiment got away from him and he ended up drawing a straight red card when he flew cleats-up into Vagenas' left ankle (ouch).

Sigi continued to experiment with Peter Vagenas at midfield, which was made possible by Freddie Ljungberg's mystery ailment / short-term memory loss. Personally, I think some short term memory loss would be good for Ljungberg since he might be able to forget bad reffing calls and actually play some soccer while on the field. Sigi ended his experiment with Brad Evans at defense and instead moved him up into his natural position of attacking midfielder. Sigi also experimented with having Steve Zakuani run forward looking for a pass instead of carrying the ball up and making the cross. Well, those two experiments really worked well because the Sounders first goal was an Evans cross to Zakuani while Montero drew off the defenders. Brad Evans absolutely blew by the Galaxy defender on the goal and made it look easy. There were a bunch of offsides early on as Zakuani got his timing down, but eventually he was able to get in behind the Galaxy's offside trap and create all kinds of havok back there.

Ljungberg's absence also meant that the Sounders needed someone to take free kicks, and that job fell to...Peter Vagenas! He hadn't taken a free kick all year, but he connected with Freddie Montero on a corner kick for the Sounders second goal, which is something that I do not remember Ljungberg being able to do all year. I hope that Sigi has the balls to follow through and re-assign free-kicks to someone else for the time being. Ljungberg just doesn't have it in that department.

The Galaxy tried to bring the game back to turf-hockey with a string of dives and random acts of violence, but the Sounders weren't interested in that at all and instead focused on working the ball up the field with one-touch passes back and forth to create space. They look much better for having played Barcelona and Chelsea. Hopefully they keep at it. They've taken a ton of bad calls over the past while but dealt with them with good grace. Hopefully the refs have taken note and the calls will be a little more balanced from here on out.

Sounders are back into second in the West, fourth overall. This was a much needed road win for them. Go Sounders!

US MNT Watch: Tim Howard's Everton gets thrashed in English Premier League Opener

Ouch! Arsenal crushed Everton 6-1 in the EPL opener today. Everton's defense didn't show up for the game at all. Howard didn't look sharp at all.

What will happen to the USL?

There is a great post and comment stream on MLSRumors discussing the future of the USL. Some people say let it die (kiss any chance of the US ever winning a World Cup goodbye if that happens). Some people say the MLS should buy USL for the player development league (MLS just canned their own PDL, so either this is not in the MLS plans or there is already some MLS-USL tieup in the works). Some people say that the MLS should by the USL as a second division and have promotion and relegation (Potential franchise owner: "you mean I put up $40,000,000 for an MLS franchise and my team might get sent down to the minor leagues? Let me think about this deal for a little while longer"). In any event, if the USL were to get shut down it would destroy soccer development in the US and Canada and would probably, in the long-term, undermine the MLS.

Tough to say what will happen. The USL is currently owned by Nike, while the MLS has a marketing tieup with Adidas. Rumor has it that USL's finances are worse that MLS's (yikes!), but who knows the truth on that.

Beckham to Donovan.....Gooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaal

Decent preview of tonight's game from the LA point of view over at the LA Galaxy blog.

He's got this clip of Beckham's first MLS assist. (Landon should smile once in a while. He's got David Beckham crossing the ball to him and he still looks pissed off)

Sounders in Blue Today?

That's what Jose says

Beckham and Donovan are both playing today. Apparently the global health catastrophe that is Swine Flu isn't enough to keep Donovan off the pitch. How can the MLS let him play if he has been diagnosed with the Next Health Scare? I mean, what about the children?

I'm hoping that this game represents a return to (a) goal scoring and (b) soccer as opposed to the turf-hockey that the past couple MLS games has degenerated into. If the refs would start carding horse-caller tackles (you know, where you put your arm around a guys neck and ride him into the ground like what happened to Marshall last game) I'd be happy.

Hurtado is out, and I believe that Ianni is also out, so the defense is a little weak. Hopefully Evans will be moved back up to midfielder which is his more natural position as opposed to right defender that he played last game.

Donovan is on fire right now, and you have to assume that at some point Beckham will actually show up for one of his Galaxy games, so there should be some good offensive threats coming from the Galaxy midfield. The defense is also much better than it has been.

This has the potential to be a good game if the defense on both sides is kept in check by the refs and the midfields and forwards are allowed to play without being assaulted.

What the Bookies are saying:
The betting money is well over 2-1 on an outright Galaxy victory. Even a tie is paying out $225 for a $100 bet. This means that there is almost 4 times as much money on the Galaxy as on the Sounders in this one. I love how the league claims that it has no control over the refs, but suddenly none of the betting money is being put on ties when over half of it was being put on the tie three weeks ago before the league freaked out at all the ties that were happening. No sir, MLS doesn't have any control over the refs. Not at all!

Cristiano Ronaldo Teaches Young Players His Signature Move

The Closeted One shows some 6 year olds the move that made him famous. It's funny 'cuz it's true!



HT Soccerblog.com

Landon has Swine Flu!?!

US MNT and Galaxy star has been diagnosed with the swine flu after the Mexico qualifier. From MLS News:

"U.S. and Los Angeles Galaxy soccer star Landon Donovan has tested positive for the H1N1 flu virus. Sports Illustrated reported that Donovan got the news on Thursday.
He had apparently been feeling ill since the USA squad met for training camp in Florida.

"I felt something when I got into Miami on Sunday," Donovan told SI. "I just felt real bad and finally went to see the doctor. They took a swab from my nose and confirmed it, so that was that."

