USSoccer

C'mon AFC and NZ When is the draw again? Dec 5th? 4th?

Awful game. Cunningham scored after the Danes had an absolutely horrid mistake. Other than that, it was a sloppy, lousy performance by a bunch of second stringers. Hejduk and EJ probably formally are done now. Hejduk was terrible. A useless run out without half out first XI. We learned that we suck without LD and Deuce, Jozy is in poor form as well. And for the record, Ireland were robbed by an inferior team and a complete buffoon of an officiating performance. If the ref misses it, the AR on that side should absolutely see that. Ireland deserved better. My cousins and aunt in Cork are wicked pissed right now, and they should be.

Because somebody thinks wearing Trinidad & Tobago's flag as a kit seems like a good idea. I like our current kit just fine.

I would run naked down the street if we drew that group. New kits for next summer (i'm not a fan): http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r315/aawags11/WC102.jpg http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r315/aawags11/WC103.jpg http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r315/aawags11/WC104.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wDv5mTAeDU&feature=related So Egypt had to win 2-0 to force a playoff Wednesday...and they scored the second in the last minute of extra time. Listen to that roar. I love this game.

That sucks, but I don't know who that is.

The three guys who insisted on going bottom right when Rimando showed he was cheating there every time already are wieners. Agreed. Chicago/Gals would have made a nice final.

Of all the seeded teams, Argie aren't one of the worst options we could face. I'd least like to face England, Brazil or Germany. I'm indifferent on teams like Spain or France and I think we'd beat Italy in an 11v11 match. The trick would be to actually play them at full strength. We match up much better against more technical, less physical sides.

Yeah, the best shot now is that FIFA decides to pair Africa and North America in the same pool, just because they didn't do that last time. I still think it's likelier that Africa and South America get paired because of competitive balance, but it's all up to FIFA. South Africa's group will be: South Africa Slovakia North Korea Chile or something like that. Book it. FIFA will keep the pot balance with CAF and CONMEMBOL together. We are going to get Ivory Coast, Netherlands and Argie. And I'm lunatic enough to think that we can find 4 points out of that group.

Ned Grabavoy is a wiener. Stupid Fire. That crowd deserved better.

I'm just so sick of these zombie strikers that reanimate out of nowhere to reprove they aren't international caliber. If you're going to waste time reproving you suck, at least have the decency to do it like Jeff Cunningham by taking a ton of time off the scene and then start scoring goals at a ridiculous pace in your league. That at least gives me time to forget that I hate you and also gives Bob a legit reason to call you in. You can't just sit on a bench for two years and then get recalled. That's insane. I know it's a bit of a misnomer because two of our logical, in form replacements were busy in Ching and Findley, but good lord put Cunningham or Cooper in there or something. [expletive] EJ? Also him being our best striker today doesn't mean anything. I know you know that and you were just pointing it out as an indictment on Jozy and Casey. He only played (hopefully) because of the unavailability of Landon, Ching, Findley, Davies and the necessity of playing Clint in the midfield. Regardless, we were the better team today with a second choice squad on a terrible pitch in Slovakia. I'm with you on Guzan. I think he's better than Friedel. I think he's as good as Howard. On form playing consistently, he might be better than Howard. Not so much better that I'd be mad if he didn't usurp Tim, but still better. There's no way barring injury that anyone other than Tim Howard is our top choice keeper in South Africa. I have no real problem with that. Playing without the talisman today keeps you from drawing any real conclusion about the attack (other than the conclusion that we're way too Donovan-reliant) but I said it at the time of the accident and I'll say it again. Davies speed, strength and aggressiveness has proven to be the only thing that we've tried that can open up the field for our play-making midfielders in Donovan and Dempsey and without him, we lose a huge part of our attack. It relegates us to sloppy long balls and a long day of Landon getting marked out of the game. All those games over the last two years where Landon and Clint would have bad games and all of our post game thoughts would be "Landon and Clint didn't do much, but they didn't get any service whatsoever so it's not totally their fault" are going to be repeated until either Davies comes back or we figure out another way to play. If there is one for this team. I wonder if Bradley considers begging McBride back for one last run? He doesn't bring what Davies brings, but he's better than anything else up top. Some MLS stuff: Toronto FC hired Preki as their coach. Brilliant, unexpected move. Unexpected because Mo Johnston is a [expletive] and this is a really savvy move. Preki is a fantastic MLS coach. I really hope McBride stays retired. He's not international caliber anymore. I do think there is another way for us to play, but it would be counter to USSF's mandated 4-4-2. You could put Torres or Deuce in the hole or play a Xmas tree 4-3-2-1 but that won't happen. I'd like to see Robbie Findley get some burn with the first team as he's probably the "like for like" choice when trying to replace Davies. You could give Cooper an extended look, as he lacks pace but does have the technical ability to hit teams on the counter. I'd even like to see Adu slightly withdrawn playing a pivot role before seeing Casey, Ching or EJ. Movsysian isn't good enough, I don't think and then we have a bunch of meh left to choose from. Jozy's going to have to raise his game or we're going to be back to hoping for set piece goals again. And I'm going to call it now in advance that Tim Howard will cost us a game in SA. He relies way too much on his athleticism and he'll do something dumb like stray off his line and get beat. His form hasn't impressed me at all, really, in 2009. Not even against Spain, where it was mostly our back 6 blocking shots and not so much Howard making amazing saves.

