The U.S. are playing Costa Rica in an important World Cup qualifying match this Wednesday night at 10:00 PM EST and it will be broadcast on ESPN. I decided to take a look at the squad that manager Bob Bradley has named and review where they are at in their careers. I think its important to examine this as the U.

Late last night, after reading a few more chapters of "House on Mango Street" and before hitting the hay, I snuck in a few minutes to catch up with the Men's National Team on ussoccer.com. And while going through some of the World Cup Qualifying articles, it dawned upon me:What the heck happened to Benny Feilhaber?

Photo by ISIphotos.com

With the 2010 World Cup berth already secured, the U.S. national team will head into its final qualifier on Wednesday playing for a chance to top the CONCACAF qualifying group, and a chance to improve its place in the FIFA world rankings (as well as score a measure of revenge for the 3-1 thumping delivered by Costa Rica in June).

The United States knew what they had to do tonight. One point was not an option. No points may have been the spark of whole sale changes to the US National Team (I will concede they would have had to wait until after the Mexico game at Azteca to make those changes). The US needed to respond big and get three points.

The deepest position in the U.S. men's national team pool is about to get even deeper.

Schalke 04 midfielder Jermaine Jones has notified the German Football Federation that he intends to change national teams and plans to play for the U.S. national team. Jones is taking advantage of the new FIFA rule that allows players of any age to change national teams if they are eligible for multiple national teams and have yet to play in an official match for either.

This will be the first in an occassional series of posts where we look at the available players for the US heading into the 2010 World Cup, and the players that we think are likely to get the call.
With a second-place finish in the Confederation's Cup, which included a huge 2-0 win over Spain, and a hard-fought championship loss to Brazil, it's hard to argue against using most of the players who saw action in the Confed.

United States upsets Spain 2-0 to reach the finals - Video Highlights - The United States defeated Spain 2-0 in a gritty and tough match.

Heading into the match, Spain were the clear favorites as they've been the number one team for the last year. They started the match with lots of energy and chances by the US seemed up to the challenge and disciplined defensively.

The USMNT suffered a disappointing 2-1 loss in their World Cup Qualifying Clash with Mexico today.

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If the starting lineup the U.S. team fielded in Saturday's loss to Slovakia didn't look far enough away from Bob Bradley's first-choice squad, wait until you see the team we are likely to have take the field in Denmark on Wednesday.

It must feel good to be Benny Feilhaber right now.

After an impressive performance for the U.S. national team in the Confederations Cup, and after a solid showing as a substitute in a 2-1 Gold Cup victory over Honduras last week, Feilhaber scored twice in his first summer appearance for AGF Aarhus on Monday.

Not a horrible result, though it leaves less room for error in the four remaining games. Not a horrible performance, but both teams struggled to string together passes. The defense held firm, the midfield was overrun and the forwards were stranded.
The stats show a team that didn't deserve a result.

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England), Tim Howard (Everton, England).

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes, France), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Jay DeMerit (Watford, England), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan, Italy), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United, England).

It was the sort of ugly road game U.S. fans would like to think are in the past. A lot of the decision-making was suspect. Many players just never found their groove and suddenly developed feet of stone.
But Trinidad and Tobago failed to punish the defensive lapses, and Ricardo Clark slammed one into the net.

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The U.S. men's national team announced the 24-man roster for its upcoming training camp ahead of its World Cup qualifiers vs.

Facing Honduras on Saturday, the U.S. lineup had one necessary change (Michael Bradley suspended) and two expected changes (Marvell Wynne and DaMarcus Beasley struggled in Costa Rica) after an 0-3 loss Wednesday in Costa Rica. Forward Brian Ching and defender Frankie Hejduk were once again out injured, so coach Bob Bradley had limited options.

Lots of questions. No easy answers.
Bob Bradley reunited the central midfield duo that started the 2009 World Cup qualifying campaign, re-introducing Sacha Kljestan along with Michael Bradley. DaMarcus Beasley returned to left midfield. Benny Feilhaber, who struggled against Italy, was left out.

Project 2010's love affair with Grant Wahl continues:

"Here's what I want to see [at the Gold Cup]: Freddy Adu being handed the keys to the U.S. midfield, told that he'll play in every game and given the freedom to show what he can do. I can understand why Adu hasn't been starting for the U.

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If the U.S. men's national team is going to successfully defend its CONCACAF Gold Cup title, it will do so with a very short-handed squad.

by GIANFRANCO PANIZO

Freddy Adu has not played club soccer in quite some time, but that could all change this weekend.

Adu and his new club Belenenses take on Academica de Coimbra on Sunday, and a debut for Adu could potentially signal the beginning of the end to the club drought that has plagued him throughout the majority of 2009.

Goalkeepers Tim Howard and Brad Friedel led the way in Americans Abroad as both earned clean sheets for their respective clubs. Here's the full recap of Americans playing overseas in the top European soccer leagues.

Tim Howard (GK) - Everton - English Premier League - Howard had another solid game in goal as Everton defeated Sunderland 2-0 and the entire club has been in great form as of late.

The five-day camp in Miami is done and dusted, and the bus is minutes away from the airport. Honk if you see us!
Benny Feilhaber, Tim Howard, and Jose Francisco Torres are meeting the group at the charter terminal for the 2.5 hour flight to San Jose. Included in the travel party is Aston Villa midfielder Eric Lichaj, who spent his first time with the full team this week.

