The bars are empty, the flags have been put back into the closets, the ESPN ratings have fallen, and most people have already forgotten the name of the United States captain. For Bob Bradley and most of his 23 man roster, the limelight has disappeared. Sure, Landon Donovan is now a household name in America.

Manchester United reserves were beaten emphatically by Aston Villa reserves on Thursday night while United new boy Bebe made his debut finishing out the full 90. Bebe stole most of the headlines due to his high profile summer transfer and has been rumored as cover for the now injured Antonio Valencia.

Those hoping to see at least one member of the Holden family donning a Houston Dynamo jersey during the 2010 MLS season are officially out of luck. Euan Holden, the younger brother of Stuart and a fourth-round pick of the Dynamo in this year's draft, has signed a 1-year deal with Danish side Vejle Boldklub according to a story on the club's official website.

For sure the U.S. World Cup Team showed some serious bravery in the face of adversity tonight, so much so that they inspired one of our bravest, Lance Corporal Nate Bickel, to pen this email to us after the game:
Name: Lcpl Nate Bickel

Subject: Group C Champions

Message: So we aren't sure who to send this to but my unit here in Helmand Province, Afghanistan wanted you to know the Kilo Company 3d Battalion, 3d Marine Regiment couldn't be more proud of the U.

The script was written before even a ball was kicked.
Young Mister Rooney got his mandatory dodgy injury towards the back end of the season with his ankle going pop, gets dragged through to the summer carrying knocks galore after a hard year, and then arrives at a World Cup already completely jaded, along with his other numpty England internationals.

Curt Onalfo has had a unique path to his current job as the Head Coach of DC United.
Having lived in Brazil, Australia and Connecticut while growing up; was a cog in the University of Virginia's emerging dynasty in college soccer; played in the Under-20 World Cup and the Olympics as a US youth international; competed in Mexico's second division and then in the first MLS Cup with the Los Angeles Galaxy as a professional.

Tottenham is pushing hard for a Champions League spot, but on Saturday, a title-hunting Manchester United squad is poised to push back.

That's the key matchup this weekend, but there is plenty of other intrigue up and down the table as well.

Can Hull City or Burnley gain some ground on West Ham?

Without the banned Franck Ribéry and maybe even a defence to speak of, Bayern Munich face a tough task in France tonight.
Bayern's appetite for adversity will feed their hunger against Lyon.

BY ADAM SERRANO

CARSON, CALIF -- It was another impressive offense performance for the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday night as the club dominated the Philadelphia Union, earning a 3-1 victory.

AJ DeLaGarza opened the scoring with the second fastest goal in Galaxy history 53 seconds after the opening whistle while Edson Buddle added two more goals to bring his season total to nine.

In football, just as it does in life, a persons best qualities tend to shine through in adversity. Many examples of that fact can be pointed out in a multitude of ways and one of the very best...
Continue to the full story

Defeat is bitter especially when it's your own country that loses. It's depressing. It affects your mood, brings you down and can make you angry. But rather than dwell on the negative today after Ghana's 2-1 win over the United States in extra time, I wanted to share just a few reasons why US soccer fans and the men's national team should hold their heads high:

1. The US soccer fans showed their solidarity.

France were terrible in this World Cup, managing only 1 point and 1 goal in the group stage, and, incredibly, alienating their fans perhaps even more with their off-field antics.

With France knocked out, there's a general feeling I'm getting from most France supporters that the woeful performance was absolutely no surprise given how poor the manger was; but that it's a pity that the players had to disgrace themselves to the extent that they did.

Although Frank Lampard was publicly declared as a doubt by Carlo Ancelotti the day before Chelsea's seasoner opener at home to West Bromwich Albion, few outside the club knew that it was more than just a knock bothering the 32-year old midfielder.

The general perception was that Lampard was suffering from fatigue after England's midweek friendly against Hungary and subsequently aggravated his condition during a training session on Thursday.

The result may have been typical, Real Salt Lake becoming the latest MLS team to fall in Mexico, but the way it came about was anything but.
It's difficult to properly frame the collapse that saw the defending MLS champs lose 5-4. RSL conceded four times in the final twenty minutes of the match.

Tony Adams is probably the greatest captain Arsenal have ever had not only for his outstanding leadership qualities, but also for the way he overcame adversity, both on and off the pitch.

In contrast, Arsenal's players of today are often called spineless and cowardly. However, nothing could be further from the truth.

I'm thinking about David Foster Wallace's essay on Roger Federer, the famous one that ran in the New York Times's now-defunct sports magazine, Play, in 2006. If you don't remember for it for the argument, you might remember it for the title, "Roger Federer as Religious Experience," which even back in '06 felt like a strange combination of terms.

The waters are definitely choppy around the good ship Pompey.
Those Portsmouth fans face challenging times.
They come from a city with a history of standing up at times of adversity.
Their war-cry is notorious.
The best quality exponents of the "stiff upper lip".

Paul Scholes has seen his team written off time and time again, so understandably, is not too fuss to see it happening this season.

"You thrive on adversity," said Scholes. "The more it happens the better it is for us. We have probably been written off at some stage every season and this year is going to be no different.

There are few worse sights in life than the British public led by a feral media into a moral uproar. I mistrust the morality of the mob. I heard one fan saying he wouldn't want a man like Terry holding up the World Cup or England. Do me a favour, do we have to like all our footballers now; do we have to find them morally and politically acceptable too?

With no midweek game to focus on, the temptation is to overanalyse Sunday's demoralising defeat. The press are at it, listing reasons why a) we lost so poorly and b) why this means we'll never win anything ever again, and the internet media is going the same way.

There is no getting away from the fact we were poor.

