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...

The U.S. soccer team was trounced 3-0 by the Samba Kings of Brazil at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup earlier today. In attendance were the usual Brazilian soccer babes who seem to follow the Selecção everywhere they go. Here's a look at some of them. If you like this stuff then you may as well check out [. Click to continue reading...

Those of you living anywhere with a TV, radio or internet connection may have heard the the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, died yesterday at age 50. He was quite the singer but not known to have ever kicked a soccer ball. Nevertheless, our friends at the Onionbag have launched the The Michael Jackson Nike [. Click to continue reading...

Prediction time for US/Mex Wednesday.
I was on record on Glenn's program last night as saying that it's hard to look at the various factors and predict anything other than a Mexican victory tomorrow. However, as anyone who regularly reads my predictions know, for better or (mostly) worst, I rarely listen to the voices out there other than the ones in my head (and what they are saaying now! Click to continue reading...

Mexico soccer fans are currently getting ready for Wednesday's mammoth FIFA 2010 World Cup Qualifying clash between the Honduras and Mexico at El Estadio Azteca in Mexico. However, the game will take place at 5 PM Pacific Time and will only be shown in the US on Spanish language network Telemundo. This leaves the afore mentioned [. Click to continue reading...

In an absolutely brilliant move, World Soccer Shop has launched official Nike USA 2008/09 soccer jerseys featuring the new US president Barack Obama. All Obama shirts feature the president's last name and the number 44 in authentic USA letters and numbers. Insert Obama's face here. Click to continue reading...

Steven Goff and others are reporting that Hertha Berlin's Bryan Arguez and three other unidentified players were sent home from the recent US U-20 camp, reportedly for disciplinary reasons. For Arguez in particular, it confirms a pattern of disciplinary problems which began early in his tenure at Hertha; missing practice and showing up late for practice - unpardonable sins when you are being paid to play. Click to continue reading...

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...

USA fans, go ahead and savor this moment. This is a feeling to remember, it was a game to never forget.

USA defeats Spain 2-0, advances to 2009 Confederations Cup Final

This win is huge for American soccer. Click to continue reading...

Print this one off and quiz your buddies!
Courtesy of US Soccer:
U.S. Men's National Team Game Notes
USA vs. Mexico
2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup
PLACE ON THE PODIUM BECKONS: The U.S. Men's National Team is set to face Mexico in the final of the 2009 edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup at Giants Stadium on Sunday, July 26. Click to continue reading...

U.S. National Team defender Oguchi Onyewu was officially presented as an AC Milan player at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta ahead of the team's practice session there last night. Gooch then participated in the full AC Milan training session in preparation for tonight's World Football Challenge matchup with Mexican giants Club America. Click to continue reading...

Mexico thumped the a young United States team 5-0 in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup final in front of a sell out crowd mainly partisan Mexican crowd of over 79,000 at Giants Stadium earlier today. The loss was the worst American home loss since a 5-0 rout against England on June 16, 1985. Match: United States vs. Click to continue reading...

U.S. Soccer has been coming up with some nice looking commercials lately. Here's the latest promoting the Saturday June 6th, 2009 FIFA World Cup Qualifier against Honduras in Chicago, IL. It features some excellent on the field footage from previous U.S. National Team qualifiers. Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard and the B-Boys (Bradley, Bocanegra and Beasley) [. Click to continue reading...

Italian-American is definitely Italian today Ex-Manchester United striker Giuseppe Rossi was Italy's goalscoring hero last night as he bagged a brace to help the Azzurri come from a goal down to beat 10-man USA. That is the same USA where Rossi was born and spent the first 13 years of his life. I have read some [. Click to continue reading...

Last night I kept thinking of the long list of reasons why we're lucky to have Frankie Hejduk, a man in the best form of his life, still earning caps for Team USA. Then, thanks to Greg Seltzer and Steven Goff, I remembered another reason; that he is one classy dude.
In case you haven't heard by now, Mexican assistant coach (and poor sport) Paco Ramirez slapped Hejduk while the teams were heading into the locker room after a 2-0 US win. Click to continue reading...