On Wednesday, Donovan played for 90 minutes in Azteca stadium in the World Cup qualifying match versus Mexico. Though he assisted on the Charlie Davies goal that put the USA in the lead in Azteca for their first time ever, Donovan also tired and trailed defensively on the play that led to Mexico's winning goal in the late in the match.

"I've never felt that bad," said Donovan. "The last time I was there [at Estadio Azteca] I didn't feel that bad. I just felt lethargic, slow. I didn't feel normal."

Though Donovan thought he might feel well enough to play in the Galaxy's weekend match to the Seattle Sounders, a physician told Goal.com that the MLS squad would have to be careful to keep the player from spreading the virus to his teammates, who include England star David Beckham.

According to the Center for Disease Control, persons with H1N1 may no longer be contagious a week after illness onset, providing that their symptoms (fever, chills) have resolved.

The Galaxy are making a run for the MLS playoffs, but the Seattle Sounders are fellow Western Conference rivals and will look to gain points if Donovan cannot play.

The Galaxy player has been in good form this season, leading the team in goals scored."

USA World Cup Bid: Sign the Petition

US Soccer has officially launched it's bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup.

First 25,000 people to sign the petition get a free bumpersticker! How can you say no to an offer like that? Seriously though, sign the petition or we will track you down through your computer IP address and beat you senseless.

http://www.gousabid.com/

Video Highlights from Today's US-Mexico Game

Available Here

Gasping for Air in Mexico City

Arrrgggghhhhh. The US is much better than Mexico at this point. It's frustrating to see them lose even if it is in Azteca stadium where everyone loses. I was searching for the answers and I fell back on an old technique for assigning blame. First, I blame my parents. If that doesn't work, I blame an ethnic minority. And if that doesn't work I blame the government. My parents must remain blameless for this loss, mostly because they've never had anything to do with soccer but also because they are both dead (am I allowed to write that?). So obviously I went to the fallback from that which is to blame the f*&@ing Mexicans. That worked for a while but upon some introspection I realized that the Mexicans just went out and played a great game of soccer (well, okay, a few tossed paper cups at Landon when he was trying to take a corner but as far as Mexican fanaticos go that's pretty mild). So that only left the government to blame. By government I don't mean President Obama (this isn't an am radio station we're running here), but rather the governors of the US Soccer Federation. These dough-heads think that there is nothing wrong with flying a team from Miami at sea level to Mexico City at 7400 feet above sea level to play a World Cup qualifying match with about 18 hours to adjust to the low oxygen. I could understand this brain-fart if we were, say, Trinidad and had no high-altitude training facilities. But the fact of the matter is that we have world class soccer facilities in Salt Lake City and high altitude athletic facilities in Colorado and California. Why on earth wouldn't they decide to give the players a day or two to acclimate before tossing them into the meat-grinder that is Azteca stadium? I mean, it isn't as though the US guys weren't trying. Did you see Charlie Davies lying on the ground with his heart visibly pounding through his chest? They just couldn't get enough oxygen to their muscles to chase down the very fast Mexican forwards, or to run past the equally fast Mexican defenders, or to chase down the Mexican midfielders when they had the ball.

How on earth haven't the people running the US MNT figured out that altitude, especially 7400 feet of it, matters. And why don't they know that two days at altitude is all that it takes for the human body to acclimate? I blame them.

As an aside, how about that Cuahtemoc (yeah I know, spelling) Blanco? The guy is as old as dirt but he still played a great first half and set up the first Mexican goal beautifully. He drew two US defenders to him and then poked the ball over to Israel Castro who banked a beautiful diving ball off the crossbar and into the net. Hopefully Blanco sticks around for the World Cup if Mexico makes it (they'll make it: 3 of their next 5 qualifiers are at Azteca). He should be eligible for the senior's discount on a hotel room by the time the World Cup rolls around so that should save the Mexican national team some money in South Africa.

Azteca Stadium at High Noon

Freaking Scary!

How to Watch the Game Today

From jen at the LA Galaxy:

"First of all, if you have Telemundo the match will be broadcast live in Spanish.

If you don’t have Telemundo, or you prefer to watch the broadcast in English, it’s baby sister station, mun2, will be carrying the match live as well. On mun2, Phil Schoen and Marcelo Balboa will call the game from monitors in a Miami studio.

You can watch mun2 free for 24 hours on game day (today). Here is what I’ve found for channels on various cable/satellite companies:

DIRECTV users here.

Comcast users here.

And from ussoccer.com — more information on tv broadcasts of the match.

Basically, if your cable/satellite provider carries mun2, you will be able to watch the match as a free preview of the channel.

Match time is 1:00pm Pacific.

I hope that helps some folks. GO USA!!"

ESPN Tim Howard Profile

US vs. Mexico Wednesday at 1pm!

From the USSoccer Press Package:

U.S. Men's National Team Set to Face Mexico at Famed Estadio Azteca in FIFA World Cup Qualifying
Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup returns to focus for the U.S. Men’s National Team ahead of the sixth of 10 qualifying matches for South Africa on Wednesday, Aug. 12, against Mexico. The match, which will be broadcast live on mun2, Telemundo, and the Futbol de Primera Radio Networks, kicks off at 3 p.m. CT from the famed Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.

DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME: Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup returns to focus for the U.S. Men’s National Team ahead of the sixth of 10 qualifying matches for South Africa on Wednesday, Aug. 12, against Mexico. The match, which will be broadcast live on mun2, Telemundo, and the Futbol de Primera Radio Networks, kicks off at 3 p.m. CT from the famed Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. Additionally, ESPN will provide unprecedented studio coverage, highlighted by a 30-minute SportsCenter 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Special from outside Estadio Azteca beginning at 2:30 p.m. CT. Following runner-up finishes at the FIFA Confederations Cup and CONCACAF Gold Cup, the U.S. resumes the final round of qualifying for the CONCACAF region sitting in second place after five games with 10 points, two points behind top-of-the-table Costa Rica. Mexico is in fourth with six points, one point behind third-place Honduras.

U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION
GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa: 5/3 SO), Tim Howard (Everton FC: 11/7 SO)
DEFENDERS (7): Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes: 21/3), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA, 2/0), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover: 18/0), Jay DeMerit (Watford: 2/0), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew: 1/0), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan: 16/1), Jonathan Spector (West Ham: 2/0)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach: 10/4), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo: 5/0), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC: 17/4), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus: 1/0), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo: 0/0), José Francisco Torres (Pachuca: 5/0)
FORWARDS (5): Jozy Altidore (Hull City: 8/5), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids: 5/0), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo: 15/6), Charlie Davies (FC Sochaux: 2/1), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy: 30/11)
*numbers indicate all-time World Cup Qualifying caps/goals

FOLLOW THE ACTION LIVE: The U.S.-Mexico match will be televised nationally in the U.S. in English on mun2 and in Spanish on Telemundo. NBC Universal has announced that it will be offering mun2 as a free preview on Wednesday, Aug. 12, to all distribution partners. DirecTV and Dish Network have already agreed to unlock mun2 on Aug. 12 (mun2 is currently listed as channel 410 on DirecTV and channel 838 on Dish Network). Fans should check locals listing to confirm channel listings. Phil Schoen will provide play-by-play and former U.S. defender Marcelo Balboa will handle the color commentary for the English broadcast. Additionally, ESPN will provide unprecedented studio coverage, highlighted by a 30-minute SportsCenter 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Special from outside Estadio Azteca beginning at 2:30 p.m. CT. The special marks the first time in its 30-year history that ESPN will air a live remote pre-match show for a soccer event it is not televising. On the radio, the Futbol de Primera radio network will have live coverage from Estadio Azteca. Online, the newly redesigned ussoccer.com will provide live updates via an enhanced MatchTracker, and updates will also be available at www.twitter.com/ussoccer For a list of Official U.S. Soccer Bars that will be showcasing the game, visit ussoccer.com.

BRADLEY AND HOWARD PREVIEW THE MATCHUP: U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Bob Bradley and U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard spoke with media on Monday via teleconference to preview Wednesday’s matchup. Bradley and Howard are slated to make their coaching and playing debuts, respectively, at the famed Estadio Azteca. Read what they had to say , or listen to the entire call at ussoccer.com.

QUICK HITS

Of the 20 players in camp, the U.S. will dress 18 players with a maximum of three substitutions.
Nine players in this group appeared in the USA’s comprehensive 2-0 victory against Mexico on Feb. 11 in Columbus to start final round qualifying, including ussoccer.com Man of the Match Michael Bradley, who scored both goals that day: Jozy Altidore, Carlos Bocanegra, Bradley, Brian Ching. Ricardo Clark, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Tim Howard, Oguchi Onyewu. For Mexico that day: Nery Castillo, Giovani dos Santos, Aaron Galindo, Alberto Medina, Ricardo Osorio, Carlos Salcido (starters in bold).
Seventeen players on the U.S. roster return from the group that defeated No. 1-ranked Spain and finished runners up to Brazil in the FIFA Confederations Cup in June.
The match on Aug. 12 will mark the 57th meeting between the USA and Mexico. The U.S. has a lifetime record of 15-30-11 against Mexico in a series that dates to 1934.
The U.S. holds a lifetime record of 0-22-1 on Mexican soil, the lone result a 0-0 draw on Nov. 2, 1997, in Mexico City.
Since the rivalry between these two teams began in earnest in 1990, the sides have played 29 times, with the U.S. holding a 13-8-8 advantage. Five of those games have been played in Mexico – all in Mexico City – with the U.S. posting a 0-4-1 record. Two of those games were played at neutral sites, with the U.S. posting a 2-0 win at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea Republic and prevailing 4-1 in penalties after a 0-0 draw at the 1995 Copa America in Uruguay.
Mexico has only lost one World Cup qualifier in history at Estadio Azteca, falling to Costa Rica 2-1 on June 16, 2001. Mexico took a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute, but Costa Rica scored in the 72nd and 86th minutes for the victory.
Twelve players on Mexico’s roster were part of the group that defeated the U.S. in the 2009 Gold Cup final, ending the USA’s 9-0-2 home unbeaten run against El Tri that dated back to 1999. Meantime, the U.S. is carrying three players on the current roster from that tournament - Ching, Stuart Holden and Chad Marshall.
Donovan is the leading capwinner on the U.S. roster with 115 international appearances, collecting four goals in 10 games against Mexico. In addition to Donovan, four other players have scored at least once against Mexico: Altidore, Bradley (2), Benny Feilhaber, and Onyewu.
Bradley, Bocanegra, Dempsey and Donovan each have 10 starts out of 13 qualifiers in this cycle, tied for the most on the team along with DaMarcus Beasley. Donovan has the most minutes in qualifying on this roster (890), with Bocanegra (880) and Bradley (875) right behind.
Howard, who earned the Golden Glove award in South Africa as the tournament’s best goalkeeper, holds an unbeaten 3-0-2 record against Mexico and has posted an impressive five shutouts in seven all-time World Cup qualifying appearances.
Dempsey, honored with the Bronze Ball as the third best player in the Confederations Cup, tallied three times in South Africa, including goals against Spain and Brazil. Dempsey recorded two game-winning goals in World Cup qualifying last year – against Barbados on June 15 in Carson, Calif., and in the 1-0 win on Sept. 6 in Cuba.
Altidore (April 1 against T & T), Bradley (Sept. 10, 2008 against T & T; Feb. 11 against Mexico), and Bocanegra (Aug. 20, 2008 @ Guatemala; June 6 vs. Honduras) are the other players on the roster with game-winners in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying.
Altidore leads all U.S. scorers in the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign with five goals, including a record-setting hat trick performance in the 3-0 win against Trinidad & Tobago. With the three goals, the 19-year-old Altidore became the youngest player in U.S. history to record a hat trick.
Eighteen of the 20 players on the roster participated in the first two rounds of World Cup qualifying last year. Marshall and Holden are the only two players without qualifying experience in this cycle.
José Francisco Torres – who plays in the Mexican Primera División - is the only player on the roster who is not based in Europe or MLS.
Conor Casey leads MLS in scoring with 11 goals in 14 matches. Donovan sits tied in third place with nine goals in 15 games for the Galaxy, having scored in LA’s last three league games.

