Not Scotland....

Well, you can't say you didn't see this one coming.

If you're Jurgen Klinsmann that is.

The US finished up their pre-World Cup qualifying friendly series with a sluggish display north of the border in Toronto, drawing the Canadians on their home turf in a battle of scoring futility.

Another young American prospect in Germany has signed a long-term contract that secures the next step on his career path.

Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart announced Wednesday that they have signed U.S. Under-20 forward Jerome Kiesewetter through 2016, with the player moving to the team from recently relegated Hertha Berlin.

Oguchi Onyewu played a victorious ninety minutes in the heart of Sporting's defense, while Tony Taylor and Caleb Patterson-Sewell also started in pivotal games a division below.

Toronto FC manager Aron Winter believes his club will make the playoffs. Really.

"We're making the playoffs," he firmly told reporters after Tuesday's training session.

Winter's proclamation comes after Toronto FC have fallen to 0-6-0, are a loss away from matching the worst start in league history and have a bout at Rio Tinto Stadium with Real Salt Lake on the horizon.

Oguchi Onyewu made a victorious return to Sporting's lineup, while Tony Taylor scored for the second straight week and Caleb Patterson-Sewell maintained yet another shutout.

Mark Lee, Anthony Arena and Aodhan Quinn all signed with the Sounders U23 team as announced per a release today. Unlike previously announced signings that came out of the Seattle Sounders Academy these three players are all new to the Rave Gree. Quinn is the first to sign from outside of the state.

Few American players have had the career at the international level as John O'Brien. O'Brien became one of the first Amerians to make a name for himself abroad when he signed with Ajax Amsterdam, and scored for the United States versus Portugal in the 2002 World Cup.
Knowing this about his experiences at Ajax, no American probably has better insight into what it takes to be successful playing in the 4-3-3 alignment that Ajax has mastered over the years.

Of late, there have been many talking points regarding United States Soccer. The senior team has turned in three straight wins, but they've been largely inconsistent in each of these past performances. Prior to those three matches, Jurgen Klinsmann's teams have been hard to describe. We've yet to see a distinctive style out of the senior team and that might prove worrisome.

Tony Taylor's first goal since returning to Estoril inched Os Canarinhos closer to promotion, while Caleb Patterson-Sewell was once again let down by an incapable offense in another Atletico loss.

Even though it was the U-23 squad coached by Caleb Porter that failed to qualify for the Olympics, the focus turned to Jurgen Klinsmann and his vision for the future, says The Header's Alan Black

By AVI CREDITOR

Caleb Porter's failure to guide the United States Under-23 men's national team to an Olympic berth led some to speculate whether he has a future in U.S. Soccer.

Not Jurgen Klinsmann.

During a media conference call, the U.S. senior national team coach emphatically stated that Porter's place within U.

Caleb Porter's tactics came under fire in the U23 failure

The CONCACAF region will be represented by Mexico and Honduras at the 2012 London Olympics as the qualifiers drew to a close on Monday with Mexico beating Los Catrachos with a late Miguel Ponce strike in the finals.

The glaring omission: The USA.

Caleb Patterson-Sewell suffered the worst half of his Portuguese career as Atletico continued to stutter and dropped their third game in a row.

Joking aside, I link to this Grant Wahl SI podcast with the ABC commentator specifically to give my full endorsement to every last thing he says from the question halfway through on, about criticisms hurled at the US Under-23 team and the fed that, yes, failed at Olympic qualifying. Alexi Lalas is absolutely right, with every point offered.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

A familiar face heads to PPL Park this Saturday, as the Philadelphia Union's all-time leading scorer comes to town.

Sebastien Le Toux is the guest on this week's KYW Philly Soccer Show, with co-hosts Greg Orlandini of KYW and PSP's Eli Pearlman-Storch .

We conduct a Total Soccer Show postmortem on the USMNT U23′s failure to qualify for the Olympics: How much can we blame Caleb Porter? Is Freddy Adu's youth career really over, at long last? And does Josh Gatt exist outside of YouTube?

The United States Under-23 National Team entered their final match of Group A play in need of a victory to advance in the qualifying for the Summer Olympics.

Standing in their way, however, was a resilient El Salvador squad that gave the Americans every thing they could handle, right up until the 90th minute.

A stoppage time equalizer was the difference in Nashville on Monday night, with the United States Under-23 National Team failing to advance out of the group stage in the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament. After Cuba came up with a stoppage time equalizer against Canada in the early game, Canada advanced in second-place.

Not what was supposed to be the resonating image of the Group Stage for the U-23's.

The US U-23 squad took the field Monday night in Nashville with their proverbial backs to the wall.

They left with a valiant effort behind them, but their heads ultimately down.

Needing a win against El Salvador to advance out of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying group stage, the US players acted their age and put on an "immature performance" replete with wild momentum swings, a frenetic comeback and mental lapses at the worse moments to see their bid to play for a berth in Kansas City denied.

Brek Shea and the US crashed out last night to El Salvador. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Soccer is a cruel sport sometimes. Make no mistake about it.

Yes it was a total collapse in a way by the US U-23 team last night against El Salvador in Nashville. Having a 3-2 lead late into extra time, with just seconds away from being able to move on to the semifinals, the unthinkable happened as El Salvador found a way to get by keeper Sean Johnson for the 3-3 draw.

Freddy Adu leaves the field after his U-23 squad failed to qualify for this summer's Olympic Games in London. Image: REUTERS/Harrison McClary.

"I'm still in complete and utter shock," said US head coach Caleb Porter, looking like a coach who just shed every tear he had to shed.

