On Wednesday night the U.S. National Team played Costa Rica at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. Costa Rica was 30 seconds from clinching a spot in the 2010 World Cup, but before time could expire Jonathan Bornstein drove a header home to tie the game 2-2, to secure Honduras a spot instead.

The match began with the U.S. dictating the pace of play. They found themselves on goal numerous times in the opening 15 minutes, but just could not get the ball on goal.  In the 12th minute Connor Casey missed a golden opportunity to put the Americans ahead as Jozy Altidore found him wide open in front of goal with just the keeper to beat. Casey chocked big time and sent the ball high and wide of goal.

In the 20th minute Costa Rican forward Bryan Ruiz scored the games first goal. Ruiz blew by Onyewu after receiving the ball inside the box before beating a helpless Tim Howard. Ruiz would then score his second goal in 3 minutes to make the score 2-0, in the 23rd minute. He let loose a left footed rocket from the top of the 18 yard box into the upper left corner of the net.  The U.S. defense again was broken down by the crafty Ruiz.

The U.S. again would miss a sure goal when Landon Donovan found himself behind the Costa Rican defense in the 37th minute. Donovan found himself one-on-one against the Costa Rican goalkeeper, but his shot sailed into the stands. Donovan didn’t even get the ball on goal but to make it worse all he had to do was look to the back-post and he would have found a wide open Casey.

The U.S. should have had at least four goals in the first half.  They Absolutely dominated Costa Rica but went into halftime down two goals.

In the second half Costa Rica tried to preserve their two goal lead by dropping most of the team back and clogging the middle of the field. The Tico’s had their fare share of chances on goal but the U.S. still controlled the game, applying constant pressure to the Costa Rican back line. In the 64th minute Coach Bradley began to use his bench and in the next 16 minutes he used his three available substitutions.

In the 72nd minute Bradley got the fans back into the game when he outworked the Costa Rican defense for his 7th international goal. Second half substitution Robbie Rodgers sent a ball to the near post around the six yard box to Bradley, who flicked the ball to Donovan. Donovan settled the ball beautifully to his right foot and got a shot on goal that was deflected by Costa Rican keeper K Navas. Bradley pounced on the rebound and slid as he hit his shot off the keeper and into the back of the net.

With all three subs on the field, the U.S. was forced to play with 10 men for the last 15 minutes of the match when Unyewu went down with a torn tendon in his left knee.  This is not good news for U.S. soccer as it will prove very difficult to replace the big physical defender.

The U.S. would break the hearts of Costa Rica when Johnathan Bornstein found himself wide open on a corner kick before heading it past the diving defenders.  The corner was taken in the 5th minute of extra time culminating an excellent overall match.

To give up a goal this late in the match was heartbreaking for Costa Rica because now they are forced to play in a one game playoff to earn a berth to South Africa.

Overall, the U.S. looked strong at times.  Other than the two breakdowns from the U.S. defence in the first half the back four had a very strong match.  In the midfield Bradley and Donovan dominated up and down the pitch.  Up top, Altidore was a machine from whistle to whistle.  Altidore could have very well had a hat trick by himself on any other given night.

Throughout the next two months the United States will be the home of over 30 great matches.  There is the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the World Football Challenge, the Barcelona Summer Tour and other top European clubs taking the pitch in the U.S.  This is a great opportunity to see some of the best soccer in the world right in our own backyard!

The CONCACAF Gold Cup will run from Friday, July 3, to Thursday, July 23.  This tournament consists of the USA, Panama, Honduras, Mexico, Canada, Grenada, El Salvador, Jamaica, Guadaloupe, Haiti, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.  The U.S. are the two-time defending champions of this event.  The winner of the Gold Cup will represent the CONCACAF region in the next FIFA Confederations Cup.  Matches will be played in 13 different cities throughout the competition.

Schedule- http://www.concacaf.com/competitions/goldcup/2009/schedule.aspx

Tickets-Concacaf Gold Cup Tickets

The World Football Challenge is a new event for 2009 in the the United States.  The games will be played from July 19-26, in six different cities across the U.S.  This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for soccer fans in the U.S. to see AC Milan, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Club America face-off against each other.  AC Milan is considered one of the top clubs in the world with Ronaldinho leading the charge.   Chelsea is one of the powerhouse clubs in the English Premier League continuously finishing in the top of the league.  Inter Milan is coming off one of their best seasons ever winning the Italian Serie A.  Club America comes into this competition as a huge underdog but don’t count out this Mexican powerhouse.

Schedule- http://worldfootballchallenge.com/

Tickets-World Football Challenge Tickets

The 09 Barcelona Summer Tour also comes to the states with Barcelona facing-off against the LA Galaxy, Seattle Sounders, and Chivas.  The first match against the LA Galaxy will take place on August 1, at the Rose Bowl.  The next match against the Seattle Sounders will be played on August 5, at Quest Field in Seattle, Wash.  The final match against Chivas will take place on August 8, in Oakland, Calif., at The Coliseum. Barcelona is coming off on the best seasons in the clubs history.  This is a great opportunity for U.S. soccer fans to see the Champions League winners in action!

Tickets- FC Barcelona Tickets

Here are some other games definitely worth looking at!

7/19- LA Galaxy vs AC Milan at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

Tickets- LA Galaxy vs AC Milan

7/22- River Plate vs Toronto at FC BMO Field in Toronto, Ontario.

Tickets-River Plate vs Toronto FC

8/7- Toronto FC vs Real Madrid at BMO Field in Toronto, Ontario.

Tickets-Toronto FC vs Real Madrid

8/9- DC United vs Real Madrid at Fedex Field in Landover, Md.

Tickets-DC United vs Real Madrid

U.S. soccer fans might not think this is the ideal squad taking the field on Saturday night against Grenada, but it’s filled with quality young players looking to get a shot at the full-team. The original roster for the USA had 15 players that currently play in the MLS. With the run to the FIFA Federation’s Cup Final, the U.S. should come out and take care of this team with ease.

Bob Bradley will surely have his hands full with this roster. The positives are that the U.S. will get Brian Ching back from a hamstring injury and Steve Cherundolo has recovered from his injury as well. Bradley has a great opportunity here to evaluate players on this big stage. One downfall is that there are seven players looking to earn their first cap with the national team.

The players that need to have GREAT performances are, Freddy Adu, Stuart Holden, Chad Marshall, and Heath Pearce. Freddy Adu in my opinion should have received at least a little playing time in the Confederations Cup. The U.S. is lacking creativity going forward and Adu can be the player for us to change that.

Here is the 23 man roster for the 2009 Gold Cup- http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_14942228.html

Concacaf  has also allowed the U.S. to expand its roster to 30 players due to the team having to compete in two tournaments almost back to back.  This allowed Bradley to bring in some of our big guns in case they are needed later in the tournament.   I don’t expect any of these seven to dress against Grenada, but if a team like Mexico is waiting, I would love to see Bradley playing most of these players.

The players who can be used are Jozy Altidore, Conor Casey, Ricardo Clark, Benny Feilhaber, Sacha Klejstan, Jonathan Bornstein, and Brad Guzan.  I am not including any of these players in the first match but would be happy if one or two are included on the roster.

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

The remainder of the U-17 CONCACAF qualifying tournament has been canceled due to concerns of a swine flu outbreak in Mexico. Announcement from USSoccer Here.

Since the four teams heading to Nigeria for the World Cup have already been identified the tournament directors thought to play it on the safe side to keep the players and fans healthy. The four teams that will represent the CONCACAF region are USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Honduras. We will keep you updated with any new news.