ROSTER BREAKDOWN
Average Age: 25.6 Average Caps: 31.6
Most Caps: 115 (Landon Donovan) Least Caps: 5 (Stuart Holden, José Francisco Torres)
Oldest: 31 (Brian Ching) Youngest: 19 (Jozy Altidore)
Play professionally in: USA (7), England (6), Germany (2), France (2), Denmark (1), Mexico (1), Italy (1)

PROCEED WITH CAUTION: Five U.S. players are carrying cautions into the Mexico match, meaning their next yellow card will trigger a one-game suspension: Conor Casey, Steve Cherundolo, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan and Oguchi Onyewu. The next qualifier for the U.S. is on Sept. 5 against El Salvador in Sandy, Utah.

GAME NO. 18 ON THE WORLD TOUR: Wednesday’s match represents the 18th international for the U.S. team in 2009, and the 17th game in official competition, which is already the most ever in a calendar year (the previous record was 16 in 2005). The U.S. holds a record of 10-5-2 through the first seven months of the year, scoring 33 goals, surrendering 25, and earning seven shutouts with three different goalkeepers. There have been four games against teams in the top 10 in the world (Spain, Brazil twice, and Italy), the first erasure of a two-goal deficit to earn at least a point in 13 years (against El Salvador), a come-from-behind win at home (against Honduras), and consecutive appearances in international tournament finals.

ONE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE: It’s not only points that are hard to come by for the U.S. in Mexico. Goals have also proved quite elusive. The tally by Eddie Lewis in the 59th minute of the 2-1 loss at Azteca on March 27, 2005, marked the first U.S. goal on Mexican soil since 1984. That one goal proved decisive, however, since the U.S. went on to finish first in the final round hexagonal. Tied with Mexico on points, the next tie breaker was goal differential in which the U.S. led El Tri by one goal.

HIGH FIVE: Five players on the roster have scored against Mexico, lead by Landon Donovan's four career goals against El Tri. Donovan's strikes against the USA's biggest rival include his first-ever international, the game-tying goal in the 2007 Gold Cup final and of course his picture-perfect header off an Eddie Lewis cross in the 2-0 win in the Round of 16 of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Michael Bradley posted a pair this past February, firing home from close range to give the USA a 1-0 lead and then sealing the deal with a low drive from 25 to hand the U.S. a 2-0 victory to start the final round of qualifying. Last year's 2-2 draw brought two new scorers against Mexico, Jozy Altidore and Oguchi Onyewu earning their first goals in the rivalry. Onyewu powered home a trademark header to open the scoring in Houston, while Altidore nodded home a Drew Moor cross to become, at age 18, the United States' youngest scorer in the modern era. Benny Feilhaber scored one of the decade’s most memorable goals for the U.S., unleashing a rocket past Oswaldo Sanchez that gave the United States a 2-1 victory in the 2007 Gold Cup final and a berth in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.

RIVALRY APPEARANCES: Landon Donovan leads all U.S. players with 10 appearances and four goals against Mexico. Donovan's history against El Tri dates all the way back to 2000, when he scored in his first-ever cap for the national team against Mexico, and he also appeared in the famous FIFA World Cup victory in 2002. Carlos Bocanegra has played Mexico six times in his career while goalkeeper Tim Howard has appeared five times against El Tri. Howard, who has never lost against Mexico, has also recorded two clean sheets. Five players on the roster – Conor Casey, Brad Guzan, Jay DeMerit, José Francisco Torres and Charlie Davies - have never appeared against Mexico.

AZTECA EXPERIENCE: Four players on the roster have experience playing in Mexico City's Azteca Stadium. Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu, and Steve Cherundolo all started as members of a four-person backline on March 27, 2005. Landon Donovan was also in the starting eleven on that day, playing 90 minutes in the USA's 2-1 loss to Mexico. Clint Dempsey was on the substitute’s bench.

