Only 23 nations are going to the World Cup and the host nation won't even be there. Sounds crazy? This is the world cup when one looks only at the nations of the coaches of the 32 squads. The countries with more coaches? Germany and Argentina, each one has 3. And all the coaches from the latter is heading a South American nation (Argentina, Chile and Paraguay).

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The U.S. men's national team had plenty of bright spots and highlights in 2009, but the final game of the year had few moments worth remembering.

With most of the team's top stars unavailable, Bob Bradley handed opportunities to several players to show that they deserve more playing time.

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The U.S. men's national team had plenty of bright spots and highlights in 2009, but the final game of the year had few moments worth remembering.

With most of the team's top stars unavailable, Bob Bradley handed opportunities to several players to show that they deserve more playing time.

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Amidst all the drama with the Ireland vs France match and earlier the Egypt vs Algeria showdown, the USA played a friendly with Denmark. Bob Bradley started Jeff Cunningham and I am happy to say, it turned out well because he scored his first international goal and nearly set up Altidore with another.

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The less said about this match, the better. It was painful to watch at moments. I think that this is one of those matches that we're supposed to learn from. So, what did we learn?

-Landon Donovan is even more integral to this team than we could have imagined. We knew he was the driving force, but the team looks completely lost without him.

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I'd like to present an equation, with the solution to be determined as we move along through this little discussion; if you'd like to guess what the answer might be, be my guest. I'm willing to bet...

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It was a triple killing -- three goals in eight minutes that easily saw off the U.S. challenge in Aarhus. Friendlies tend to spawn more overreactions than calm, logical analysis simply because most American soccer fans expect to be better than they really are.

From the distant perspective of a TV screen carrying the international feed, the defensive collapse was a frustrating exercise that you'd rather not see.

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After that cesspool of a result in Paris on Wednesday, it is nice to turn our attention to a league where the sportsmen are pure, the referees are beyond reproach and the game is always played with a spirit of manly honor – the MLS. Or something like that.

Sunday's game will feature the best team in the west this season against the best team in the west right now.

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The United States played two tough European opponents and were defeated in both matches. But we certainly learned something from both games, and thus this European Adventure has been useful for Bob Bradley.

• The US has its style: tactically Bob Bradley is modeling his team after what Carlo Ancelotti did at AC Milan.

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The US National wrapped up their European sojourn yesterday with a disappointing 3-1 loss to Denmark in Aarhus. After losing to Slovakia 1-0 on Saturday, the Americans head back to their clubs or...

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Take one look at the scoreline from the United States' 3-1 defeat by Denmark, and it's tempting to assume that the more inexperienced elements of manager Bob Bradley's lineup were to blame. But closer inspection reveals that some veteran performers should bear most of the responsibility.
Winners and Losers
Lessons learned from Denmark and Slovakia Click to continue reading...

Preki is headed north to Toronto FC. (Getty Images)

Former Chivas USA head coach Preki will be introduced as Toronto FC's fourth head coach.

Preki led Chivas USA to the playoffs in all three seasons he was head coach, but he will be looking to improve on three first round exits.

With Preki in town you have to believe the Toronto roster may get a little makeover in the winter months.

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No ramblings. No preamble. No time. Have to run out for work, so not too much time to marinate on the USMNT/Denmark game. You're getting bullet points. Enjoy. * Danish Tex Mex? Who would have figured? I'm sure salted cod and salsa make an excellent burrito combo. * Missed the first 15-odd minutes watching the ends of the Algeria/Egypt hate-cast and the Ukraine/Greece snooze-fest. Click to continue reading...

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The final match of the year is set to kick off today for the U.S. men's national team as the Americans take on Denmark (2:30pm, ESPN Classic/Galavision/ESPN2 after Ukraine-Greece) on the last international matchday of the year.

The United States will be playing its 24th match of the year and this match is an important one as head coach Bob Bradley looks to learn more about the depth of his squad.

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The final match of the year is set to kick off today for the U.S. men's national team as the Americans take on Denmark (2:30pm, ESPN Classic/Galavision/ESPN2 after Ukraine-Greece) on the last international matchday of the year.

The United States will be playing its 24th match of the year and this match is an important one as head coach Bob Bradley looks to learn more about the depth of his squad.

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The U.S. men's national team plays its final match of a busy and memorable 2009 today when it takes on Denmark in Aarhus (2:30pm, ESPN Classic/Galavision/ESPN2 after Ukraine-Greece).

Both teams will be missing several key players, with the Americans playing without Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey (as well as injured regulars Oguchi Onyewu, Jay DeMerit and Charlie Davies).

