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.

Bild is reporting that Marko Marin will leave cellar-dwelling Borussia Mochengladbach at the end of the season. This comes as little surprise, as most of us assumed that unless Gladbach escaped relegation, the wonderkid would move to greener pastures, especially with his German National team future to consider.

I never heard of Goldman Morgenstern & Partners Financial Intelligence Service before, but they published a press release which lists the turnover of each Bundesliga club for the 2007/2008 season. The data seems to come from an article in the print edition of Kicker magazine. Said article supposedly dealt with the official Bundesliga report for [.

RheinEnergieStadion

I used the stats feature at ESPN Soccernet to calcluate the clubs with the best attendances. Out of the top 20 attendances in Europe, Germany had 9 clubs. This post is to equip you with a tool to help promote our great league. Because, while we are in a slump in the Champions League and don't make all the news with £80 million transfers, we have the most competitive league, the funnest league and the best attended league in the world.

1. Hertha Berlin (2-1 home win against Bayern) Just think how good this team could be with half their starters back. Actually it probably wouldn't be much better as those injuries haven't been significant to their back line, and that is where the strength of the Old Lady lies. I will say, that after [.

The DFB Pokal Cup kicks off this weekend in Germany as teams from the Bundesliga get set to take on lower division sides. Michael Bradley and Borussia Mönchengladbach face FSV Frankfurt, while Steve Cherundolo and Hannover 96 travel to meet Eintracht Trier on Sunday. Luis Robles and Kaiserslautern get the action underway on Friday with a game against Eintracht Braunschweig.

Dülp at the German blog Bolzplatz has an interesting post on Gladbach and the club's recent winter acquisitions. He's experiencing a crisis of faith in the club, seeing Meyer's recent moves as "Advocaat Reloaded." In other words, Meyer's calls for a complete rebuilding of the team and given carte blanche to do so [.

A running commentary of the weekend's Bundesliga action. Feel free to share your thoughts via the comments. This weekend all times will be Peru Time (PET, CET -6h), in honor of Werder Bremen's man of the match against Milan: Claudio Pizzarro. *** Saturday [07.35] This edition is a bit late. I was out on Friday and could only [.

Google Translate endlessly amuses me. Here is a section on Rob Friend from spox.xom's coverage of Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 defeat at the hands of Hertha Berlin on Saturday. Hmmmm....could this be a clue from the cosmos to help unravel a secret meaning behind Canadian soccer fans love of all things cucumber?

Last week's look at the family affairs behind adidas and Puma was just to warm you up. This week we learn how the two brothers briefly build a three stripes Nazi bazooka, ironically almost got blown to pieces by an Allied tank and then supplied the US army with basketball and baseball shoes. (Spiegel Online) Ultras [.

A running commentary of the weekend's Bundesliga action. Feel free to share your thoughts via the comments. This weekend all times will be Pacific Standard Time (PST, CET -9h) to help Landon Donovan get used to life in Los Angeles again. *** Friday [22.00] Schalke 1-0 Cologne Schalke scored a brilliantly strung together team goal.

In a week where I have wondered about the potential of defensive creep within the Bundesliga, a dire 1-0 match took place between Borussia Monchengladbach and Bochum at Borussia Park tonight. In the first half, Gladbach came out firing on all cylinders and spent the first 20 minutes playing Bochum off the pitch.

The United States has named it's 24 man roster for the upcoming World Cup Qualifiers with not too many surprises. Tim Howard and Brad Guzan are the goalkeepers and Oneywu and Bocanegra will lead the defense. In midfield, Donovan, Beasley, Dempsey, and Bradley have been a regular fixture on the squad and should all start.

CHICAGO (May 24, 2008) — U.S. Men's National Team head coach Bob Bradley has named a roster of 24 players that will train in advance of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Costa Rica and Honduras.

Costa Rica at Estadio Saprissa
The U.S. will be seeking its first-ever victory away to Costa Rica when they meet at Estadio Saprissa in the fourth match of the 10-game final round of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

2009 FIFA Confederations Cup June 14-28, 2009 - South Africa GOALKEEPERS: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Luis Robles (Kaiserslautern) DEFENDERS: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Danny Califf (Midtjylland ), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC) MIDFIELDERS: Freddy Adu (AS Monaco), DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Sacha Kljestan.

German international attacking midfielder Marko Marin is finally heading to Werder Bremen after striking an agreement to meet Borussia Monchengladback's 10million euro asking price, an initial figure that has caused the transfer to develop into a hard-fought saga.
The Bosnian-born 20-year-old, praised by Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf as "One of the biggest talents in German football,"could have walked away on a free transfer in twelve months but Monchengladback were relentless in ensuring they received an adequate fee for their highly-rated creative midfielder.