LD FILLLING THE RECORD BOOKS: Landon has plastered his name all over the USA’s record books, and this year has been no exception. Already the USA’s all-time leading scorer in both goals and assists, his strike in the 2-1 qualifying win against Honduras on June 6 in Chicago lifted Donovan to the top of the team’s all-time scoring list in FIFA World Cup qualifying with 11 career goals. Last year, he moved to the top spot of the goalscoring chart when he tallied his 35th career goal, putting home a penalty kick in a 2-0 win against Sweden on Jan. 19, 2008, at The Home Depot Center. With his start against Argentina on June 8 at Giants Stadium, he became the youngest player in U.S. history – and the fourth youngest player in the world – to earn 100 caps.

SPREADING THE WEALTH: With his goal on March 28 in El Salvador, Frankie Hejduk became the 14th different U.S. player to score in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. Hejduk joins Carlos Bocanegra (2) and Oguchi Onyewu (1) as the other defenders to score in qualifying. Jozy Altidore leads all scorers (5), with Michael Bradley (4), Brian Ching (4) Clint Dempsey (4), and Landon Donovan (4) just behind him. DaMarcus Beasley (2) has also registered multiple goals. Also on the score sheet with one goal each are Freddy Adu, Kenny Cooper, Charlie Davies, Eddie Johnson and Eddie Lewis, who made his goal count as the game-winner on June 22, 2008, against Barbados.

QUALIFYING UPDATE: After five of 10 games, the U.S. sits in second place in the CONCACAF region’s FIFA World Cup qualifying, two points behind Costa Rica. The difference between the top two teams in the standings is the result of a 3-1 defeat to Costa Rica suffered by the U.S. on June 3 on the artificial surface of San Jose’s Saprissa Stadium. Following the loss in Costa Rica, the U.S. defeated Honduras on June 6 in Chicago to continue an undefeated run in home qualifiers that dates back to 2001. The road to South Africa started for the U.S. with a 9-0 aggregate win in a two-game series against Barbados, and continued in the fall as the U.S. posted a 5-1-0 record in the CONCACAF semifinal round in a group with Trinidad & Tobago, Guatemala and Cuba.

CONCACAF FINAL ROUND QUALIFYING TABLE: The top three teams in the hexagonal table automatically earn berths to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, while the fourth-place team will face a two-leg playoff against the fifth-place finisher in South America. The next set of games is slated for Aug. 12, when in addition to the U.S. facing Mexico, Honduras will play host to Costa Rica and El Salvador travels to Trinidad & Tobago.

Team GP W L T GF GA GD Pts.
Costa Rica 5 4 1 0 9 5 +4 12
United States 5 3 1 1 10 6 +4 10
Honduras 5 2 2 1 6 6 0 7
Mexico 5 2 3 0 5 7 -2 6
El Salvador 5 1 2 2 6 7 -1 5
Trinidad & Tobago 5 0 3 2 5 10 -5 2

BY THE NUMBERS: U.S. IN WORLD CUP QUALIFYING
0 – Losses at home in qualifying under Bob Bradley
1 – Players on this roster without an appearance in World Cup qualifying (Holden)
5 – Goals by Jozy Altidore in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying
8 – Total clean sheets kept by Tim Howard and Brad Guzan out of 12 games
11 - Goals for Landon Donovan in World Cup qualifying history, the USA's all-time leader
39 – Players with at least one appearance in 2010 World Cup qualifying

IN FOCUS: MEXICO
MEXICO FACT FILE
Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación
Founded: 1927 (Joined FIFA in 1929)
Head Coach: Javier Aguirre
Best World Cup Finish: Quarterfinals - 1970, 1986
Caps Leader: Claudio Suárez (178)
Top Scorer: Jared Borgetti (46)
Key Players: Gerardo Torrado, Andres Guardado, Nery Castillo

THE BIGGEST GAME: Mexico has endured a challenging year particularly as they seek to qualify for their fifth consecutive FIFA World Cup. After the dissolution of the Sven Goran Eriksson era, Javier Aguirre has taken up the reigns of the national team. Charged with the task of leading El Tri back to the world stage, Aguirre commandeered Mexico to a CONCACAF Gold Cup triumph at the hands of the United States last month. In qualifying, however, the picture is much more troublesome for Mexico. While Mexico was able to hold serve at Azteca (unsurprising considering their near perfcet record at the ground), their dismal away form yielded losses to the U.S., Honduras and El Salvador. Five games in, Mexico sits precariously in fourth position in the qualifying standings and a win against the United States is critical to El Tri's quest to earn a place in South Africa.

ROCKY ROAD: Mexico started the final round with a familiar 2-0 loss to the United States. Michael Bradley scored both goals as the USA ran out to a quick start in the Hexagonal. In the next fixture, Mexico got past Costa Rica at Azteca, winning 2-0 to level their record. Just three days later, however, Mexico were undone by Honduras in San Pedro Sula. The 3-1 loss proved to be embattled manager Sven Goran Eriksson's last game on the sideline for Mexico. Javier Aguirre's first game in charge was hardly any more convincing, with El Tri losing 2-1 to El Salvador in San Salvador. Mexico steadied the ship with a 2-1 victory against Trinidad & Tobago at Azteca, but five games into qualifying their 2-3-0 record is hardly the stuff of a traditional regional power.

ALL HANDS ON DECK: As expected, Aguirre has called upon a large foreign based contingent to supplement the 12 players on the roster that defeated the USA in the Gold Cup final last month. Most of the big names return to the fold, with Ricardo Osorio, Carlos Salcido, Andres Guardado and Nery Castillo all making the trip home from their respective clubs in Europe. One name who is absent from the list is Rafael Marquez, who was sent off when the USA faced Mexico in February of this year. The Mexican captain faced a setback in his bid to return from an injury sustained with Barcelona at the end of last season. There is also a place in the squad for Cuauhtémoc Blanco. The aging Blanco has more than 100 caps to his name and has made a recent impact with El Tri following Aguirre's return to the fold.

