Fort Lauderdale Strikers 0-4 Cruzeiro: Friendly Overshadowed by Brazilian Protesters and Anti-FIFA Message

A nice crowd at Lockhart Stadium in addition to a national television audience on Univision Deportes witnessed Cruzeiro’s 4-0 friendly win over NASL outfit Fort Lauderdale Strikers. But the real story wasn’t the match but the continued growth of the protest movement in Brazil and how ex-pats in the United States feel about it. Dozens […]

As promised last week, here are my highlights from 2009 in American Soccer, in no particular order: U.S. National Team Beats Spain in Confederations Cup Semi-Finals: On June 24, 2009, in the Semi-Finals of the Confederations Cup, the U.S. National Team, which barely advanced out of the group stage, managed a stunning 2-0 victory over […]

Labor Day has come and gone, the sun is setting earlier, and, even here in Houston, the air contains a slight fall crispness. Yes, the Summer of Soccer is over, and what an interesting summer it has been. Back on Father’s Day, like a Phoenix, the US National Team rose from the ashes of its […]

The 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinal in Miami featured a rematch of a Confederations Cup group game from a month earlier. Brazil and the United States had varying approaches to this tournament: The USA wanted to win the event and again qualify for the Confederations Cup while Brazil was bloodletting a promising group of youngsters […]

I am gutted, exhausted, disappointed and further more my pride has been bruised and battered. I honestly thought after the first half ended that there was a slight chance of the boys to put on another solid performence against another top ten side and yell at the top of my lungs that our National Team has […]

Dunga got his tactical changes right in the second half and Bob Bradley didn't adequately make tactical changes to counter the Brazilians. Bradley's tactics and subs resembled the scared, conservative changes of the last two qualifiers and the first two group games of this event instead of confident superior coaching he demonstrated in the last […]

The US National Team often times has to fight a two front war for recognition: the first is against an indifferent domestic sporting press and the second is against a downright hostile foreign football press. As the US fights for respect in the football world, and with it the ability to move American players to […]

As both a fan and observer of American Soccer in general and the US Men's National Team (USMNT) in particular, Confederations Cup 2009 has been a rollercoaster with amazing emotional highs and lows. As we all know, the US started this tournament with back to back losses, first losing to Italy, 3-1, and then Brazil, […]

ATTACK THE LEFT SIDE The left side is where you attack Brazil. Under Dunga, Brazil essentially plays without a left sided midfielder.  The left back position for the Brazilians has been a similarly problematic as it has been for the United States. Andres Santos and Klebar are both below the acceptable standard and we saw […]

Michael Bradley showed his passion at the end of the Egypt game when he told us all off. That for me wasn't a rebuke but a proud moment. The United States National Team which for years lived in a bubble with nothing but a few media who followed them and passionate, sometimes uncritical fan support […]

Two of the biggest stars in the Confederations Cup for the United States have been Jay DeMerit and Charlie Davies. Both are players that did not come up through the traditional development system for US Soccer (including the National Academy in Bradenton, Florida which neither attended) and both are players Bob Bradley avoided playing for […]