When "B" teams face off it's tough to make determinations about things. Today's game at Giants Stadium is sold out and is a Continental Championship match. But the fact is Mexico and the United States are both fielding "B" teams.

Mexico has a roster that includes just 7 of 23 players chosen by Javier Aguirre for the most recent World Cup qualifiers.

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.

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.

A U.S. soccer consisting of mainly MLS players is through to the quarter finals of the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup after a 2-0 win over Honduras last night. After a very competitive but scoreless first half, second half goals by D.C. United's Santino Quaranta and the Houston Dynamo's Brian Ching four minutes apart gave the [.

The United States outlasted Honduras 2-0 at RFK tonight, with goals by Santino Quaranta and Brian Ching making the difference. Honduras pressed early, and the US looked out of sorts during the early...

First, if you haven't taken our Weekend Tattoo Quiz, stop by this post and make your guesses. Then come back here for the answers. These are always tough, but "wob" managed to get 10/13. Nicely done! Player 1 Nery Castillo, Shakhtar Donetsk This tattoo is apparently a picture of his parents' [.

US National soccer team forward Brian Ching can take a photo of the New York Red Bulls' under-construction stadium from his seat on the airplane and post it to TwitPic. People following him on Twitter can see said picture. One of them (me) can take said photo and put it on his blog and you can see it.

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).

The Sin: When I was a kid, I didn't know Spielberg's The Goonies was one of the weirdest movies ever. I mean, the bad guys literally keep their "special" kin chained in the basement where he has absolutely nothing to do. As he was a pretty idle guy, it was fitting they named him Sloth.

One of the first things players look at upon arrival is the rooming list to see who they will spending their non-field quality time with during the camp. With veterans the patterns are pretty well established, but with such a young group the pairings are a little less predictable. Or are they?
Here's a look at some of the roommates.

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.

The Major League Soccer regular season is finished and the playoffs are starting this week. It was an interesting regular season which included new franchise Seattle making the playoffs and leading the league in home attendance. Other clubs such as the New York Red Bulls struggled all year and were the worst team in the league.

Photo by ISiphotos.com

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.

The quarterfinals of the CONCACAF 2009 Gold Cup are set to take place on Saturday and Sunday with many of the same teams from the 2007 tournament. Many of the favorites are still alive and here's a preview of the matches this weekend.

United States v Panama - Saturday - Philadelphia - The United States takes on Panama as they are undefeated in the last 2 Gold Cup tournaments.

The time has finally arrived. The U.S. men's national team is in Estadio Azteca today to take on Mexico in a crucial World Cup qualifier in Mexico City.

The Americans have never beaten Mexico in Mexico, but come in riding the confidence of a strong showing in this summer's Confederation's Cup.

Don't let the skeptics tell you Grenada is a poor opponent. This side qualified for the Gold Cup by beating World Cup 2006 and current Hexagonal participant Trinidad and Tobago. This is also a team that gave Costa Rica such a scare in the second round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying that Hernan Medford was sacked as the Ticos manager.

Funny that Brian Ching, the first footballer we featured in our new series, Footballers Who Tweet, is now in a spot of trouble thanks to the social networking site. Ching Tweeted the following message yesterday, immediately after Houston Dynamo lost...

My Twitter evolution is gradual and slow. While most people manage to grab hundreds of followers by following random morons and being awesome people I've probably been way too cautions. I first followed the blogs I liked, and then when I felt like blogs were just a big dick contest I tried to just follow the people who didn't have blogs and just followed me because they probably liked my blog.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

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.

Houston has plenty of guys worth protecting here. (Getty Images)

Today we move another day closer to the 2009 expansion draft. Now we turn our focus to the Houston Dynamo.

The Dynamo are a tough team to figure out due to the number of quality players that are both young and old.

Protected Available Exempt Corey Ashe Wade Barrett Danny Cruz Bobby Boswell Mike Chabala Geoff Cameron Ryan Cochrane Brian Ching Tyler Deric Ricardo Clark Tally Hall Brad Davis John Michael Hayden Andrew Hainault Richard Mulrooney Stuart Holden Dominic Oduro Luis Angel Landin Pat Onstad Brian Mullan Abe Thompson Eddie Robinson Erik Ustruck Craig Waibel Cam Weaver

Either way they stand to lose a good player this year.

It might seem like it's still far away, but the U.S. national team is just about a month away from holding training camp ahead of a loaded June calendar, a calendar that includes World Cup qualifiers and the Confederations Cup.