Mexico Roster by Position
GOALKEEPERS (2): Guillermo Ochoa (América), José de Jesús Corona (Cruz Azul)
DEFENDERS (7): José Antonio Castro (Tigres), Aarón Galindo (Guadalajara), Efraín Juárez (UNAM), Jonny Magallón (Guadalajara), Ricardo Osorio (Stuttgart), Carlos Salcido (PSV Eindhoven), Oscar Rojas (América)
MIDFIELDERS (4): Cuauhtémoc Blanco (Chicago Fire), Israel Castro (UNAM), Andrés Guardado (Deportivo La Coruña), Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul)
FORWARDS (6): Nery Castillo (Shakhtar), Guillermo Franco (out of contract), Alberto Medina (Guadalajara), Giovani dos Santos (Tottenham), Miguel Sabah (Monarcas), Carlos Vela (Arsenal)

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: Keep up with all U.S. Men’s National Team news (in short form, of course) by following at www.twitter.com/ussoccer .

BE OFFICIAL WHEN YOU’RE WATCHING: What’s the next best thing to being at a game surrounded by your fellow screaming fans? Watching a game at an Official U.S. Soccer Bar surrounded by your fellow screaming fans! Bars across the U.S. are becoming the destination spots to gather and watch your U.S. teams in an atmosphere that is loud and rowdy. Most Official U.S. Soccer Bars will be carrying mun2 for Wendesday's game. Check the latest listings for the Official U.S. Soccer Bar in your area.

U.S. SOCCER ON FACEBOOK: U.S. Soccer is offering a new way to follow its teams with the “Official U.S. Soccer Page” on Facebook. Visit the page to post videos, interact with other fans and follow the latest news from all U.S. Soccer teams. The new Official U.S. Soccer Page on Facebook is the best place to keep with your favorite teams and make your voice heard in the U.S. Soccer community.

BOB ON THE JOB: Since January of 2007 it has been the charge of U.S. head coach Bob Bradley to achieve the most important goal of any soccer playing nation: qualification for the FIFA World Cup. With 48 games under his belt, seeing 85 different players at least once and the process of reaching South Africa in 2010 in full swing, a review of the body of work during the past two years points to the U.S. clearly heading in the right direction. Since the start of the four-year cycle, the U.S. has:

produced the best finish ever at a FIFA tournament, finishing second at the FIFA Confederations Cup
won six straight FIFA World Cup qualifiers in a row in 2008, a new team record (June 15-Oct. 15)
won the CONCACAF Gold Cup title in 2007 to qualify for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup
won by the largest margin of victory in U.S. World Cup qualifying history (8-0 vs. Barbados on June 15, 2008)
won back-to-back games in Europe for the first time in team history (Oct. 17, 2007 @ Switzerland and March 26, 2008 @ Poland)
won three straight matches on the road for the first time in team history (Oct. 17, 2007 @ Switzerland, Nov. 17, 2007 @ South Africa and March 26, 2008 @ Poland)
played seven matches against four teams ranked in the top five in the world at the time they stepped on the field against them (Argentina, Brazil-3, Italy, Spain-2)
played matches on four continents
posted 1-1-1 record against No. 1-ranked teams, including a semifinal upset of Spain at the FIFA Confederations Cup.
THE BRADLEY BREAKDOWN
Record
All-Time: 31-13-5
Qualifying: 10-2-1
Gold Cup: 10-1-1
Goals For: 94
Goals Against: 54
Shutouts: 21

Record vs. …
CONCACAF: 21-3-4, 56 GF, 23 GA
CONMEBOL: 1-6-1, 9 GF, 19 GA
UEFA: 6-4-0, 15 GF, 10 GA
AFC: 1-0-0, 4 GF, 1 GA
CAF: 2-0-0, 4 GF, 0 GA

Record when …
Leading at half: 20-2-2
Losing at half: 2-4-1
Tied at half: 9-7-2

LAST TIME…
On the field for USA in World Cup qualifying
June 6, 2009 – Soldier Field, Chicago – FIFA World Cup qualifier - Final Round

USA 2 Donovan 43 (pk), Carlos Bocanegra 68
Honduras 1 Carlos Costly 5

USA: 1-Tim Howard; 12-Jonathan Spector, 5-Oguchi Onyewu, 3-Carlos Bocanegra (capt.) (14-Jay DeMerit, 71), 13-Jonathan Bornstein; 8-Clint Dempsey, 2 -Ricardo Clark, 4-Pablo Mastroeni (9-Benny Feilhaber, 46), 10-Landon Donovan; 11-Conor Casey (7-DaMarcus Beasley, 75), 17-Jozy Altidore
Subs not used: 18-Brad Guzan, 6-Marvell Wynne, 15-Charlie Davies, 16-Sacha Kljestan
Head Coach: Bob Bradley

HON: 18-Noel Vallardes; 14-Mauricio Sabillon, 2-Osman Chavez, 6-Mario Beata, 3-Maynor Figueroa; 13-Carlos Costly, 7-Amado Guevara (capt.), 4-Hendry Thomas, 10-Ramon Nunez (15-Walter Martinez, 79); 9-Carlos Pavon (16-Georgie Welcome, 67), 8-Wilson Palacios (17-Danilo Turcios, 66)
Subs not used: 1-Junior Morales, 5-Erick Norales, 11-Allan Lalin, 12-Emilio Izaguirre
Head Coach: Reinaldo Rueda