Football supporters still love the FA Cup. Sure, it's not what it used to be. Yes, it tends to be won by the same select few that have any hope of winning the Premier League. But if the purpose of the FA Cup is to create stories, to provoke debate, then semi-final weekend suggested that it is alive and well.

I started this blog as someone who thought he knew a lot better than the existing playing and non playing Arsenal staff. My first post was pessimistic, skeptical negative to say the least. As I began to look around for other blogs (something I really should have done before as I didn't know of the blogging scene), I read some of the most positive stuff written about our club that can leave us feeling frustrated.

Well that was strange. Eight rounds in and the Tippeliga still doesn't make much sense, but even in that context Vålerenga inflicting a 6-1 smackdown on Odd was a bit of a bolt from the blue. Also, reluctant and grudge-laden credit where it's due: Brann were really quite good..

They were, honestly.

Liverpool winger Yossi Benayoun has delivered a scathing assessment of the Reds' disappointing campaign, branding Rafael Benitez's side "failures" after their inability to qualify for next season's Champions League.
The Merseysiders also performed underwhelmngly in the domestic cup competitions as well as the Premier League, and exited the Champions League at the group stage and the Europa League, their consolation prize, at the semi-final stage.

In some style too. An 8-0 thrashing of Wigan on the last day. Goals from Anelka, Kalou, Lampard, Ashley Cole, and of course Drogba.

103 goals, +71 goal differential, and the Golden boot for Didier Drogba. And Petr Cech with 16 clean sheets as goalkeeper of the year along with Pepe Reina.

Chelsea completed the FA Cup and EPL double with a 1-0 win over Portsmouth in Portsmouth's last hurrah before relegation. With the EPL season over and nothing to lose one would have thought that Portsmouth might have come out pretty loose and given Chelsea a hard time and they did. Only allowing Didier Drogba the double-clenching goal in the 1st half.

MARKHAM - The Victoria Day Long Weekend traditionally involves Canadians enjoying the spectacle of fireworks. If the PFC campaign can be compared to the roman candles that lit the sky, the PFC season kicked off brightly with a hard fought win however, by their second match, the team's flare appeared to have fizzled out.

This is yet another group in which the race for second place is far more fascinating than the race for first. The Netherlands (SPI rank 5) is the unquestioned favorite after a thoroughly dominating qualifying campaign. Denmark (SPI rank 20) is looking to reclaim some of the glory from their 1992 European Championship.

Portland Timbers
VS
Carolina Railhawks
Sunday, June 6th
6pm @ PGE Park
Radio on 95.5 The Game
TV on FSN
Streaming Online at Portlandtimbers.com
After two weeks off from league action, the Portland Timbers will face the Carolina Railhawks for the first time this season as the Railhawks come to PGE Park for a 6pm kickoff tomorrow evening.

William Gallas delivers a silent protest, Nicklas Bendtner expects to face Holland and Australia draw strength from adversity.

No arguments about who is the "underdog" here

On paper (and if you look at the odds on any betting website), this match should be a one-sided affair.

And the Germans appear all to keen to remind their Australian counterparts of this fact. None more so than the usually quietly spoken coach Joachim Löw.

Spanish Segunda Division squad Hercules snatched up the third and final promotion spot to La Liga on Saturday, defeating bottom-feeders Real Union by a score of 2-0.

Hercules will join both Levante and Real Soceidad in their ascension to Spain's top division. Although unlike their fellow promoted sides, Hercules hasn't played in La Liga in 13 long years, and their fans have long dreamt of this special moment.

Two years ago, I had the great pleasure to interview Ian Blanchard, Head of National Referee Development at the English FA, for Soccerlens. Mr. Blanchard sets the training standards for all professional English referees and evaluates them after each Premiership match. I would like to provide two excerpts from that interview:

In your opinion, what are the key attributes that a modern-day referee must have to be successful domestically and internationally?

As is my custom, I begin with three general thoughts about Friday's 2-2 U.S. Men's National Team draw with Slovenia at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. It was the Best of Sides... Everyone knows how the Yanks responded to abject adversity last summer. They came out and pummeled one of the best sides in Africa 3-nil.

Yes I said it! "Experienced U.S." to take on Algeria today in probably the biggest game in U.S. soccer history. We have been here before and all of these players are used to having their backs against the wall. Luckily we don't have to rely on anyone doing us any favors. We win, we go, it's as simple as that.

Phewwwww...what a game. If you are reading this, I'm sure you're a big time soccer fan and were either watching the game or have by now seen the highlights. What an incredible end to such an important game. From the beginning of team USA's World Cup 2010 campaign, there has been adversity to overcome.

Bob Bradley, who took over the US National Team after their disastrous 2006 World Cup, has been around soccer for many years and knows how to take the good with the bad and more importantly, how to lead a team through adversity.

(Getty Images)

And those words are: Streak broken.

One of the sports cliches I hate the most is the one that blames the refs for the bad result your team of choice suffers. Unless we're talking some kind of payola scandal, generally speaking, over time your team is going to get its share of bad calls in its favor as well as those that go against it.

I'm trying to pretend it's not true, but there's only seven games left in this World Cup tournament (I'm not counting the third place game, which is a waste of time and a silly idea). When you think about it, seven games isn't much. That's a typical Saturday in the Premier League. So since we're running out of time in this tournament, here are my seven wish-list items of what I want to see between now and the final whistle on July 11th:

1. I want a team to give Brazil a run for its money.

The true test of a champion is how they respond to adversity. With the passing of Mercury coach Troy Brown, a huge blow to everyone. The very minimal practice schedule and all the guest players due to ODP, the Sodium squad was not expected to put its best foot forward in the Cascade Cup. Despite all that, the lady warriors fought long and hard in the sweltering heat right to the end before giving