No Cojones

What happened to the U.S.? What happened to the team in 2002 that dismantled Portugal, silenced Mexico and outplayed Germany? I remember watching the Portugal game, waking up at an ungodly hour one humid morning and watching the red, white and blue reveal Portugal to be a squad of prima donas. I thought the only way was up for U.S. Soccer. During today's game against Brazil we looked like a bunch of foosball pieces. The lowest point was watching Robinho—skinny little Robinho—swat away Jonathan Bornstein. Men against boys.

Guys… are you going to take this??

I hope the U.S. national team learned something by watching Egypt upset Italy at the Confederations Cup on Thursday. Our soccer boys might find some inspiration to rethink their approach to the game. Here's a clue-- it's all about balls and perseverance. The Egyptians stuck it to the Italians by matching blows and opportunistically pushing forward with grit. Sure, having a goalie like Essam El Hadary put on the performance of a lifetime helps. What mattered more was that Egypt played boldly—both on offense and defense. They had Brazil on the ropes by punching back with a quick goal after Kaka's initial strike, and then tied it up in the second half despite being down 3-1. Balls. Perseverance.



Some good analysis:

US National Team: Chronicling the downfall

Cold reality TV: Americans just aren't ready for prime time

Brazil 3, USA 0. (Enough said.)

U.S. team taught a painful lesson by Brazil