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U.S. men's national team head coach Bob Bradley has had some tough decisions to make regarding his starting lineup during the Confederations Cup, but his decisions heading into Sunday's final can be boiled down to one.

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The U.S. men's national team's World Cup qualifier against Mexico in Estadio Azteca will take place exactly a week from now and while we know what players Mexico has brought in for the match, we still haven't heard who the United States will be calling in.

I know tomorrow we should get word of who exactly will be on the US roster for the Mexico game next week. I felt since it was a bit of a slow day around here I'd give my two cents. Feel free to do the same.

Goalkeepers: Tim Howard, Brad Guzan.

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra, Jay DeMerit, Oguchi Onyewu, Jonathan Spector, Chad Marshall, Steve Cherundolo, Jonathan Bornstein.

For not including Jeremiah White in the roster for the Denmark friendly:

This, my friends, is a bush league maneuver.
Now, nobody is suggesting White should be thrust into the World Cup frame suddenly - but to not even call the guy into camp for a game at his club's home park is an overt slap in the face.

It was the final weekend in many of the European leagues as goalkeeper Tim Howard grabbed another clean sheet for Everton, and midfielder Maurice Edu played for Rangers who won the Scottish Premier League title. In the League 1 Promotion Play-off final Zak Whitbread and Millwall fell to Scunthorpe, but Michael Bradley and Monchengladbach were able to avoid relegation.

Bob Bradley's intital 30-man roster for the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup has been released on the CONCACAF website.
What do you think about this roster? What new names are you excited to see? Do Pablo Mastroeni and Ricardo Clark deserve to be there?
There are some names I'm glad to to see and others I don't want anything to do with.

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Plenty to discuss in the world of soccer on the day after the Miracle in South Africa so let's get started:

Know how many fouls Michael Bradley, Jay DeMerit, Oguchi Onyewu and Ricardo Clark combined for against Spain?

After an extremely surprising Confederations Cup in South Africa, it's come down to this - David vs. Goliath, Round 2, aka USA vs. Brazil. The USA's shocking turn-around and even more unexpected upset victory over Spain in the Semi-finals has everyone wondering if this up-and-coming team has one more shock result in them.

The U.S. men's national team is in Foxborough, Mass. tonight to take on Haiti at Gillette Stadium in the final Group B match for both teams. a win or draw clinches first place in the group for the USA, which has already secured a place in the quarterfinals.

The Americans will look to field a different looking squad as midfielders Freddy Adu and Benny Feilhaber have left the team.

What you all saw was the Frustration of ten years by Mexico not winning on American soil thru Friendly matches, World Cup Qualifiers and Gold Cup matches, finally being put to rest. But sadly it wasn't from their tactics or run of play that got it all started. This was a single call that turned the entire match around and when you hope to see the players settle it on their own without the interference from the referee, that's when it all went downhill very, very fast.

The U.S. men's national team will face Trinidad & Tobago on Wednesday night in a World Cup qualifier it desperately needs a result from in order to stay in good shape in the super-tight CONCACAF qualifying race.

Who will start in this all-important match? U.S. head coach Bob Bradley has plenty of options to choose from, both in defense and in the midfield.

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With the roster now selected, it is time to consider the options U.S. head coach Bob Bradley has when selecting his starting lineup in next weekend's World Cup qualifier vs.

The U.S. men's national team's Confederations Cup 23-man roster has been selected and it has no surprises but a few injury absences that had to be expected.

Sources have told SBI that Brian Ching and Frankie Hejduk will not be making the trip to South Africa, but Conor Casey will be.

Recent results in world cup qualifying have brought a swift sense of reality to my vision of the U.S. National Team's potential. We were trounced in Costa Rica and won at home in less than convincing fashion against a Honduras team that jumped out to an early lead. Now the Nats head to South Africa to take part in the warm up to the 2010 World Cup tournament.

The preliminary 30-man roster for the U.S. national team's Gold Cup squad has been revealed and, as expected, most of the team's top players, aren't on it.

Jozy Altidore, Freddy Adu, Jose Francisco Torres and Brad Guzan headline the group, which will be reduced to 23 when the team begins Gold Cup play on July 4th vs.

The Danish league has started weeks ahead most of the other European leagues and several Americans are already making an impact. Jeremiah White and Benny Feilhaber all play in the league and were in action on Monday night. The Swedish Allsvenskan started in April and is currently in the middle of the season as American Alejandro Bedoya has found recent success playing for Orebro.

On Friday, United States National Team coach Bob Bradley released his 20-man squad list for the August 12th CONCACAF World Cup Qualifier against Mexico at Azteca Stadium. GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan, Tim Howard DEFENDERS (7): Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Bornstein, Steve Cherundolo, Jay DeMerit, Chad Marshall, Oguchi Onyewu, Jonathan Spector MIDFIELDERS (6): Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, Clint Dempsey, Benny Feilhaber, Stuart Holden, José Francisco Torres FORWARDS (5): Jozy Altidore, Conor Casey, Brian Ching, Charlie Davies, Landon.

Well the big day is upon us. Beginning tomorrow and culminating with the Gold Cup Final late next month the United States National Team will be in almost constant action. No friendlies are on the schedule in this period. Just deadly serious World Cup qualifiers and competitive tournament matches.

A few videos to get you pumped for this afternoon's game...

Love to see Benny score another one like this!

Freddy has been talking on the Twitter about balling out today. Looking forward to seeing him play with the confidence he showed in that corner of the above clip!