On the field for Mexico in World Cup qualifying
June 10, 2009 –– Estadio Azteda, Mexico City, Mexico – FIFA World Cup qualifier - Final Round

Mexico 2 Guillermo Franco 2, Oscar Rojas 48
Trinidad & Tobago 1 Hayden Tinto 46+

MEX: 1-Oscar Perez; 5-Ricardo Osorio, 3-Carlos Salcido, 2-Francisco Rodriguez, 6-Oscar Rjoas; 18-Andres Guardado, 8-Israel Castro, 16-Carlos Esquivel (7-Alberto Medina, 52); 9-Nery Castillo (14-Miguel Sabah, 35), 10-Cuauhtemoc Blanco (capt.), 11-Guillermo Franco (17-Giovani Dos Santos, 75
Subs not used: 4-Aaron Galindo, 12-Jose Cardenas, 13-Guillermo Ochoa, 15-Fernando Arce
Head Coach: Javier Aguirre

TRI: 1-Clayton Ince; 11-Carlos Edwards, 4-Marvin Andrews, 2-Makan Hislop, 3-Radanfah Abu-Bakr; 10-Hayden Tinto, 17-Dwight Yorke (capt), 7-Christopher Birchall, 8-Trent Noel (16-Silvio Spann, 72), 9-Keon Daniel (13-Kerry Baptiste 80); 15-Kenwyne Jones (6-Devon Jorsling 54)
Subs not used: 5-Keyeno Thomas, 12-Collin Samuel, 14-Densill Theobald, 18-Marvin Phillip
Head Coach: Russell Latapy

On the field for USA vs. Mexico
July 26, 2009 – Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J. – 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final

USA 0
Mexico 5 Gerrardo Torrado 57 (pk), Giovani dos Santos 64, Carlos
Vela 70, Israel Castro 79, Guillermo Franco 90

USA: 1-Troy Perkins; 16-Jay Heaps, 4-Chad Marshall, 3-Clarence Goodson, 2-Heath Pearce; 10-Stuart Holden, 8-Logan Pause (20-Santino Quaranta, 64), 5-Kyle Beckerman (15-Sam Cronin, 81), 7-Robbie Rogers; 11-Brian Ching (capt.), 22-Davy Arnaud (17-Kenny Cooper, 64)
Subs not used: 13-Colin Clark, 14-Michael Parkhurst, 21-Brad Evans, 23-Jon Busch
Head Coach: Bob Bradley

MEX: 1-Guillermo Ochoa; 15-Juan Antonio Castro, 21-Juan Valenzuela, 2-Jonny Magallón, 5-Fausto Pinto; 6-Gerardo Torrado (capt.), 22-Efrain Juarez, 8-Israel Castro (16-Carlos Esquivel, 89); 17-Giovani Dos Santos, 14-Miguel Sabah (10-Guillermo Franco, 70), 7-Alberto Medina (11-Carlos Vela, 46)
Subs not used: 3-Ismael Rodriguez, 12-Jose Coronoa, 13-Pablo Barreja, 19-Luis Noriega
Head Coach: Javier Aguirre

On the field for USA vs. Mexico in World Cup Qualifying
Feb. 11, 2009 – Crew Stadium, Columbus, Ohio – FIFA World Cup qualifier - Final Round

USA 2 Michael Bradley 43, 92+
Mexico 0

USA: 1-Tim Howard; 2-Frankie Hejduk, 3-Carlos Bocanegra (capt.), 5-Oguchi Onyewu, 15-Heath Pearce; 8-Clint Dempsey, 4-Michael Bradley, 16-Sacha Kljestan (13-Ricardo Clark, 86), 7-DaMarcus Beasley; 10-Landon Donovan, 11-Brian Ching (9-Jozy Altidore, 83)
Subs not used: 18-Brad Guzan, 6-Jonathan Bornstein, 14-Danny Califf, 17-Jose Francisco Torres, 12-Marvell Wynne
Head Coach: Bob Bradley

MEX: 1-Oswaldo Sanchez; 2-Aaron Galindo, 3-Carlos Salcido, 4-Rafael Marquez (capt.), 5-Ricardo Osorio; 6-Leandro Augusto, 12-Alberto Medina (15-Antonio Naelson, 60), 8-Pavel Pardo; 11-Carlos Ochoa, 10-Nery Castillo (14-Israel Martinez, 34), 17-Giovani dos Santos (9-Omar Bravo, 72)
Subs not used: 13-Guillermo Ochoa, 18-Leobardo Lopez, 7-Luis Perez, 16-Guillermo Franco
Head Coach: Sven-Goran Eriksson



Related Topics : FIFA World Cup Qualifying, 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifying, U.S. Men, Benny Feilhaber, Bob Bradley, Brad Guzan, Brian Ching, Chad Marshall, Charlie Davies, Clint Dempsey, Conor Casey, Jay DeMerit, Jonathan Bornstein, Jonathan Spector, Jose Francisco Torres, Josmer Altidore, Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Oguchi Onyewu, Ricardo Clark, Stuart Holden, Tim Howard

Sounders vs. RSL Highlights

Available here

(Stop the frame at 2:06 if you want to see what offside looks like)

Reminder: USA-Mexico 1pm Wednesday

Will we beat Dirty Sanchez in his own backyard? Tune in on Wednesday at 1pm to find out!

