It was the biggest week in U.S. national soccer history. The 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa. In this order: (And we are not messing with you here; this actually happened.) U.S. 3, Egypt 0 U.S. 2, Spain 0 (!) U.S. 2, Brazil 0 — at halftime of the championship match. It ended Brazil 3, […]

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I remember the 2009 Confederations Cup, in South Africa, where the U.S. national team nearly won a global competition. Bob Bradley’s Yanks shocked world-No. 1, unbeaten-in-35-matches Spain 2-0 in the semifinals (go back and read that again), then faced Brazil in the championship match and led 2-0 at half … before losing 3-2. I noted, […]

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Mexico fans are probably gloating a little. El Tri is representing North America at the Confederations Cup, the quadrennial continental championships, in Brazil, a nice little tournament that doubles as a test run for the host country a year ahead of the World Cup. Four years ago, it was the U.S. national soccer team at […]

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Confederations Cup final: Brazil 3, United States 2 The Americans led 2-0 in this. No. Really. Led 2-0 at the half, and deserved it. But Brazil scored in the first 40 seconds of the second half, and probably everyone watching who has seen even a bit of soccer in his/her lifetime had to realize that […]

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Taking another shot at the live-blogging thing. Championship match of the Confederations Cup between the United States national team and Brazil, taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa. Lineups: U.S.: Tim Howard, Carlos Bocanegra, Jay DeMerit, Oguchi Onyewu, Jonathan Spector, Landon Donovan,  Benny Feilhaber, Ricardo Clark, Clint Dempsey, Charlie Davies, Jozy Altidore. Brazil: Julio Cesar, Maicon, […]

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Can’t say the final score is a shocker. Italy. The United States. The Yanks not playing particularly well of late. Italy still being Italy, defending World Cup champion, and all. But the match was more interesting than that, and it was lost to the Americans by an early blow from the referee, not the Azzurri. […]

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The United States national soccer team is in Pretoria, South Africa, getting ready for the Confederations Cup, an eight-nation event that is something of a preview of the 2010 World Cup, which also will be played in South Africa, and promises to provide the stiffest competition of the year for the Americans. They are in […]

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I went out to the Home Depot Center in Carson today to chat with some people for a couple of upcoming soccer stories, and here is a bit of news (at least to me) on Landon Donovan that I can pass along … Donovan, the Los Angeles Galaxy’s star forward, will play with the U.S. […]

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This has been the case since the invention of the World Cup, in 1930: Someone from Europe or South America is going to win … and their finals opponent also will hail from Europe or South America. I became attuned to this quadrennial inevitability (to date) while working in the Persian Gulf for more than […]

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The U.S. national soccer team has played in the past seven World Cups and qualified for six of them. The Yanks hosted the 1994 World Cup and did not have to qualify. From the outside, it looks like light work. A massive country of 300 million people needs only to finish in the top three […]

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