U.S. Men’s National Team coach Bob Bradley announced his roster that will face off against Brazil at the New Meadowlands Stadium next Tuesday night. Bradley’s roster includes 14 players who were on the U.S. World Cup squad this summer.

Key performers Jay Demerit, Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore and Stuart Holden will not be with the squad as they prepare for their upcoming league seasons.

As the USSF has yet to determine Bradley’s fate as head coach, this is a very important match for the national team. I question some of the players on this roster, as this could be a great opportunity to let some young faces get some key experience at the International level.

Bradley did however go out on a limb and call up Jermaine Jones for the match. Jones has three appearances with Germany but since he has an American father chose to play for the Americans. Since Jones had seen time with the German national team he had to persuade FIFA to let him go with the U.S.

Robbie Findlay does not deserve to be on this roster. Bradley must see something in him that the rest of the world doesn’t. Findlay was a no show this summer and has proven time and time again that he cannot score goals at this level. He has great pace but has yet to show any kind of technical ability going to goal.

Roster
Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan, Tim Howard

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Bornstein, Steve Cherundolo, Clarence Goodson, Chad Marshall, Jonathan Spector

Midfielders: Alejandro Bedoya, Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan, Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber, Jermaine Jones, Sacha Kljestan

Forwards: Edson Buddle, Robbie Findley, Herculez Gomez

The new era of Brazilian soccer will begin when Brazil faces off with the United States on August 10 at the new Giants Stadium.  New Brazilian manager Mano Menezes has named his 23 man roster that will make the trip to New Jersey.

Menezes will take this opportunity to give his younger players a chance to impress.  The Brazilian roster will only include 4 players from the World Cup Squad.

Bob Bradley has not  announced his roster yet, but look for him to include most of the roster that participated in the World Cup.

Brazil Roster:

Goalkeepers-Jeferson , Renan, Victor

Defenders-André Santos, Daniel Alves, David Luís , Henrique, Marcelo, Rafael , Rever , Thiago Silva

Midfielders-Carlos Eduardo, Ederson, Hernanes, Jucilei, Lucas, Paulo Henrique Ganso, Ramires, Sandro

Forwards-Alexandre Pato, André, Diego Tardelli, Neymar, Robinho

At the beginning of the game Brazil was 35-0-2 when leading at halftime in the World Cup. After going up a goal before halftime into today’s match, the number one team in the world broke that streak falling to the Dutch 2-1, in the first match of the quarterfinals.

Brazil opened up the match totally dominating the boys in orange. In the 10^th minute Robinho made a great diagonal run behind the Dutch defense and put his side up a goal. Felipe Melo sent an amazing ball from midfield right down the heart of the opposition’s defense and Robinho calmly tucked the ball away.

In the 31^st minute Brazil nearly went up two goals if not for some very acrobatic goaltending. After some great combination passing Kaka found himself with an open shot from the top of the box. The shot was headed right for the upper ninety but Netherland keeper Maarten Stekelenburg made what could be the save of the tournament, to keep his side down a goal.

After halftime Holland came out putting much more pressure on the Brazilians and slowly gained the momentum in the match. In the 53^rd minute Brazil Allowed its first own goal in its illustrious World Cup career off a Wesley Sneijder shot from outside the eighteen.

Arguably one of the best keepers in the world, Julio Cesar, tried to come out and punch the ball out but hit his own player instead, causing the ball to deflect off of Melo and into the back of the net.

In the 68^th minute every jaw in the world dropped to the floor, when the Flying Dutchmen scored on a corner kick to go up 2-1.

Arjen Robben sent a low ball to the near post and Dirk Kuyt flicked the ball into the middle of the six-yard box. Sneijder, the smallest man on the field at 5’7”, used every inch of his frame to send the ball into the corner of the goal. It was a terrific goal and for the first time in the tournament the Brazilians looked to be on their heels.

In the 73^rd minute Melo lost all composure when he was sent off with a straight red. After Robben fell to the ground for about the fiftieth time, Melo had had enough and stomped on the back of his leg with his cleats. Melo let his team and nation down as his side would play the rest of the game a man down.

Brazil could never regain the momentum in the match and were lucky not to get beat four to one. Dunga will have some serious explaining to do as his entire country has been criticizing his style of play. Brazil will not stand for anything besides being world champions and someone’s head has to roll.

Brazil will have to wait another four years to win its sixth World Cup, when they play host to the tournament in 2014, but don’t count on Dunga being at the helm.

Group G came to a close today with Brazil and Portugal ending in a 1-1 draw and Ivory Coast defeating North Korea 3-0.  Brazil finished on top of the group with 7 points with Portugal finishing second with 5 points.

Brazil had the majority of possession throughout their match against Portugal but could not break through to get the winner.   Without star midfielder Kaka, Brazil did not show their creativeness in the midfield.  Luis Fabiano had a few decent chances and will need to find the back of the net in knockout stage.