Consider the list of opponents in South Africa: Brazil, Italy and Egypt, a trio of very tough and very dangerous teams.

A busy critical summer period for the US National Team looms ahead. Coach Bob Bradley has a core of 25-30 players he's looking at to fill 22 World Cup squad spots. The Confederations Cup and Gold Cups provide competitive atmospheres to test players without the pressure of World Cup Qualifying.

The main stats for the U.S. Panama quarterfinal were posted yesterday. But during a discussion with a friend, I began wondering about whether either side had an advantage in height or weight. Here is what I found. I know that height and weight statistics are subject to gamesmanship among teams, but for the purposes of this post we will assume that a player's height and weight are accurately reported.

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.

Some random thoughts on the US win and the upcoming game against Costa Rica

The Greatest US Win I Have Never Seen. A lot has already been said about how absurd it was that this game was not broadcast to the average US fan, so there is no reason to continue to beat this dead horse.

Why wouldn't MLS players dominate the January MLS Camp though?  MLS season is long over and doesn't start up anytime real soon.  On Wednesday, February 11th the US MNT plays in Columbus against rivals Mexico in the first game of the last round of World Cup qualifying.  The US has had good success against Mexico in Columbus and should continue that success in next month.

Here are the official Houston Dynamo Home and Away Soccer Jerseys from adidas for the 2009/10 MLS season. They feature sleek contrasting lines that run down the collar from the right side, and the left sleeve. Both jerseys feature the embroidered team badge  and adidas logo across the chest.  The MLS patch is over right sleeve, so you know [.

First, to MLS fans: Stop by this post and make your guesses, then come back here for the answers. (Click here for better resolution.) I expected this quiz to be hard, because we don#8217;t play the MLS game very much with the Weekend Quizzes. And it was hard. So I [...]div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds2.

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.

Like Mexico, the US has called a clear "B" team for the North American Championship tournament leaving the door open for someone else to possibly win the event this year. (It won't be Trinidad and Tobago though because they failed to qualify). Here is the squad with some analysis:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Jon Busch (Chicago Fire), Troy Perkins (IK Start), Luis Robles (FC Kaiserslautern)

Robles and Perkins were presumably split games in a competition to determine who becomes the front runner for the third keeper spot in South Africa next year.

Here are the lucky 23.

GOALKEEPERS (3): Jon Busch, Troy Perkins, Luis Robles.

DEFENDERS (7): Steve Cherundolo, Jimmy Conrad, Clarence Goodson, Jay Heaps, Chad Marshall, Michael Parkhurst, Heath Pearce.

MIDFIELDERS (8): Davy Arnaud, Kyle Beckerman, Colin Clark, Sam Cronin, Brad Evans, Stuart Holden, Logan Pause, Robbie Rogers.

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.

Oguchi Onyewu out for sushi with the lads. I fully support his decision to get rid of the corn rows and go with a buzz cut. Muchos caliente! The boys from the USA keep fans up to date with their day to day activities via Twitter. Today, Charlie Davies posted a few photos from the past few days [..

The Houston Dynamo responded to comments from San Jose Earthquakes defender Nick Garcia by dusting off Garcia and his last-place team by 3-1 at Robertson Stadium Saturday night. Garcia had called Dynamo forward Kei Kamara a "mental midget" earlier in the week. "They've got a dummy in the center of their defense," Dynamo forward Brian Ching said of the Quakes captain.

Seattle beat Colorado 1-0 in the last MLS play-in match of the US Open Cup on Tuesday. The win earns Seattle a berth in the US Open Cup. The eight MLS clubs will begin play in the 3rd round, on June 30.

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Two of the league's lowest ranked teams, Columbus and San Jose meet tonight in Columbus.

Don't look now but the Dynamo are back. The winners of back-to-back MLS Cups are on an outstanding run, putting together a unbeaten streak of eight games together, winning six of those. Chivas is holding them off, but just barely.

Down at the bottom, the Red Bulls reclaim the bottom spot with their two losses over the span of just four games.

Courtesy of U.S. Soccer:
U.S. Men's National Team Confederations Cup Update
Tshwane/Pretoria
June 12, 2009
CONFED CUP KICKS OFF AGAINST ITALY: Less than 72 hours remain before the U.S. begins play in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, with no less than defending World Cup champion Italy waiting to greet them.