The Turkey match brought us a very entertaining second half from the United States with some good combinations throughout and the surprising play of Jose Francisco Torres. The diminutive midfielder is not the stereotypical player that you see given a chance in the United States system. Hopefully his play in the future will turn some heads here in the United States and steer us away from predominately coveting size, strength, and speed; and taking into account technical prowess and tactical ability as well.

Early in the second half of Saturday's U.S. victory over Turkey, Yanks right back Steve Cherundolo could be seen exchanging shouts and scowls with Michael Bradley around the Turks' 18-yard line. Trouble? Hardly.

Intrigued. It will cost you. But just as a bit of word play, the article was written by Luke Cyphers who will decipher all that goes on the field.

The Philadelphia Independence lost 2-1 to the Washington Freedom on Sunday. The Independence gave up a 25th minute goal to and a 34th minute penalty kick to Abby Wambach to fall into third place, two points behind the Freedom. Caroline Seger was sent off in the 87th and Lianne Sanderson scored the consolation goal for the Independence in extra time.

The U.S. Men's national team takes on Australia today in its final pre-World Cup tune-up match.

The Americans are coming off a 2-1 win against Turkey in Philadelphia last week, and should get a tough test from the Aussies a week before their World Cup opener vs. England.

I will be providing commentary throughout the match so please feel free to follow along here.

United States and Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard and US and Fulham midfielder Clint Dempsey spoke with US Soccer about preparing for England: Howard On what the team needs to improve on before facing England: "We can always get better at everything. I can't pinpoint just one thing, but things are starting to click.

There was a popular report over the weekend that seemed to be a couple of weeks old. Kris Boyd are Middlesbrough interested? It involved Rangers 26 year-old striker Kris Boyd, and it would appear that the only really interested clubs in the free agent are located in Turkey, but Kris would prefer to play [.

It's beginning to feel a lot like 2002. Remember when Turkey and South Korea slipped into the World Cup semi finals at the expense of traditional powers like Italy and Argentina? Well, the underdogs have once again reserved one of the spots in the final four.

The Kayserispor club in Turkey are so keen to sign Kris Boyd, the SPL's record goalscorer, they have offered to send a private jet to fly him to Turkey. Kris Boyd will he sign for Kayserispor But they will do that only if he is coming to Turkey to sign for them. Shota Arveladze, [...]

The U.S Men's team came back to defeat Turkey in front of over 55,000 in Philly. Player Ratings

Sorry Philadelphia fans, you aren't going to win the Stanley Cup. That's a fact.
Why you ask?
Because karma is a bitch....though no doubt you are currently wondering what this has to do with football, so let me explain...
I have no idea who this guy is. I don't know if he is even from Philadelphia or a Flyers fan, but the evidence is pretty clear that this is the prime suspect for who set off the smoke bomb that got the ladies in the row in front of him kicked out of the USMNT v Turkey match on Saturday.

USA 2-1 Turkey
The USA had a shaky first half but a very composed 2nd half and came from a 1-0 deficit at half time to defeat Turkey 2-1.

The first half showed an extremely disorganized back line and defensive mids who dropped their coverage numerous times. I counted 5-quality chances Turkey had in the first half and only took advantage of one of those.

The USMNT is on the ground in South Africa getting ready for the 2010 World Cup. Here are couple of videos that I shot from the game against Turkey on Saturday afternoon.
kick about in the parking lot
USMNT and Turkey take the field
Corner Kick late in the game

The USMNT is on the ground in South Africa getting ready for the 2010 World Cup. Here are couple of videos that I shot from the game against Turkey on Saturday afternoon.
kick about in the parking lot
USMNT and Turkey take the field
Corner Kick late in the game

I am just in from the pub and I read all these reports that Rafa is on the way out of Liverpool FC with a paltry £3 million pay-off to get rid of him.
I knew that Christian Puslow doesn't rate the mananger but I didn't think the new board of Nash, Ayre, Broughton and Purslow would sack him, they have the casting votes now in the running of the club.

USA's final friendly before the World Cup
USA vs Australia
Ruimsig Stadium; Roodepoort, South Africa
Saturday, June 5, 2010 @ 5:30 a.m. Pacific Live on ESPN2 and Galavision
And WC Links...