Derek Rae of ESPN was kind enough to speak to me at length about Germany and German football. If you have access to ESPN/ESPN International, you may be accustomed to Rae's commentary for the Champions League, La Liga or even Eredivisie; therefore, you might find that an interview of a football announcer who doesn't announce Bundesliga games a bit odd.

I tend to get too excited about the young kids, when they move. I will often over-value the transfers of the the Zuculini, Sven Bender and Lewis Holtby's of the footballing world. I will see Ralf Fahrmann's move to Eintracht as the bargain of the century. But youth takes time to develop, so this year I am going to concentrate on the seven best transfers made so far this summer, in relation to how the players will aid their teams in the coming year.

Vintage, in this context, means 1970s and brilliant. Borussia Mönchengladbach were the league's most dominant club during that decade and won a then record five Bundesliga titles. Moreover they were also the ambassadors of style, with inspirational midfield and attacking talent in players like Jupp Heynckes, Günter Netzer (Ballon d'Or runner up 1972) or Allan SImonsen (Ballon d'Or 1977).

I guess the late season run for FC Dallas helped cash things in for a couple guys as Bob Bradley named a handful of FC Dallas players to his 22-man roster for the Slovakia friendly later this month.

Also the loss of Columbus in the playoffs meant callups for a few Crew players as well.

To me though the big news may be the re-call of Eddie Johnson, someone we haven't seen called into action in a very long time.

A running commentary of the weekend's Bundesliga action. Feel free to share your thoughts via the comments. *** Friday Trivial pre-match stats: Hoffenheim have lost four of five top of the table clashes. Hoffenheim will play four of those five top of the table clashes at home in the second half of the season.

José Francisco Torres played 45 minutes of Pachuca's 2-2 draw with Santos:
Carlos Bocanegra and Rennes' loss to Sochaux:
Oguchi Onyewu and Standard Liege's 3-1 win over G. Beerschot:
Borussia Mönchengladbach's 0-0 draw with Karlsruhe:

This year's Champions League semifinals have a familiar look to them - after all, three of these teams also featured in the English FA Cup semifinals earlier this month and two of these teams are appearing in the Champions League semifinals for the third consecutive time, Arsenal for the second time and Barcelona for the third time in four years.

Couldn't find the full highlights but here's the late winner from Borussia Mönchengladbach's victory yesterday:
The win takes them three points clear of the relegation zone.

A partir de mañana arranca una nueva edición de la Copa Confederaciones Sudafrica 2009 y desde Tremendamente Motivados seguiremos las acciones más importantes de este torneo que se disputa cada cuatro años y es el plato previo a la copa del Mundo de 2010.
A las 11 (hora argentina), el anfitrión, Sudafrica y su par de Irak abrirán la competencia que tendrá su mejor partido de la fecha inicial a las 15:30 cuando se enfrenten Nueva Zelanda vs España.

Celtic accompany the mounting queue to acquire Venezuelan attacking midfielder Juan Arango, one of La Liga's most regular and impressive performers, from destitute Real Mallorca.

Attention has been widely acknowledged from Stoke City, Borussia Monchengladbach and Trabzonspor, but do the Bhoys possess the financial clout to meet Mallorca's €4m valuation?

In addition to Columbus Crew midfielder Robbie Rogers, uncapped former Galaxy striker Robbie Findley was also called up for the games Sept. 5 against El Salvador in Salt Lake City and Sept. 9 in Trinidad & Tobago

Here's the full 23-man squad U.S. Coach Bob Bradley named today for the qualifiers:

goalkeepers - Brad Guzan (Aston Villa: 5/3 SO), Tim Howard (Everton FC: 12/7 SO)

defenders - Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes: 22/3), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA, 2/0), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover: 19/0), Jay DeMerit (Watford: 3/0), Clarence Goodson (IK Start: 1/0), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew: 2/0), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan: 17/1), Jonathan Spector (West Ham: 2/0)

midfielders - Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake: 0/0), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach: 11/4), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo: 6/0), Clint Dempsey (Fulham: 18/4), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus: 2/0), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo: 1/0), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew: 0/0), José Francisco Torres (Pachuca: 5/0)

forwards - Jozy Altidore (Hull City: 9/5), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids: 5/0), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo: 16/6), Charlie Davies (FC Sochaux: 3/2), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy: 31/11), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake: 0/0)

*numbers indicate all-time World Cup Qualifying caps/goals

Not much change as one might expect at this stage of the competition, while Robbie Rogers, Landon Donovan and Jonathan Bornstein all retain their spots.

A victory in either game and the U.S. has booked a spot in South Africa.