Blog of the Day

The blog of the day in American soccer has to be one made by an anonymous author on a popular US-blog ripping the US Soccer federation in a quite wild, spectacular, and absolutely unsubstantiated fashion.

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A U.S. soccer consisting of mainly MLS players is through to the quarter finals of the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup after a 2-0 win over Honduras last night. After a very competitive but scoreless first half, second half goals by D.C. United's Santino Quaranta and the Houston Dynamo's Brian Ching four minutes apart gave the [. Click to continue reading...

While at the G8 summit, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio gifted USA boss Barack Obama a Nike Brazil soccer shirt signed by the FIFA Confederations Cup winning Selecção. Seemingly knowing of Brazil's 3-2 come from behind victory over the U.S. Obama posed with the shirt with a sad face for photographers. Click to continue reading...

Rangers' Maurice Edu was not available to play in yesterday's Scottish Premier League match with Aberdeen due to with a knee strain.
Its been a tough road so far for the young American, who joined Walter Smith's side last summer after a transfer from Toronto of the MLS. Since then, he has only played in two league matches and one friendly. Click to continue reading...

When you watch soccer on TV, the crowd noise is squelched down a lot so you can hear the commentary, so you miss out on the 12th man effect. Here's a highlight film with unfiltered audio of the recent USMNT v El Salvador World Cup qualifier. Amazing. Click to continue reading...

The cheapest bribe ever? Chicago Fire player Cuauhtemoc Blanco is under investigation by the United States Soccer Federation after allegedly presenting his match shirt from Saturday's match with Columbus Crew to the referee. Witnesses claim they saw Blanco - he of the Blanco Bounce (see video above) - approach the referee's changing room with his shirt in [. Click to continue reading...

...for the USA-Honduras World Cup qualifier in Chicago on June 6. It will be a tough match with a challenging rival whose players may not have the name recognition of Mexico's squad, but nevertheless can be very competitive. I don't know if you've been following the Honduran newspapers, but the fans down there and the expats up here have been snapping up tickets for the match, are coming to Chicago from all over the country, and will try to make their presence felt at Soldier Field. Click to continue reading...

Guiseppe Rossi

In the eyes and opinions of many of you, I am about to defend the indefensible: the decision of Guiseppe Rossi to play for the Italian National Team instead of the United States National Team. This issue came to head this week, with many calling Rossi a Judas or Benedict Arnold, because on Monday Rossi scored two of Italy's 3 goals against the US at the Confederations Cup in South Africa.

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BACOLET, Tobago (March 10, 2009) – The U.S. Under-20 Men's National Team secured a place at the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup with a 2-0 win against El Salvador on Tuesday evening in their final Group A match of the CONCACAF U-20 Championship in Bacolet, Tobago. The 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup will be held from Sept. Click to continue reading...

Okay, it's not quite the "Miracle on Ice" but after the first two rounds of Confederation Cup matches, the idea that the USA could advance to the semi-finals seemed laughable. In Group B, Brazil was leveling everyone in their path; Italy was grinding out wins as only Italy can; and Egypt were the surprise package and dark horse pick. Click to continue reading...

Standout United States striker Charlie Davies was seriously injured in a car accident in Virginia at 3:15 AM on Tuesday morning. Davies was a passenger in the vehicle along with accident fatality 22-year-old Ashley Roberta. Davies, 23, was airlifted to the Washington Hospital Center in Washington DC where he underwent several hours of emergency surgery to repair [. Click to continue reading...

Yanks-Abroad is a great site. I read it near religiously. You should too.

The name alone, however, suggests its latent bias – one toward a preference for US players that are playing abroad, and a (general) disinterest in MLS. That made Brent Latham's new Yanks Abroad piece "PHILLY.