Cristiano Ronaldo was up top alone for Portugal and will need some help if they want to go deep into the tournament.  He did however have a decent match as he caused the Brazilian defense problems all match even though he was consistently double and triple teamed.

Ivory Coast needed help and a ton of goals to get through but the soccer gods didn’t cooperate for them.  Ivory Coast did however finish on a high note as they crushed North Korea 3-0.  Yaya Toure, Romaric, and Soloman Kalou each found the net for Ivory Coast.  Ivory Coast finished with 4 points and North Korea finished with 0.

HAHA just kidding!  That will surely be the headline tomorrow in the North Korean press!  North Korean leader Kim Jong Il will surely not let his people know that his beloved soccer team lost!  After hearing that the North Korean fans in attendance at the game were actually paid Chinese actors you never know what North Koreans will hear.

In the first match of the day New Zealand and Slovakia would end in a 1-1 draw.   New Zealand earned their first ever point in a World Cup match.  Winston Reid scored a brilliant goal for New Zealand in the 93rd minute to earn the point.  Reid found himself open on the back post and elevated above the defense to head it into the net.

Slovakia took the lead in the 50th minute when Robert Vittect headed home a great service as he got in behind the New Zealand defense.  Vittect appeared to be offside after seeing the replay but the linesman was a few yards out of position and could not see the advantage.  Slovakia had held New Zealand to just a few dangerous chances near the goal throughout the match, so to lose points this late in the match was devastating.

In the second match of the day Portugal and Ivory Coast drew 0-0.  Neither team will come away with this result happy as there was never a good flow to the match.  Ivory Coast had more chances but Portugal had their share as well.  Portugal looked like a one man team with Cristiano Ronaldo being the only threat.  Didier Drogba would be used as a second half sub, but failed to get involved like his usual self.

In the late match, Brazil defeated North Korea 2-1.  Brazil dominated from whistle to whistle but failed to break through until the 55th minute when Maicon got in behind the North Korean and his cross beat the goalkeeper at the near post finding the side netting.

North Korean goalkeeper Ri Myung-Guk anticipated the ball coming into the six but the shot would surprise him and beat him near side.

Brazil doubled their lead in the 72nd minute after Robinho played an excellent through ball to a streaking Elano who drilled sent it in with a great first touch shot.

North Korea made things interesting when they caught Brazil sleeping in the 89th minute when Ji Yun-Nam dribbled past two defenders before beating Julio Cesar with a great left footed goal.  It was too little too late in the end for North Korea but they will come away with this result as a huge moral victory.  Yes, Brazil could have easily won by a wider margin if the finished their chances, but North Korea played with a lot of fight and stayed organized throughout the match.

Here is a great video of the goals from today by David Matthews with some great music over at Deadspin.com-Your Culturally Insensitive World Cup Goal Roundup For June 15th

Today I was not proud to be a US soccer fan. In game two of the FIFA Federations Cup, Brazil destroyed the United States 3-0. The Americans came out with absolutely no effort in the first half. There were numerous times while watching the game I wanted to just change the channel. During today’s match I was asking myself the following questions. Who are these players representing my country? What kind of game plan did Bob Bradley put into this game? Last, are we really this bad?

The first half was dominated by Brazil for the entire 45 minutes. The Brazilians struck first in the 7th minute when Felipe Melo put in a beautiful header off a free kick from about 40 yards out. What was Tim Howard doing on  this play? The ball was driven in from the right side and found Melo well inside the six yard box. Howard needs to aggressively come off his line and punch the ball to safety.

The second goal was one of the worst goals I have ever seen given up by the US. The United States had a corner, and tried a short set play with Beasley coming to Donovan to get the ball. Donovan played the ball to Beasley, who made a horrible touch that led to a full-field 3v1. With the Brazilians flying at our goal, Robinho received the ball around the 18 with a one on one against Howard. A player of Robinho’s stature put it away with no problem. The first half ended 2-0 Brazil, but it could have easily been 4-0.

In the second half, Bob Bradley had no other choice but to try something new so he pulled Beasley out and placed Cooper in the game. Trust me I was thrilled to see this. Yes, Beasley was a game changing player a long time ago, but he just doesn’t have the tempo he once did.

So what do we do? Sasha Kljestan decided to go into a challenge with his studs up from behind, getting a straight red card for the United States in the 57th minute. The US had no chance after receiving the second red card in two games.

Brazil put the match away in the 62nd minute when Maicon found the back of the net. In the last ten minutes the US had their first chances of the game hitting the crossbar twice, but it was a little too late.

As a die hard US soccer fan I am crossing my fingers that Bob Bradley can get control of this team. We can qualify for the World Cup, but that does us no good if we cannot compete at the actual tournament. It is time to let some players go. Beasley and Kljestan have no business being on the pitch at this level. The American should be very worried with some important fixtures looming in the future. Hopefully we can capture the Gold Cup!  HAHA