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It's a tough situation Bob Bradley finds himself in. With very few friendly dates left before South Africa to test our best against quality opposition, today's game against Denmark appears to be a dud. The US is without its two most recognizable field players, Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey, while the Danes basically have a "B" side at their disposal which excludes such recognizable names as Daniel Agger and Niklas Bendtner.

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The USMNT meet Denmark, today at NRGi Park, Aarhus, 8:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. ET), and the match will be broadcast live on ESPN Classic at 2:25 p.m.

There maybe a reason for Bob Bradley's faith in Jonathan Bornstein. They both began their national careers on 20 January, 2007 against Denmark and Bornstein repaid his coach's faith by scoring the game winner.

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How about those Danish Van Houtens?What, you're telling me you didn't stick with 'The Simpsons' through season 19?Guess I'd have to call that a cromulent decision. If you read those last three seconds and your brain didn't turn into a puddle of chocolate pudding, you were probably able to deduce that I don't have a whole lot to offer for Wednesday's USMNT friendly against Denmark in Aarhus. Click to continue reading...

The USA played the first of its pre-World Cup friendlies against Slovakia on Saturday. With nothing to play for, Bob Bradley utilized the opportunity to test his team's depth. The results? Despite the 0-1 defeat, there were more positives than negatives.

Most promising of the group were the performances of our center backs and central midfield.

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Briefly:

*The initial 36,000 tickets for MLS Cup Sunday in Seattle sold out, so another 6,000 tickets have been put on sale. Details here.

*As unlikely as the Galaxy's run to MLS Cup was, Real Salt Lake's performance was even less expected. Reaction here.

*U.S. Coach Bob Bradley called in the Houston Dynamo midfield duo of Ricardo Clark and Stuart Holden and Tigres defender Edgar Castillo for Wednesday's game against Demark.

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One of head coach Bob Bradley's many experiments in the US' 1-0 loss to Slovakia on Saturday was giving forward Eddie Johnson a second look after more than a 12 month absence from the national team. Click to continue reading...

Photo by ISIphotos.com

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.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

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.

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Bob Bradley has, as expected, made a few changes to the USMNT roster for Wednesday's friendly with Denmark. Three additional players have been called in, with three departing. See the full roster...

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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.

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Took some time this weekend and added tags to the blog. So now you can look for articles by topic as opposed to just searching or looking by time frame. It should make it easier to find some topics and see what I write about the most. I hope to finally get my act together with tags moving forward. Click to continue reading...

I'm not in the mood to mince words or getting all wound up through great elaboration, so I'll cut right to the point.Today, USMNT coach Bob Bradley called 23 players for a midweek friendly against Denmark in Aarhus, yet stunningly ignored AGF attacker Jeremiah White. This, my friends, is a bush league maneuver. Click to continue reading...

Bob Bradley had said there'd likely be some changes to the lineup between the Slovakia and Denmark games this week. Today we learned who was dropped and who was added to the roster ahead of the game on Wednesday in Aarhus, Denmark. Dropped from the roster was Clint Dempsey and Steve Cherundolo so that they could return to their clubs. Click to continue reading...

USA national team coach Bob Bradley announced today that he would be adding four players to the roster for the friendly against Denmark on Wednesday, November 18 in Aarhus. Click to continue reading...

United States National Team coach Bob Bradley has announced changes to the US roster that will face Denmark on Wednesday. Steve Cherundolo, Clint Dempsey, and Chad Marshall have left camp. Stuart Holden, Ricardo Clark, Edgar Castillo, and Jose Francisco Torres have been added to the roster. Click to continue reading...

A penalty kick on the only shot of the first half by Slovakia was the deciding factor as the U.S. lost the first ever meeting between the two 2010 FIFA World Cup finalists 1-0 at Tehelne Pole in Bratislava. "I thought we had a good start in the match in the first 25 minutes," said U.S. Men's National Team head coach Bob Bradley. Click to continue reading...

Well, turns out Jozy Altidore, Clint Dempsey & Co. have about as much drawing power in Eastern Europe as Anvil. For whatever the reason Friday night I decided to stay up through multiple power outages for the MLS Western Conference Final between the Galaxy and Dynamo. During the match the thought drifted into my head about Saturday's USMNT/Slovakia friendly -- why wouldn't Bob Bradley simply roll Click to continue reading...

Slovakia and the United States played in a friendly on Saturday, November 14, 2009. Both teams have qualified for next summer's FIFA 2010 World Cup Final. Here's a recap of the match along with video highlights.

Slovakia beats United States 1-0 Video Highlights

The United States dominated possession, especially in the 2nd half, but struggled to convert any chances as they lost to Slovakia.

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The United States national team is in Bratislava set to take on Slovakia for the first of two European friendlies.

The game marks the first ever meeting between the United States and Slovakia, and will give head coach Bob Bradley an opportunity to fine tune the U.S. team seven months away from the World Cup.

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