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Two young Americans faced off in Bundesliga action this weekend as Michael Bradley's Borussia Moenchengladbach hosted Hannover 96 and Sal Zizzo (Steve Cherundolo is still out with a hip injury). Bradley went the full 90 for Gladbach, which collected all three points in a 3-2 win. Zizzo entered the match in the 62nd minute for Hannover, making only his third appearance of the season. Click to continue reading...

It's common perception that America's football loving populace is divided three ways- European football lovers, fans of the American game and Latin futbol fans. But the truth is the subdivisions within these groups are enormous.

Let's take the fan of the American game for example. MLS has sold itself as the all encompassing football product for the United States.

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You couldn't make this one up...
Courtesy of Ligue 1:
Carlos Bocanegra's flawless displays at left-back for Rennes this season have won him many admirers, but it appears that the Californian's surfer-boy good-looks have also not gone unnoticed.
The 29-year-old American has been voted the Breton club's most sexy player in an Internet poll, and to celebrate his victory, all female spectators at Rennes' match with Auxerre on Sunday - which is also International Women's Day - will be given an eight-page publication with photos and a biography of the USA international. Click to continue reading...

Is a bidding war starting for American striker Jozy Altidore? The UK's Daily Mail thinks so.
If this pans out, it looks like Jozy's value has already jumped by $2 million since last summer.
Special thanks to LFV reader Marc Sarchet for digging up this nugget. Click to continue reading...

Ahead of Friday's 2010 FIFA World Cup Draw, ESPN wonders what the event could hold for the U.S. If you asked me (and you didn't but I'm going to go there regardless) the simple one-word answer is "pain". I'm as RahRahGoUSA as they come but after the last 3 games I'm just not feeling to pumped up about our chances. Click to continue reading...

SSC Napoli primavera striker Vincenzo Bernardo appears even closer to a loan deal for the second half of the season.
The new twist, as he told LFV, is that instead of possibly going to a Serie C side, there is a good chance the 18 year-old New Jersey native could end up in Serie B.
We'll find out more in the coming weeks as he and his agent consider options, bearing in mind their priority to find a club where he can play every week - but also one which will support any possible callups for US U-20 World Championship qualifiers. Click to continue reading...

Kasey Keller, Brad Friedel, Marcus Hahnemann and Tim Howard have become well know in the United States for their exploits playing football in England. The goalkeeping quartet has established the credentials of Americans in what many at home consider the top football league on the planet. (some at home consider it the only football league [. Click to continue reading...

This post originally ran on sister site Project 2010. It's a good piece that addresses a hot subject in US Soccer. Thus, I have reposted it here.

We'll admit that we have never been Bob Bradley's biggest fans, but we've also tried to refrain from calling for his head.

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No Heart? I'm All Heart Mother...

*As the U.S. National Team attempts to qualify for the World Cup in 2010, I will write a series of pieces concentrating on the style, or lack of it, of American soccer. See the other three here and here and here.

Lucky? Yeah. Holy shit, yeah.

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Earlier today, I put the following comment up on Dynamo Planet:

You know, so many people have been saying that clearly two of the three automatic CONCACAF slots in South Africa will be the US and Mexico. But last night I think we all saw that Mexico is in real danger of not being included in that equation.

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Its been awhile since we've had some gratuitous transfer rumors about Standard Liege defender Oguchi Onyewu so let's fix that right now.
Kicker is now reporting that Michael Bradley's Borussia Moenchengladbach, which tried to acquire Gooch last winter, has renewed its interest in the 26 year-old Onyewu with a view toward picking him up on a free transfer this summer. Click to continue reading...

The CONCACAF Gold Cup kicks off tomorrow with action in Los Angeles. The U.S. National team returns to the field on Saturday against Grenada in Seattle. Here's the entire tournament schedule along with the U.S. television stations that you can catch all of the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup action on. Forwards Jozy Altidore and Conor Casey, [. Click to continue reading...

The Spanish giants are considering adding American defender Oguchi Onyewu to their pantheon of Galacticos. Click to continue reading...