U.S. Men's national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann was in Nashville for last night's Olympic Qualifying debacle and had plenty to say about it, about the U.S. team and the future of the players and head coach Caleb Porter.

Here are Klinsmann's comments from last night (and apologies for spelling mistakes, I'm about to fly out of Nashville and wanted to get this out):

"We all feel really sorry for the guys," Klinsmann said.

By J Hutcherson - WASHINGTON, DC (Mar 27, 2012) US Soccer Players -- With the United States exiting the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament at the group stage, here are five things to consider from what we saw in Group A. Timing United States Under-23 National Team coach Caleb Porter had more time with various versions of his squad than most coaches in the competition.

United States Under-23 National Team coach Caleb Porter discusses the 3-3 draw with El Salvador.

Photo: Courtesy of AP/Sporting News

Well, on the bright side, the Union will have Freddy Adu, Amobi Okugo and Sheanon Williams back ahead of Saturday's match against Vancouver...Nah, not working, too soon. This still sucks.

US

In need of a win against El Salvador on Monday night in order to advance to the semifinals in CONCACAF Olympic qualifying, US U-23 coach Caleb Porter said, "There is no doubt in my mind that we are going to get the result.

El Salvador's Jaime Alas scored a last-gasp equalizer in stoppage time to eliminate the United States from Olympic qualifying during Monday's drama-filled 3-3 draw at LP Field Nashville.

The U.S. found goals from Terrence Boyd (2′, 65′) and Joe Corona (68′), but it wasn't enough to overcome the strikes of Alas, Mark Blanco (35′) and Andres Flores (37′) as the U.

Caleb Patterson-Sewell could not prevent Atletico from falling at home to last place Portimonense, as the hosts were shut out for the second game running.

Will the US get ahead tonight?

The US U-23 squad is not truly in trouble today....yet.

A win against El Salvador and the States faces Mexico a game earlier than they wanted to for the right to call London home this summer and to play for a shiny plate to put through the medal detectors on the way back.

Tonight is do-or-die time for the U.S. men's Under-23 national team. A win tonight against El Salvador and the Americans stay alive in the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament. Anything less than a win and the United States will see the dream of an Olympic berth eliminated.

U.S.

US Soccer's Studio 90 talks with Under-23 National Team coach Caleb Porter and players Freddy Adu and Amobi Okugo in advance of Monday night's game against El Salvador (9pm ET on Universal Sports Network, Mun2, and CONCACAF.com).

International football history is littered with examples of something that is often taken for granted about group play: no matter the teams, no matter the order, it usually takes all three games to guarantee your place in the knockout phase.

For the U-23 MNT, the situation is clear: a win and they are through to the semifinals.

After the U.S. U-23 Men's National Team surprising loss to their northern rivals, head coach Caleb Porter said he was very disappointed in the result, but still had high expectations for the team's final group game on Monday night against El Salvador. "We're obviously very disappointed. We knew going into the match that we were [.

U.S. U-23 Head Coach CALEB PORTER

Overall thoughts on the match:
"We're obviously very disappointed. We knew going into the match that we were going to face an organized team, a team that was going to sit with numbers behind the ball and look to exploit us on the counterattack and on set pieces.

After crushing a paltry Cuban side two days prior, the American U-23's suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of Canada by a score of 2-0. The defeat puts the American hopes of the 2012 Olympics in serious doubt.
In the second match of Group A, the Canadians took advantage of set pieces by scoring on corner kicks.

The U.S. Under-23 men's national team's hopes of reaching the 2012 Olympics have been dealt a serious blow.

Two days after routing Cuba, the Americans suffered a shocking 2-0 defeat to Canada at LP Field in Nashville, Tenn. on Saturday night in their second Group A match. Both goals came in the second half off of corner kicks, with Donell Henry and Lucas Cavallini scoring after defensive mistakes from the United States.

Josh Gatt might not be with the U.S. Under-23 men's national team for Olympic qualifying, but that doesn't mean his week still won't be a memorable one.

Recalled by Molde after initially being part of Caleb Porter's 20-man qualifying roster, Gatt scored in his club's Eliteserien season opener as part of a 2-1 win over Stromsgodset.

Joe Corona celebrates a three-goal performance against Cuba
U.S. U-23 Men's National Team head coach CALEB PORTER
"We're obviously pleased with the strong start, but we're also not satisfied with the performance. Even though the result was lopsided, I still thought it could have been better.

U.S. Under-23 national team Caleb Porter is one of the most highly-regarded young coaches in American soccer, and his appointment to lead the United States through Olympic Qualifying didn't come as much of a surprise to those familiar with his success at the University of Akron.
Ives Galarcep interviews Porter on his philosophies of the game-
ON THE STYLE OF SOCCER HE TEACHES
"I'm a guy that never wants to go into a game and sit back and wait and worry and wonder and hang on," Porter said.

Photo by Hunter Dorton/ISIphotos.com

Underneath the surface of the United States Under-23 men's national team's 6-0 victory over Cuba is room for improvement.

That's how coach Caleb Porter sees things.

Despite a convincing victory to open Olympic qualifying, Porter was not entirely happy with the way his team played, challenging the U-23s to improve ahead of Saturday's match against Canada in his post-match remarks.

U.S. Starts Group A with Victory Against Cuba - U.S. Soccer
U.S. U-23 Men's National Team head coach CALEB PORTER

"We're obviously pleased with the strong start, but we're also not satisfied with the performance. Even though the result was lopsided, I still thought it could have been better.