No column today in observance of Labor Day, but I headed out to Chivas USA training Monday anyway for a few brief words and a riddle:

Q: What's worse than losing in the preliminary round of a supposedly prestigious new competition few people yet care about?

A: Losing in the preliminary round of said competition to a team few have heard of from a small country undistinguished in soccer terms.

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Coach Bob Bradley has announced his roster for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Cuba and Trinidad and Tobago. Click to continue reading...

After last night's excellent showing by Oguchi Onyewu in Standard's 1-0 Champion's League loss to Liverpool, his stock is peaking at just three days before the transfer deadline. Another American defender in Europe is also on the rise as young Neven Subotic continues to show he is a force to be reckoned with in the Bundesliga. Click to continue reading...

The United States Men's National Team got off to a great start in World Cup qualifying on Wednesday night, with Bob Bradley's squad marching into Guatemala and emerging with a 1-0 victory. It was the first time in history that the US earned a win in a WC qualifier on Guatemalan soil. Captain Carlos Bocanegra was the hero, heading home a DaMarcus Beasley corner kick in the 69th minute to give the Nats all they would need. Click to continue reading...

U.S. coach Bob Bradley has announced the roster that will face Guatemala in a World Cup qualifier Wednesday, and Dynamo forward Brian Ching is on it. The roster: GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton FC) DEFENDERS (6):... Click to continue reading...

U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley has named a 17-man roster for the U.S. team's World Cup qualifying match against Guatemala set for next Wednesday in Guatemala City. No real shockers out of this bunch. The 17 called up leads me to believe he will be calling in a couple more before its all said [. Click to continue reading...

Obviously, US men's national team coach Bob Bradley is not a frequent reader of this publication. If said 'gaffer' did was would well know that calling in Kenny Cooper to his squad for the upcoming World Cup Qualifiers was of paramount importance and that his persistent insistence on leaving the streaking striker out of the selection was tantamount to treason. Click to continue reading...

U.S. coach Bob Bradley today will announce the roster for the upcoming World Cup qualifier against Guatemala. However, we will likely have to wait until the afternoon to learn it. So, to headline an otherwise slow morning, I leave you... Click to continue reading...

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Ruud Gullit is packing his bags and Alexi Lalas is looking for work for the first time in years. What is left in the wake of the Los Angeles Galaxy's blood-letting is a team in need of direction and in desperate need of someone capable of cleaning up the mess.

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I recall many conversations with European friends who would often remark that once America (with its 300 million people) went crazy for soccer, we could become a dominant force. I usually reminded them that if it were purely a matter of population size, India and China would be wiping the floor with all of us. Click to continue reading...

Feilhaber's Goal sunk Mexico in the Gold Cup Final/SI.com

In the recent history of American Soccer no selection of a player to a major tournament squad has elicited as much controversy and quite frankly anger as last week's selection by Peter Nowak of Benny Feilhaber to the US Men's Olympic Team.

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The roster for the US U23 squad that will play at the upcoming Olympic games has been named. Lots of familiar names including including Brian McBride, Brad Guzan and Michael Parkurst as the three older players allowed under the rules. Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley and some others. Then there's the fellow pictured in the photo (by Micheal Goulding, Orange County Register) who I've seen plenty of as I've become a Chivas USA fan this season:

Sacha Kljestan, captain of Team USA during Olympic qualifying, is also a lock to be named Thursday to the U.

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Suarez' miss from the penalty spot.

Photo by Scott Varley

Game story.

Box score.

Here's Claudio Suarez on missing the first half penalty kick:

"I feel bad for having missed it because it influenced the result. If I'd put it in it would have changed the game.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

With MLS All-Star Game balloting set to close on Wednesday, one player has made a stronger late push than any other to be included in the Starting XI that will face West Ham United next month.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

With MLS All-Star Game balloting set to close on Wednesday, one player has made a stronger late push than any other to be included in the Starting XI that will face West Ham United next month.

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U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley has chosen his 18-man roster for Sunday's World Cup qualifying second-leg match against Barbados. Not too many surprises to mention as we knew earlier in the week that the bulk of last weekend's roster was given a break or sent back to their clubs. A few Chicago Fire players called [. Click to continue reading...

A couple days slimming his roster down to 12, it looks like US coach Bob Bradley is about to fatten things up with the addition of a bunch of MLSers.

Various reports have Bradley calling Drew Moor (FC Dallas), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake), John Thorrington (Chicago Fire), Chris Rolfe (Chicago Fire) and Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire). Click to continue reading...

So my wife is taking the day off work to watch the Portugal-Germany Euro 2008 quarterfinal (11:30 a.m. ESPN).

I'm goiing to work in part because of tonight's Chivas USA-Chicago Fire game at Home Depot Center (7:30 ESPN2).

What's wrong with this picture?

A preview of the MLS game tonight is here.

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After the dominating 8-0 thrashing of Barbados, US Men's National team coach Bob Bradley has plenty of options to picks some new guys for this Sunday's meeting in Barbados. In fact Bradley made room for 10 new players as he sent guys home from camp. Brian Ching, Clint Dempsey, Steve Cherundolo, Landon Donovan, Brad Guzan, Frankie [. Click to continue reading...

Here's a selection of post-game quotes from the U.S.-Barbados World Cup qualifier (and no, none from Coach Bob Bradley - he's a terrible quote):

Brian Ching on the importance of the opening goal in the first minute:

Clint (Dempsey) opened them up in the first minute. ... We capitalized on that the rest of the game.

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The U.S. leads 3-0 after the first 45 minutes and while it's not exactly shooting practice, this can hardly be construed as a competitive game either.

The U.S. went ahead after just 54 seconds, Carlos Bocanegra crossing to Clint Dempsey for the easy goal with Barbados still mentally snoozing on a Caribbean beach.

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Gorgeous afternoon and a sparse (but hopefully enthusiastic crowd, observe U.S. Soccer officials) for this afternoon's game in Carson.

Turns out goalkeeper Tim Howard hurt his lower back during practice Friday, which is why Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan earns his eighth cap.

The rest of the starting line-up for the U.

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As the US Soccer team gets ready for World Cup qualifying after a grueling stretch of high competition friendlies, USA coach Bob Bradley has been quoted saying Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard has come on as a leader for the team. Bradley said: "You can tell that in the last few days as we've switched gears from [. Click to continue reading...

My newest musical gift to you - du Nord Muxtape #5: The Colour Green Is Gorgeous - is now online for your listening pleasure.


Team USA

-Sun Jun 15
USA v Barbados
Home Depot Center in Carson California
4pm central time on ESPN2 & Galavision from Home Depot Center in Carson California. Click to continue reading...

US head coach Bob Bradley has announced his 21-man roster for the American's first game of their 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign against Barbados on Sunday. Click to continue reading...