Already started, I'm late to the party because of traffic.

18 - Good non-call there, the U.S. was defending but there was no foul.
23 - Ball into the box - the U.S. players go up for it, but not only does it get punched out, someone gets whistled for a foul.
24 - Dempsey pushes someone on the attack and gets called for the foul. Click to continue reading...

Kickoff is inside half an hour, here's the U.S. line-up: Howard; Hejduk, Onyewu, Bocanegra, Pearce, Bradley, Edu, Dempsey, Beasley, Donovan, Ching Subs: Guzan, Califf, Wynne, Clark, Kljestan, Lewis, Johnson I highly doubt this will be a good night for the hosts. The Americans have something to prove and Cuba aren't nearly as cultured as Guatemala. Click to continue reading...

For the first time in over 50 years, the senior US national team visits Cuba tonight for a World Cup qualifier. Cuba is not an easy team to play, mainly because no one knows anything about them. Their players don't play outside of the island, they're only from the domestic league. And we all know what is likely to happen when the national team does leave the island. Click to continue reading...

No Cooper.  No Adu.  No Altidore.  Really?  To the disappointment of many American fans (myself included), Bob Bradley continues to call up players like Brian Ching, Eddie Johnson, Frankie Hejduk, and Eddie Lewis over younger players.  The most common excuse given by supporters of Bradley's strategy is the experience argument. Click to continue reading...

Hello all, it's been a few days since I've had a chance to write.  School has started again, and it's been a bit hectic, but I'm settling back in and ready to hear some of your opinions.  The US' first game of World Cup Qualifying against Guatemala wasn't exactly smooth, and many fans felt that [.. Click to continue reading...

This weekend's game between the New York Red Bulls and Chicago Fire will be a key clash between two clubs that have their sights set on the playoffs. But more than that, it will mark the return of head coach Juan Carlos Osorio from the Big Apple to the city that he abruptly left last December - which more than likely will see the Chicago fans giving him an earful. Click to continue reading...

The draw for the group stage was actually conducted at the same time as the qualifying round, but for reasons known only to CONCACAF, the groups were announced yesterday. Here they are - the details will get filled in as the qualifying round progresses.Group ADC UnitedSaprissaCruz AzulMarathónGroup BHouston DynamoL. Click to continue reading...

Nada sorprendente resultó la goleada que le propinó el equipo cruzazulino a un muy débil equipo de Belice la noche de hoy en Guatemala. La Máquina ya le había propinado seis goles en el Estadio Azul la semana pasada, y en esta ocasión Vignieri y Orozco se van con dos goles cada uno; Villaluz y Sabah [. Click to continue reading...

Nada sorprendente resultó la goleada que le propinó el equipo cruzazulino a un muy débil equipo de Belice la noche de hoy en Guatemala. La Máquina ya le había propinado seis goles en el Estadio Azul la semana pasada, y en esta ocasión Vignieri y Orozco se van con dos goles cada uno; Villaluz y Sabah [. Click to continue reading...

When will Kaptain Kissypants learn to keep his mouth shut? Why didn't we thump Guatemala by more than 1-0, Landon? "We still have to learn how to play in these games," Donovan said. "You could tell we were naïve against Guatemala because we had a lot of young players on the field. The good thing is we got that experience and we won. Click to continue reading...

I'm trying to crank out my PE column tonight so I don't have to worry about it on Monday morning, which is a good thing since I'm going to be out and about most of the day. I'm writing a column on the horrendous scheduling by Major League Soccer and how they're playing right through World Cup qualifying. Click to continue reading...

Every road point counts as the march to the playoffs continue. Satudays Primetime game featured lots of back and forth play, with 0 goals to show for it. The evening ended in a 0-0 draw But its a draw that feels like a win - a road point during an important playoff race, given to us by a choking Jaime Moreno!

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Here's a link to an article that contains the U.S. National Team's squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Cuba and Trinidad and Tobago. The squad looks very similar to the recent one that was called up for the Guatemala game and I still would like to see some different players included. I don't really know what is accomplished by including Brian Ching, Eddie Lewis, and Frankie Hejduk. Click to continue reading...

Just two matches left to wrap up the first leg of the preliminary round. Well, just one, actually. The Harbour View-UNAM match has been postponed due to Tropical Storm Gustav and rescheduled for Friday night. Guatemala's Jalapa and Panama's San Francisco are playing right now, and Jalapa have a 1-0 lead in the second half. Click to continue reading...

Pretty intimidating atmosphere down in Guatemala for the boys. Anybody else doing a quick projection of the contrast between said scenes and what the Little Fish and his Brothers in Hack are likely to face during the return match in Commerce City come mid-November? Throngs in the streets, fist-shaking and cursing, riot police . Click to continue reading...

We've taken the player ratings from America's most respected soccer writers and averaged them, in an attempt to provide an informed, unbiased assessment of the U.S.A.'s performance against Guatemala. PLAYER AVG. RATING GK HOWARD, Tim 8.00 DEF BOCANEGRA, Carlos 7.33 CHERUNDOLO, Steve 3.67 EDU, Maurice 5. Click to continue reading...

US midfielder Maurice Edu has been on the go non-stop over the past few weeks, having represented his country in the Beijing Olympics and a World Cup Qualifier in Guatemala, as well as pulling club duties with Toronto FC and flying to Europe for negotiations all within the span of 10 days. Now, the 22-year-old midfielder is finally getting set for a calmer spell at his new home, Ibrox Stadium, which will officially begin when Edu joins Rangers in Scotland later this week. Click to continue reading...

It's late, but I really want to put down my unordered thoughts on last week's qualifiers: The USA is getting better at obtaining wins in Central America (outside of Costa Rica). But they don't look good doing it. This team has a lot of work to do. Guatemala had it all - a man advantage, a home crowd, and an opponent on their heels. Click to continue reading...

Somehow Bruce Arena struck me as a bit of a foodie, though I never heard much more about his taste in cuisine other than "he likes a good steak". Simply from the hotels that he approved for the U.S. national team, one could surmise that Arena liked to pick from the best options available. Nothing too remote and spa-like, though, usually something in the heart of the city (often with a good steakhouse on site). Click to continue reading...

Here are the collated results and updated table for the semifinal round of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying in Group A. In case you don't know, there are three groups of four, home-and-away (or double round-robin) format, and the top two teams in each group pass to the Hexagonal next year. The current matchday will be highlighted in red. Click to continue reading...

Now, winning in Guatemala is no easy task. Winning anywhere on the road isn't actually, so it's an excellent start to this World Cup qualifying round to pick up three points. In spite of the win though, I took away only one really positive thing from this match, the knowledge that Howard may be the best [. Click to continue reading...

The quality of this video leaves a bit to be desired but they run it through enough slow motion shots that you will certainly get the point.

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Eddie Lewis was passing through the Galaxy locker room, his head stitched up from where he'd sustained a cut in the match versus Guatemala. Back in the pressbox, one of the reporters brought up Eddie's age and wondered about his durability in the rough and tumble world of MLS. I pointed out that Brian McBride was older. Click to continue reading...

As expected Maurice Edu's work permit application went through without a hitch and his move to Rangers of Scotland is just about confirmed. The 22 year old US international watched his new club beat Hearts 2-0 on Saturday before jetting off to join his international team mates for the World Cup qualifier with Guatemala on Wednesday night. Click to continue reading...

Bruce Arena
Photos by Scott Varley

Watched and blogging my fourth game in 24 hours or so.

Stand back and no one will get hurt.

This was one of those nights when the press conference was more interesting than the actual game.

We had a local lad having a great night, a new famous coach at his first game and Brian McBride back in MLS.

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