The squad (with club and WC caps and goals):

Goalkeepers - Brad Guzan (Aston Villa: 5/3 SO), Tim Howard (Everton: 14/8 SO)

Defenders - Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes: 24/3), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA, 4/0), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover: 19/0), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards: 1/0), Clarence Goodson (IK Start: 1/0), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan: 18/1), Jonathan Spector (West Ham: 3/0)

Midfielders - Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach: 13/4), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo: 7/1), Clint Dempsey (Fulham: 20/5), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus: 4/0), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo: 3/0), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew: 0/0), José Francisco Torres (Pachuca: 6/0)

Forwards - Jozy Altidore (Hull City: 11/6), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids: 5/0), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo: 16/6), Kenny Cooper (1860 Munich: 1/1), Charlie Davies (FC Sochaux: 5/2), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy: 33/11).

Sad news today. Robert Enke, Hannover and Germany's goalkeeper has been found dead in an underground train passage in Neustadt am Rübenberge, Germany. According to police, it appears the 32 year-old has committed suicide by train.

Enke hadn't been playing a lot due to a mysterious infection.

Edgar Castillo has been called into his first U.S. national team camp.

The New Mexico native and former Mexican national team player was one of four new players called into the U.S. men's national team camp ahead of Wednesday's friendly against Denmark.

Midfielders Stuart Holden and Jose Francisco Torres were also called in, as was Ricardo Clark.

... is to score more own goals. A player who scored an own goal will usually feel horrible about it. Even more so when he cost his team not just a goal but valuable points or at worst even a trophy. Depending on the overall comedic value of his blunder, the player will receive further ridicule [...]

Borussia Mönchengladbach Rank: 18th Preseason prediction: 12th What was I thinking? Gladbach entered the Bundesliga having won the 2. Bundesliga with the most prolific offense and third-stingiest defense. They featured a versatile, if somewhat inexperienced side headlined by Germany's next can't miss prospect, Marko Marin.

Dülp at the German blog Bolzplatz has an interesting post on Gladbach and the club's recent winter acquisitions. He's experiencing a crisis of faith in the club, seeing Meyer's recent moves as "Advocaat Reloaded." In other words, Meyer's calls for a complete rebuilding of the team and given carte blanche to do so [.

A running commentary of the weekend's Bundesliga action. Feel free to share your thoughts via the comments. I modified the format a bit and introduced timestamps. Due to the time-zone spanning super-global nature of this blog, I decided to feature a different timezone each week. In honor of one of our most frequent commenters I'll [.

Getting the sack as a football coach isn't really the worst thing that could happen to you and to Jürgen Klinsmann. Except for the banking sector there probably isn't a job on this planet where screwing up pays you so much in golden handshakes. Looking at it this way, this season's best places in Europe to make a quick buck for just a couple of months of work and media/fan abuse are:

1.

Michael Bradley and Borussia Mönchengladbach head to the Allianz Arena on Saturday to take on Bayern Munich. The game is a big one for both teams - 'Gladbach are trying to jump clear of the relegation zone, while Bayern are looking to keep pace with the leaders at the top of the table. It's been a newsworthy week in Munich, with a coaching change and talk of Ribery leaving the club.

Look out! Bochum is in real trouble. With 4 games and 12 points to play for in this campaign, they sit just 3 points ahead of Arminia Bielefeld with a dwindling +5 goal difference. Undoubtedly Marcel Koller saw tonight's fixture at home against Hannover 96, the only side not to win on the road this season, as a win that would have almost assuredly have put them out of reach of the relegation zone.

When it all comes down to it, it doesn't matter how they did it.

There wasn't all that much football on display in Borussia Mönchengladbach's last two matches against Schalke and Cottbus, which of course wasn't Gladbach's fault alone. Schalke can control a game and dominate possession, but they can't really score goals or come up with a minimum of creativity and incentive.

Uli Hoeness predicted that this championship won't be decided on goal difference, but rather that someone would slip up, and he was right albeit in the wrong places.

Hannover 0-5 Wolfsburg. Except for the sell out crowd there was nothing really derby-ish about this game (and then, the last match at home usually tends to be a sell out anyway).

9:30 ET Schalke 04 VS TSG Hoffenheim
9:30 ET Bayern Munich VS VfB Stuttgart
9:30 ET VfL Wolfsburg VS Werder Bremen
9:30 ET Arminia Bielefeld VS Hannover 96
9:30 ET Energie Cottbus VS Bayer Leverkusen
9:30 ET FC Cologne VS VfL Bochum
9:30 ET Karlsruhe VS Hertha Berlin
9:30 ET Borussia Monchengladbach VS Borussia Dortmund
9:30 ET Eintracht Frankfurt VS Hamburg SV

The Meisterschaft will hinge on Wolfsburg, whom only need a draw at home to Werder Bremen, who wouldn't been keen on helping Bayern Munich in the first place.