Landon Donovan's two player of the year awards in Major League Soccer and the US national team are well-deserved rewards for an outstanding season on both fronts this year. His previous Honda Player of the Year honors were too often awarded by either default or his media standing. I think this year's award is deserved this time. Click to continue reading...

One of the coolest aspects of the USSF National Youth License course is that it goes into a lot of detail about how kids learn, how their bodies develop, how they interpret and understand things, and thus what their practice sessions should be like. Their age will dictate what they can realistically understand and process.

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It was twenty years ago today that Paul Caliguiri struck the hyperbolically-named Shot Heard Round the World. This goal in Port of Spain gave the US men's national soccer team a 1-0 win over Trinidad & Tobago and put the Americans into the World Cup for the first time in forty years:

American soccer fans, please look around you.

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Denmark notched three unanswered second half goals to come back from 0-1 down against the United States in Aarhus yesterday. Â FC Dallas stirker Jeff Cunningham had given the Yanks the a surprise lead in the 26th following a Danish defensive error. The match also saw the United States debut of former Mexican international Edgar Castillo. Click to continue reading...

On 19 November 1989 -- twenty years ago today -- Trinidad & Tobago and the USA met each other in Port-of-Spain for their final World Cup qualifier match for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. The circumstances and consequences of that match have made it the most important match in US soccer history, and marked the start of the modern era in American soccer. Click to continue reading...

This is a leak of the USA Nike World Cup 2010 home kit that has made its way to the internet. If real, the new U.S. National Team jersey features a diagonal stripe may be inspired by that worn by the 1950 World Cup team that famously upset a heavily favored England 1-0 in Brazil. [...] Click to continue reading...

Can I take a minute to testify? Thank you. I'm now 33 years old with little time for exercise and a penchant for rich cheeses and savory meats. It is for this very reason that I possess a body type that could be described as "rotund" and why many soccer jersey's come off like meat casing on my frame. Click to continue reading...

• The Galaxy's win over the Dynamo was dramatic but in many ways tainted. A strange call when against Houston, and the rolling power outages that swept Southern California seemed to unfortunately coincide with upsurges in Houston play.
• Chicago vs Real Salt Lake was a better match than the Galaxy-Houston game.

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Marek Hamsik's penalty kick in the 26th minute was enough for surprise World Cup qualifiers Slovakia to earn a home win against a weakened United States team in an international friendly earlier today. The penalty followed U.S. defender Jonathan Bornstein's push on Vladimir Weiss in the box. Check out our Videos section for game highlights and [. Click to continue reading...

[I'm going to make this the featured post for the next five days, except for Saturday and next Wednesday when the CONCACAF/CONMEBOL playoff is being played.] Next Thursday is the 20th anniversary of that historic World Cup qualifier between Trinidad & Tobago and USA. In my opinion, and I doubt I'm the only person who feels this way, it was the most important match in the history of US men's soccer because of where they were at that time and where they went from that point. Click to continue reading...

I see that my post on Elizabeth Lambert a few days ago has generated a lot of interest, judging by my visitors' log and the comments. To the new visitors, welcome to the site and have a look around. I cover CONCACAF in general, but also devote attention to the soccer scene in the USA -- professional for the most part, with some occasional forays into the areas that feed into MLS and the lower leagues. Click to continue reading...

Much hype surrounded the talented U.S. U-17 national team during the Fifa World Cup in Nigeria. Ultimately, the team fell flat, losing in the round of 16 to a classier Italy side. And so the mumblings have started, gnawing into America's rotten system of developing professional players. "Is the Academy system the best way to develop players?

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U.S. Men's National Team head coach Bob Bradley has named his squad of 22 players that will meet 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers Slovakia on November 14th in Bratislava and Denmark in Aarhus on November 18th. Team USA's first ever match against Slovakia will be shown on at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday morning on Fox [. Click to continue reading...

Major League Soccer's decision to conduct its semifinal playoff rounds at the same time as this international break has severally hamstrung Bob Bradley's selection. With two very interesting friendlies against European sides that have already qualified for next summer's World Cup, these matchups would have provided an opportunity to test some of the best we have to offer.

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Soccer is a cruel game, and Chivas USA felt that cruelty tonight. While the Galaxy may have done enough to win the game, Chivas did not deserve to lose it. On the pitch, the differences between Chivas and the Galaxy were small and on the margins. Off the pitch, the difference in huge – the Galaxy will spend their week preparing to face Houston on Friday and Chivas will not.

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I guess I could also have named this "My obligatory Elizabeth Lambert post, and why I have no respect for US college soccer." By now I'm sure everyone has seen the video of Elizabeth Lambert's antics during the Mountain West Conference tournament game between New Mexico and Brigham Young. Heck, I've seen it on sports websites in the UK, Spain, Italy, and Argentina. Click to continue reading...

US Soccer is taking nominations for their "Best of 2009" series, so head on over and pick your favorite soccer bar, specialty store, fan photo, and blog. Far be it for me to tell you what to choose,...