Eddie was our best striker today. Consider that. I think we're really going to miss Chuck D. come next June.

All in all it was a very underwhelming Friendly. The US was unlucky to get a goal in the 2nd minute. Casey and EJ should not be playing at all. Just as an experiment I would still like to see Torres up front with Altidore or between him and Donovan. He has the pace and delivery that can spring forward Altidore and even Donovan. I really like Spector, he has his chance. Hopefully he takes advantage. I really like the crosses that Rogers provides but he doesn't do a lot of anything else. The game didn't matter, and I am not even sure if Slovakia made tickets available to the public. Brazil v England now is interesting as England is missing over half of their starters due to injury. Putting a Torres behind the forwards would work but would require an absolute destroyer behind the mids, and we'd have to completely change our tactics. I think what we'll end up seeing is Altidore and Dempsey up front with Rogers at RM where Clint usually plays.

Both of those teams play boring styles. Tonights game is going to be a good one, since Chicago and RSL actually try and create chances. Plus I think LA's fans blow. Chicago's supporters section is solid. I agree on Holden-why play him so deep when you have Rico Clark back there? They should attack more with Davis and Holden, but they don't. I don't get their tactics. They have speed, "size" in Ching and a couple really good mids. -LA are only in the Cup because their back 4 + Ricketts is really good. It's the same offense from last season that can only score if Buddle gets a sitter or LD gets a PK. That said, 3 of their back 4 merit a look in January.

So I actually thought the US showed well despite the loss today: -Johnny Specs looks really comfortable in the center. I want to see him against a team that doesn't play negative football though. -Deuce had the offense running through him today. Had a couple of really good free kicks and a couple of poor ones. Sometimes he tried to get too cute in the 18 and I thought it cost him one really good chance. Played well on balance, although he's really not the "fulcrum" kind of player. We missed LD (obvious). -Casey/Altidore isn't a good pairing, especially when trying to break a bunker. We held like 60% possession. EJ actually looked better than Casey, and I hate EJ. -Bradley/Benny in the midfield was good today, but again, we played against a team that just sat back. -Robbie Rogers is so left footed he's almost useless at the international level. -Guzan is the goods. I like him more than Howard. I rate him higher than Howard. I think he's less athletic but much, much better technically, and I trust that over athleticism. -Slovakia suck. They qualified out of a crap group and play crap soccer. Their PK was the result of Bornstein being stupid and not realizing he had help.

FIFA will do anything possible to ensure South Africa has a favored path to the round of 16. Everything else that happens will result from this happening.

Sounders are about to lose 1-0 on a Ching goal in extra time

Deuce drew and finished a PK to level Wigan at 1-1. His third goal on the bounce.

So I fully expect Chelsea to just crush United today... Also, Edgar Castillo declined Bradley's callup to the 'Nats. Jackass. http:// http://www.mediotiempo.com/futbol/mexico/noticias/2009/11/07/pospondria-o-declinaria-castillo-partida-con-eu

I never do these writeups for Fire games, but this one was fantastic. -FSC either fixed their awful sound issues all season, or the crowd tonight was massive, because that was the loudest MLS broadcast not in Seattle all season. Great crowd and you have to love that kind of support. Even Bretos and Sullivan were decent tonight. -Nyarko just outworked the defense late. Cuau finished that one well but that was all Nyarko. -Marco Pappa is going to be a pain in the ass for our left back next cycle. He's really good. -Matt Reis is a good keeper. Shalrie Joseph is a great player. -Castro should have seen red for his play out. Cut or not, that was a cynical way to stop play. The Revs were lucky. -MLS needs to fix its salary structure so players like Chris Rolfe stay stateside. He's never going to figure in the USMNT scene, but players like him (good, not great) should be staying in MLS and continuing the progress of the league. I'm going to try and score tickets for the RSL match.

just came to post this bitches runnin wild man, bitches runnin wild Hahaha that's awesome.

So even if Michael Owen explodes tomorrow, one has to think Sir Alex got his moneys worth on that signing, right?

Omar Gonzalez looked horrid today in the 1st leg. Directly responsible for both Chivas goals. Both teams looked like shite.

God that offensive line is terrible. Completely terrible.

Deuce makes it two straight...3-1 to Fulham over Liverpool. God, Liverpool are terrible. What did they spend their money on? They have the depth of an MLS side.