USSoccer

'Dolo isn't good enough for Roma, unless they're just looking for cover between Coppa Italia, Champions League and Serie A. I'd be surprised if he leaves Hannover. And no way in hell will PSG sign Beasley. I'd bet dolla billz he plays in MLS next season. Both Slovenia and Algeria like to bunker/counter. I don't see how speed matters against those two opponents, and if we're really in need of a goal, I don't see how Findley gets in a game over Holden, Gomez, Buddle, Torres (especially against a bunkering team) or Feilhaber.

If we don't advance out of the group, it's a massive failure. We're going to lose to England, but Slovenia and Algeria are teams we should beat. As far as the general mood, Saturday's game will be telling. We're going to see the first XI in that one.

Yeah, but I would think Buddle could provide the "speed" option. Ching's holdup play is something none of the other options can duplicate. Also, I would bet money we go 4-4-2 and Clint stays in midfield, at least to start.

Findley over Ching. Inexplicable. Stupid, stupid, stupid decision. That's a waste of a roster spot. Rogers or Bedoya would have been more useful in a tournament. Adu and Davies as well, for that matter.

Word on the street is that Brian Ching was cut. Inexplicable. I am not his biggest fan but he definitely had a use in SA.

I've talked myself into accepting it. I had forgotten about this, but Gomez really should have buried the chance Ching created where he just fired it right at Cech.

That was a really entertaining game, actually, and I didn't think any players left any gray area as far as their usefulness. Heath Pearce sucks. So does Bornstein. Both would have been liable to cost us with their stupid decisions, but at least Bornstein has athletic ability and isn't a complete liability jumping into the attack. Pearce had a chance tonight and blew it, and he knew it. He was awful. So, bye Heath. Have fun in Dallas. Sacha came out in the 2nd half like he wanted to play well, had some good touches and then vanished the remaining 40+ minutes. So, bye Sacha. Your girlfriend is hot, so you have that going for you. Eddie Johnson...I was pulling for him to do something, anything. But in a US shirt, he looks lost. Bye Eddie. Keep working in Greece. Robbie Rogers gets into dangerous positions but doesn't think quickly enough for this level. Other than those guys, I thought everyone else played pretty well. Goodison made me feel a whole lot better about our CB depth. JFT was really good tonight-constantly finding the right pass and playing calmly. Holden played decently, but you can tell he's not as game sharp as he could be. 'Dolo was steady. Edu was real good as well-looking forward to seeing him with Mikey. Buddle was active and Ching and Gomez were both good. I don't think Gomez has any sort of international pace, but inside the 18 he's sharp. Ching is just a smart, useful player. Links up really well with everyone. Gooch...didn't look all that good. And from the things I've heard and the things I've read, Clint seems awfully annoyed so far in camp. He wasn't wrong about Harkes at all, but the Honda POY stuff seemed a little odd. I'm kind of hoping he chills out and just takes his anger out on the field.

A few things: If Ledley King starts against us, it's a big advantage to us. He can't move laterally with any quickness. He's nails on set pieces and such, but pace against their central defenders is their flaw. Their wings also get caught upfield a ton. Glen Johnson is going to be a major liability for them. Bradley should let LD and Clint switch to exploit that matchup. Jay Demerit needs to man-mark Rooney. He'll end up pissing him off, which is the way to neutralize him. If Walcott starts, stagger the field like a guillotine and let him run until he has to make a soccer decision, which he'll completely screw up. Whoever their D-mid is going to be is going to have to provide a lot of cover to their centerbacks, which means Mikey can make some of his late runs into the attacking third and cause some chaos. If it's Carrick, he's in poor form right now and I think we can exploit that. Edu/Mikey should be the middle pairing, and Dolo and Boca should start on the wings. Let their wings run into a packed final third, which takes options away. Crouch won't be as effective in the air, since we have CB's (in theory if healthy) that can match his size and muscle him off the ball. Now, the Chelsea guys and James didn't play yesterday, but I wasn't impressed at all. Mexico had the better of play in the 1st andshould have scored 3.

Mexico, I think, exposed a few weaknesses in England's game today. That 3-1 scoreline was very flattering to England.

Stupid Comcast not having FSC plus. Watching SSFC play San Jose in regular-def sucks. In a related note, every time I see SSFC play they just cut teams to ribbons in the attack, yet finish like every attacker is allergic to scoring.

Sneijder and Milito are better than anyone on Bayern.

FOX actually send a crew to Madrid for the CL final today.

As pants as Kane was in the 3rd, he was much better in OT. Great finish by the wrestling heel. Neimi was out of his mind.

That was fantastic. Loved bearded trailer Rooney. That was great. Too bad they couldn't edit out Ronaldhino. That part made me chuckle. He's still an alternate on their 30, so I suppose theoretically he could still go.

That was fantastic. Loved bearded trailer Rooney.

Germany will be fine without Ballack. Frings or Bastian could probably fill his role acceptably. They need to be more concerned about who's going to score for them. Low managed to take like 1 of the in form strikers available. Some interesting interviews the past couple days from Deuce and LD...LD acting zen and talking about his divorce, and Deuce getting annoyed with the press asking about his NT form. http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2010/0517/soccer_commercial44_576.jpg

Ghana v Germany in group play ought to be interesting now. Boateng had better watch out.

Someone on BigSoccer uploaded a bunch of WC games from the past. I'm watching Germany US from 2002. Some thoughts: -We started a 3 man backline of Sanneh-Pope-Berhalter, and they kept the ball on the deck and didn't just blast the ball forward and skip the midfield. Impressive. -We played Hejduk and Mastro in the 5 man midfield. Unreal. Lewis and Hejduk were the wing mids, and Pablo backed up JOB and Reyna. JOB seemed to be floating all over the field, almost playing as a libero. He was so good. Reyna didn't look like Captain Backpass in this one, and our midfield overran theirs, especially early. We didnt sit back, either. We attacked them right away and it seemed to catch ze Germans off guard. -LD was really abysmal in this game. His touch was off, and his finishing cost us a semifinal spot. -I still don't know how we lost that game. We were better in every phase of the game.

Almost. Ranieri showed his quality. That was a fantastic run by Roma.

I'd go to Game 7 2003 NLCS and hand everyone envelopes outlining everything that would happen so I'd look like a witch. I would label the envelope "This is what will happen".

I'm obviously a Chelsea fan but I wouldn't have minded in the least if Pompey had won the cup today. Their supporters, players, staff, etc. don't deserve what has happened to them. Winning the cup would've at least given them some happiness during an otherwise horrendous season. They really showed the best side of professional football today. The fans and players really gave it their all. It would have been incredibly special to see them lift the Cub after everything. Avram Grant, of all people, being the guy to hold that team together? Unreal. I'm looking forward to the end of Serie A as well. If Roma end up top, that would be unbelievable considering how dead that side was to start the season.

FA Cup final today...Pompey was living a completely charmed life. Chelsea hit the post 5 times in the first half, and then Boateng missed a PK-badly-and Drogba converted like 2 minutes later. Too bad for Portsmouth.

I will say that watching him today he looked like he was throwing incredibly slowly, and looked completely uncomfortable even warming up. Not that my eyes are super scout eyes or anything, but fwiw.

Are they throwing the game?

With the plethora of chances we had early 5-1 is almost a flattering scoreline