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Here's a look at the new U.S. Women's National Team Nike Away kit. It was seen for the first time during last week's 1-0 win over defending FIFA Women's World Cup and UEFA Women's Euro champions Germany in Augsburg. While we haven't seen any type of official launch ceremony or announcement yet,  we believe that this will [. Click to continue reading...

Niklas Bendtner leads Denmark/Photo from This is London.com

With US qualification to the World Cup secure, the USSF has scheduled two interesting friendlies for the international break in November. The US was relatively impressive in CONCACAF qualifying, recording improbable wins at Port of Spain against Trinidad & Tobago as well as in San Pedro Sula versus Honduras, and also knocking Costa Rica out of the World Cup with a great come from behind result at RFK Stadium earlier this month.

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It's many years down the road, but there is already talk of how the U.S. economy would be affected by hosting the World Cup in either 2018 or 2022. A recent study conducted by the Economics practice at a leading sports consulting firm (AECOM) indicated that the U.S. would receive a potential boost of $5 billion if it were to host the World Cup.

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The U.S. Women's National Soccer Team is now in Germany for a friendly against defending FIFA Women's World Cup and UEFA Women's Euro champion Germany on Oct. 29 at the Impuls Arena in Augsburg, Germany. Â Kick off at 6 p.m. local (1 p.m. ET). Unfortunately, there is no television or internet streaming coverage of the [. Click to continue reading...

Well folks, you may have noticed a total lack of new content around here. My wife and I welcomed twins into the family at the end of September and sleep deprivation has ensued. So, blog is not getting a lot of attention.
But I do want to call your attention to this, the US U-17 Men kick off their World Cup in about an hour and 15 minutes, at 1 pm central time. Click to continue reading...

On FIFA's web-site promoting the start of the U-17 World Cup in Nigeria the event is hyped as a chance to "discover the stars of tomorrow."Â And while there is an impressive list of former participants (including, for example, Ronaldinho, Michael Essien, and Luis Figo) another look at the history of the U-17 World Cup offers more cautionary tales than burgeoning stars.

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The World Cup is a scant 231 days away. Twenty-three nations have qualified as of this moment, and frantic preparations are already underway. For the United States, one of those twenty-three...

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Oguchi Onyewu had surgery on his torn patellar tendon today, but instead of a three- to four-month layoff, he will be out of action for up to six months. If he's not able to come back until April, that's not going to be enough time to get back to match fitness. Between Onyewu, Charlie Davies, and Jay DeMerit, the USA's chances for a successful summer in South Africa could be over before they start. Click to continue reading...

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Oguchi Onyewu's knee injury could leave his World Cup status in jeopardy for next summer. Onyewu, who suffered the injury in the dying minutes of the U.S.'s 2-2 tie against Costa Rica last week, went under the knife this week after tearing a tendon in his knee.

The surgery, completed by U.

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Oguchi Onyewu's knee injury could leave his World Cup status in jeopardy for next summer. Onyewu, who suffered the injury in the dying minutes of the U.S.'s 2-2 tie against Costa Rica last week, went under the knife this week after tearing a tendon in his knee.

The surgery, completed by U.

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The first to respond to the call for new writers for MFUSA, Brian Morse has the interesting story of how he came to pick up the phone and hear the voice President of US Soccer himself, Sunil Gulati,...

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So now AC Milan wants to sue the US Soccer Federation for Oguchi Onyewu's knee injury picked up in the USA's 2-2 draw with Costa Rica. It now looks like he won't be recovered and match fit for at least six months.
Well gee Milan, since you've barely used him since bringing him to the team, was there some secret plan to start actually letting him play that we didn't know about? Click to continue reading...

And here, courtesy of duNord, are highlights from each game in the Hex. This is my final US Soccer post before completely switching my attention to Dynamo and MLS Cup.
What's your favorite goal/moment?
Dos a Cero
The beginning of the late comeback trend that was so helpful to all of our cardiologists this year. Click to continue reading...

(Summary is not available.) Click to continue reading...

We ran into a new deal today at Kitbag. They've got a massive clearance sale on 2008/09 and 2009/10 national team kits going on right now. A couple of items of note for USA soccer fans is that they've got steals on the U.S. National Team Nike 2008/09 Â home and away jerseys. The home kit [...] Click to continue reading...

The United States rallied from 2 goals down to tie Costa Rica 2-2 at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC last night. Combined with Mexico's 2-2 tie against Trinidad & Tobago, the result gave the USA top spot in the CONCACAF FIFA World Cup 2010 Qualifying Hexagonal with a total of 20 points. The result, along with [. Click to continue reading...

It was a blow to the United States soccer community to learn of the recent accident involving Charlie Davies age 23. He was involved in a deadly vehicle accident that left one passenger dead at the scene.

Charlie Davies. US Men's National Team vs Honduras at Estadio Olimpico in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

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The United States' men's national soccer team finishes World Cup qualifying tonight with a home match against Costa Rica (7:30pm ET, ESPN2). As the US clinched a berth in the Finals by winning in Honduras over the weekend, the game didn't figure to be too dramatic, but that all changed yesterday.

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