This Is American Soccer, US Soccer, MNT, WNT, and MLS - Tackling the subject of Soccer in the US, and worldwide.

The MNT Player Pool is grab bag of who-knows-what. ISI photos for ussoccer.com caught this player pool in Venezuela during Copa America.

GOALKEEPERS- Tim Howard, Marcus Hahnemann. DEFENDERS- Oguchi Onyewu, Steve Cherundolo, Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Spector, Jay DeMerit, Jonathan Bornstein. MIDFIELDERS- DaMarcus Beasley, Clint Dempsey, Benny Feilhaber, Michael Bradley, Pablo Mastroeni, Bobby Convey. FORWARDS- Landon Donovan, Josh Wolff, Charlie Davies, Kamani Hill, Sal Zizzo.

There are very few MLS inclusions for the August 22nd friendly against Sweden in Sweden. It’s not at all surprising given the European location, but the fact that our best players are over there in increasing numbers is only going to continue to create rosters like this one. The usually split down the middle squad will continue down this path of a weighty European ratio.

Bradley’s two cents, my pennies, and whatever you want to chip in are after the jump…
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GRANDPA JOE: You’re a crook! You’re a cheat and a swindler! That’s what you are. How can you do a thing like this? Build up a little boy’s hopes and then smash all his dreams to pieces. You’re an inhuman monster!

WILLY WONKA: Well, Instead, Brazil will come to play the US MNT at Chicago’s Soldier Field that same day.

GRANDPA JOE: Oh, OK. Charlie, give the man back his gobstopper. Ronaldinho will be there, right?

USSF has yet to officially announce it, but Steve Goff is reporting that the USA-Mexico match on September 9th in Mexico City is cancelled, replaced by a friendly against Brazil. Announcement coming soon, with the intriguing question: Was there a PR scramble by USSF to get Brazil to step in and save what little face USSF has left? Even though reports are blaming Mexican TV rights for much of the problem, let’s see if a reporter asks that question and how Sunil will answer it.

photograph explained: I was looking for a photo to illustrate this post. A search for Soldier Field turned up this ski-jumping insanity from the 1950’s that I just couldn’t resist. Midwesterners are really hard pressed for some hills.

fans square off at the 2005 World Cup qualifier in Columbus. Photo by Adam Spangler

About 7349 feet up. In what has to be one of the best decisions USSF has made in years, the US MNT will face off against Mexico on September 9 at the famed Estadio Azteca. Not since 1984 has US Soccer played a friendly on Mexican soil. That gap is inexcusable, but this often rumored - now official - game goes a long way in forcing a better future for an immature MNT. This is exactly the kind of challenge so many people (this guy included) have been clamoriing for.

More from the USSF press release after the jump…
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party # 1

What are we at? Is this the 3rd, 4th, or 5th coming out party for Freddy Adu? Now before you start throwing darts, let me preface all of this with… Freddy is a fine player who didn’t ask for a first surprise party, much less however many have since followed. But that isn’t a conversation killer. Plenty of questions exist, most of them unanswerable by anyone, anything, except for maybe the feet of Freddy. And they aren’t talking very often.

While there are no answers, we have - from the intelligent commenters on this website, to any number of articles that have been making it rain since his hat-trick performance - plenty of questions.

The short list after the jump…
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It’s the U20 world cup. Lets not get carried away.

But it’s a great salve for an um, unfortunate?, two weeks for the US MNT. We just beat Brazil!
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The boring Mexico-Chile 0-0 draw last night means Copa America is over for the US MNT, but no matter what roster was sent (or what conmebol thinks of it), accepting the invitation to the South American tournament was the best decision USSF has made in years. That needs to be said as we move forward and look to the future.

(note: Conmebol tempered their criticism by saying that they like having the U.S. included in the tournament even after knocking its roster, but if we continue to see the tournament as practice, we might not get automatic invites down the road. You got to love how they used Mexico as the proper example of how a guest team should prepare. Add in the fact that Brazil sent a B-team to their own confederation tournament, and makes it kind of hard to take any of the U.S. criticism too seriously).

As we head into the off-season, for lack of a better term, I’d like to focus some attention on our friendly schedule – those meaningless games I alluded to a couple of posts ago.

Lets play decider after the jump…
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Benny Feilhaber and the US MNT are only begining to come into focus

Ching, Dempsey, Beasley, Donovan, Clark, Feilhaber, Spector, DeMerit, Onyewu, Simek, Howard

That was the line-up I went with ten days ago, after watching the first round of the Gold Cup. It’s pretty close to the most successful line-up today. It’s all relative, however, it could be anybody in the context of a nervous team in a nervous game. But they came through, and it’s a chance to take stock before heading to South America.

Catch your breath after the jump…
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One commenter and a few e-mails wondered about my more specific thoughts regarding the jerseys, so I guess I’ll throw my hat, or jersey, in the ring. I’ve got some ideas about colors and design, but it falls under one basic law: a crest does not improve the appearance of anything. Get it out.
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What’s Johnson thinking? Maybe that he’ll never see this jersey again.

We’re in the midst of a nice little tourney, and another is loaded in the barrel. 2007 should be a drawing some new eyes to US Soccer. It has, kind of. For instance, the NY Times staff’s soccer fans have come out of the woodwork to cover the Gold Cup. And my favorite (the only?) on-line magazine, Slate (ok, Salon is good too, but not as quirky), has gotten into the mix with a slideshow through the history of US Soccer Jerseys. It’s as topical as it gets - this is Slate after all - but a good question is asked:

“Who’s ever heard of an army that has to change its uniform every year?”

more after the jump…
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For the Gold Cup, it’s defections. For Copa America, It looks like it’s going to be protests. While Franklin Foer must be riveted, it begs a question.

Is it right to co-opt sport in the name of politics? What about human rights?

Right or Wrong, soccer is faced with such circumstances more than any other sport, in no small part due to its international renditions. With the growing pains of progress and its rebuke proliferating like kudzu in the American south, let’s just hope these renditions don’t become extraordinary.

From fans to fanatics, we all need to be reminded it’s just a game.