Background here

It's Getting Crowded in the Table

Yikes! Another round of turf-hockey for the Sounders, this time against Real Salt Lake. Kicks to the nuts? Check. Open field horse-collar tackles? Check. Full on broadside assaults? Check. Uncalled handballs in the penalty area? Check. At least Ljungberg wasn't yelling at the ref all game. Now he just shakes his head and walks away, probably because he is carrying 4 yellows and will be suspended for a game if he gets another one. Speaking of suspended, Hurtado got a yellow which means he sits against the LA Prettyboys. Ouch. Double-ouch since LA is finally at full strength have been on fire the past 5 games.


Sigi started a pretty different defensive line than what we're used to. Left to right it was Gonzalez (replacing Wahl), Marshall, Hurtado, Evans (replacing red card Riley). Leonardo Gonzalez looked great at left back. He is clearly more comfortable bringing the ball up the line than Wahl, and initiated a few attacks. He held his own against a fast RSL attack as well. Brad Evans also looked good on the other side. They tried sneaking him up a couple of times and it seems like it can work if they can get a clean pass to him. Peter Vagenas was in the midfield. He hasn't played much this year but looked good when Seattle beat Houston at Starfire in the US Open Cup. He also looked pretty solid (one brain fart but the rest of the game was good).

Montero looked flat. He's really a take the ball and shoot kind of forward, but I think that Sigi is asking him to pass more. Pass to who? I don't know.

Am I the only one who thinks that there are better free-kickers on the team than Freddie Ljungberg? He had a bunch of corners that led to nothing and one free kick that barely got off the ground. He worked really hard and created lots of opportunities otherwise, but I just never see his free kicks turning into anything. Seb Le Toux has a great kick, and Zakuani took a corner near the end of the game that almost turned into a goal.

Sounders are now officially in their first slump. They fall to 6th place in the MLS Table behind the Galaxy and Colorado, with RSL coming on strong and Chivas also looking like a threat. All the MLS teams are back to full strength after the summer Cup season, so the Sounders have their work cut out for them the rest of the year.

SoundersFC Meetup Group Gets FIFA Sponsorship!?!

Somehow the folks who run the SoundersFC Meetup group have managed to secure a FIFA sponsorship!

Click here to check out
The Sounders FC Meetup Group!

US Bringing the 'A' Squad to Mexico

Yes! Coach Bradley has called out the big guns for the US side's World Cup qualifier in Mexico City's 100,000 seat Azteca stadium on Wednesday August 12th.

Roster for August 12 Game

Mark this on your calendar folks. This US side is like nothing we've ever had before. They beat Spain, the came within a whisker of beating Brazil (well, okay, maybe Brazil took it easy for the first half of that game), and they're looking to avenge the beatdown that Mexico laid on the US C Squad in the Gold Cup final last month. Oh, and the US has never won in Mexico's Azteca stadium, going 0-22-1 (that's right, 22 losses and one tie). To say that the atmosphere there is hostile would be a huge understatement: Mexican fans often chant Osama! Osama! Osama! when they play the US in these types of matches. The air is thin, the Mexicans are fast and desperate (currently in fourth place in the CONCACAF region), the fans are going to be screaming nasties all game, and I bet that the bar you watch the game at will have a few Mexicans all ready to gloat.


Game time: 1pm
Pre-game: Starts at 12:30 on ESPN, but they aren't airing the game. At least it won't be the Fox Soccer retards groaning about how the US Men's Team is a bunch of bums.
Game: To watch the game you need to switch to mun2 (403 or something on Comcast) or Telemundo. mun2 (That's pronounced "mundos" Gringo) will have english announcers for the game. I don't ask anymore.

I'll say it again: You don't want to miss this game!

Chicago Falls In SuperLiga Final

Chicago Fire lost in PKs to Mexican club Tigres.

Details here

Reminder: SuperLiga FInal Tonight at 5pm

Chicago Fire against some Dirty Mexican Bastards. Broadcast is direct from the SuperLiga Home Page:

SuperLiga Broadcast

Jozy Altidore Watch

Jozy Altidore watch: He's now on loan to Hull City in the English Premier League for one year. Villareal paid $10M to the Red Bulls for his player rights. This is great for him since he should get more action.

Altidore to Hull City

And the Whiniest Fanbase Award goes to...Vancouver

Good grief. Wankouverites are still in a tizzy about Montreal's massive loss to Toronto earlier this year. The loss ended up putting Toronto into the CONCACAF Champions League at the expense of Vancouver. Give it a rest. Toronto's loss to USL side Puerto Rico has got them all worked up again. Somehow they've convinced themselves that the USL is on a par with MLS. Oh, well I guess that explains all the MLS teams clamoring to get into the USL.

Champions League: Toronto out, DC in

Totocrap FC pulled the old MLS-loses-to-USL trick again last night, drawing 0-0 with USL team Puerto Rico. This put them out of the tournament. I'd like to say that Totocrap didn't field a full squad but that just wasn't the case. DC went through on penalty kicks against El Salvador club Luis Angel Firpo.

Highlights here

Argentina Premier Division Bankrupt: MLS get off your fat arses and go sign some Argentinians!

It looks like there will be no Premier League Apertura in Argentina this year because most of the top teams have spent their way into bankruptcy. Hmmm...perhaps the Sounders could go out and poach a few top notch players...usually the Europeans have first pick but the Europeans are hurting for cash as well...Boca Juniors anyone?

Story here

Click here for a list of the top Argentinian soccer prospects

Sounders FC 0:4 MLS Refs

Gimme a break. Is anyone at MLS HQ watching their own games? That reffing was was a complete disaster. The guy handed the game to the EarthQuakes on a freaking obvious dive. Crucify the referee.