• Highlights from the USA vs Turkey match
  
• Check out our World Cup Preview by Peter Neal
• $20 million dollar bonus for the US players
• Viewing parties around the US
• The Best Eleven Group C birth place maps
• Drogba breaks arm
  
• Fifa outsmarts the North Koreans
• EA Sports Fifa World Cup 2010 simulation
• World Cup jerseys on soccerpro.

Honduras' dismal FIFA World Cup build-up continued with a heavy defeat to Romania in Austria. Winless since January after defeats to Turkey and Venezuela and draws with Belarus and Azerbaijan, Reinaldo Rueda's team were desperate for a boost ahead of ...

The USA has gained much attention on their perceived lack of goal scoring power for the upcoming FIFA World Cup. You can't blame the critics since, honestly, the USA has all first-timers and playing in friendlies against the Czech Republic, Turkey, and Australia isn't exactly the same as walking out onto the World Cup field to play England or any other opponent.

Last year, Oguchi Onyewu was considered by many as the United States' best defender. He was injured and is just now making his return.

The 6′4″ center back hasn't played a full 90 minutes since October 10th, just four days before tearing his left patellar tendon a World Cup qualifying match against Costa Rica.

United States vs. Turkey, World Cup warm-up, Philadelphia. May 29, 2010.

Photo credit: Permanent4 on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion Photo Pool.

With the first match over with, what grade does Bob Bradley get. It was a much hyped and anticipated event that he navigated successfully through. My grade for Bob Bradley would be an B+. The only thing from him getting an A was that he got a draw verses the win. I based it on two criteria; starting 11 and in-game tactic.

[101gg]

You may remember Rivaldo's one-man dive show from 2002 which got Hakan Unsal sent off and quite famously earned one of the game's greats a reputation as one of game's greatest ever cheats.

Unlike Unsal, Sani Kaita did something epically stupid in throwing his boot at Vassilis Torosidis' thigh with the ball out for a throw, so deserved his red by the letter of the law.

Once again the Yanks are looking at a mismatch with regard to quality, but this time the scales are tipped towards the Americans. Slovenia is a plucky and well organized team who approaches each game with organization and determination. What they lack in individual quality they make up for in heart. You can see where the comparisons to former friendly opponent Turkey come into play.

Sidepodcast Live Comment on 2010 FIFA World Cup: Day 13 by Turkey Machine - http://sidepodcast.com/2010... 4 minutes ago from Comments for Sidepodcast :... - Comment - Like Seems that England are doing their best to try and score, but just can't. - sidepodcast

Spanish National Basketball Selector & Coach SERGIO SCARIOLO has handed in his list of 15 Spanish players to make up the Spanish Basketball Squad. The 2010 BASKETBALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS will be held this year in Turkey with a starting date of the 28th of August until 12th of Septembre. The big name missing from the current European Champions list is LA LAKER Spanish star poivot PAU GASOL who has

Spanish National Basketball Selector & Coach SERGIO SCARIOLO has handed in his list of 15 Spanish players to make up the Spanish Basketball Squad. The 2010 BASKETBALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS will be held this year in Turkey with a starting date of the 28th of August until 12th of Septembre. The big name missing from the current European Champions list is LA LAKER Spanish star poivot PAU GASOL who has

UPDATE: OK, you can see the Weezer video below. But ESPN just released this promotional video for their World Cup coverage and Landon Donovan is all over it. Just hearing Ian Darke's commentary as Landon scores versus Algeria gives me goosebumps all over again!

Weezer and US Soccer have released a new version of Weezer's unofficial USMNT anthem "Represent", which has new footage including footage from the Turkey and Australia warm-up games.

According to Sky Sports News, Liverpool are looking to make a move for Galatasaray manager Frank Rijkaard. Sources in Turkey have claimed that Liverpool asked Galatasaray twice for permission to talk to Rijkaard last week but were rejected.

Eintracht Frankfurt is a German football club, based in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse. It currently campaigns in the German Bundesliga and features a host of international players including Ricardo Clark of the USA and Halil Altıntop of Turkey. Last Friday, Eintracht Frankfurt launched its Jako 2010/11 home kit.