I would rate Bradley as the 3rd best US player behind Donovan and Dempsey.

I would rate Bocanegra (who was at fault for the 2nd goal) as probably the worst player on the US starting team. He is woeful!

Is the 3rd best US soccer (football) player kind of like being the 3rd best Irish Basketball player?

That's kind of a dopey thing to say. More kids play soccer in the United States than any other sport. We have a top 15-ish ranked men's soccer program. We have players in Serie A, the EPL, the Bundesliga, and La Ligua. I know you're trying to be funny, but US Soccer has come an awfully long way.

It has a long way to go. It's currently geared towards middle-aged white parents. We'll never truly compete sticking with that demographic.

Golf has gone an awfully long way on that business model.

Soccer still only gets the 4th, maybe 5th level of elite athlete in the U.S.. So, if you consider that, top 16 isn't so bad.

out of 300 million people our 4th and 5th level athletes are still world class. If we had NBA, NFL, even some MLB guys want to play soccer than watch out. How awesome of a goalie would lebron be?

sorry to bust on your sport slotdirt, but not too many people care about it once they get out of high school. Shoot, a lot of good soccer players would rather kick field goals for football teams than continue soccer. My brother and I both grew up playing soccer.. along with baseball its probably the best sport to play as a kid. You dont get paid much playing soccer, and there isnt much fame to it, so all the top athletes move on to different sports. Coach is completely right. Plus, golf and soccer are apples and oranges.. you can play golf til you die.

Plus the argument that 4th or 5th best sport = lesser athletes is not true.

Soccer, for the most part, requires short people to attack the goal. Look at the greatest strikers...they're midgets. Midgets aren't giving up soccer to play football, baseball, basketball etc.

What great striker is a midget? That's not true anymore. You want big guys up front who can hold their men and distribute. There are still some relatively short guys up front, but the Altidores and Kloses are more the norm now when you consider that nearly every defender is 6'3" on the internation level.

Messi, Robinho etc.

Messi is more of a center-mid. Robinho is not that tall. I'd say that's more the exception today though. For every Robinho, there's a Crouch (6'7"), Vittek (6'2"), Altidore (6'1"), or Van Persie (6'2").

About the only sport those guys could excel in would be baseball. No way would any of them play basketball at a high level.

I just don't buy the excuse that our best athletes play other sports. Soccer is missing out on the inner-city kids. It's too much of a suburban sport.

Dont your last two sentences kind of prove the first sentence?

I happen to think that if LeBron or Kobe or Michael Vick or whomever played soccer full-time from a very young age instead of whatever sport they ended up in, that they would excel.

Vick probably would have been a much better soccer player than he is a football player. USA needs a guy with his speed. Vicks legs are great, his arm sucks.

LeBron would take too many shots from midfield...because he's retarded.

Have to be pulling for the Dutch this morning.

They'd better get their **** together. Brazil is all over them.

Wow, Wade Redden and Dan Girardi must be playing defense for the Dutch. That was ridiculous. One nil already and they also had one called back on an offsides.

Disappointing start for the CLockwork. Can't do that against Brazil and hope to advance. They need some Van der Vaart.

That was one of the greatest saves I have ever seen. He kept the Dutch in the game with that one.

The way Robhino beat two guys and Kaka slammed that to the upper corner made me think there is no one on the US roster that can compete with that display. Awesome save though.

The individual ball control by the whole Brazilian team is incredible. They have the Dutch D running in circles just trying to get in the way.

Agreed, the difference between Brazil and the U.S. is so great that the two shouldn't even be used in the same sentence.

Now we have a game.


Glad to see Robben's shin is okay, that African air can be harsh on the shins.

Oh my, was that an own goal?

More slow motion shots of happy Dutch fans jumping up and down please.

Now we will see what Brazil is made of. They have looked lost since the first Dutch goal.

Holy S.hit. Wow! What a goal on what seemed to be a set play off the corner.

OMG...That was like a rock skimming on water. Orange showing some major skillz.

Worked to perfection. The keeper had no chance.

That red card certainly isn't going to help Brazil's chances. What a dumb play......

I'm still trying to figure out how everyone communictes to each other (in the whole tourney). Really you have a Spanish speaking and a Dutch speaking team yelling at an Asian ref. How the hell does anyone understand what F is going on?

:L::tro:English:tro::L:

Bigs, The Germans in your office are probably pretty happy with that result......

Disgraceful effort(s) by Felipe Melo, and a glorious corner set play by the Dutch. How a midget like Sneidjer scored in the box is something the Brazilians will have to reexamine. Awesome stuff for the Netherlands though, just awesome.

They've got their own business to take care of tomorrow and they are nervous.

English bloke I work with texted me "Looks like Spain vs. The Kloggers final"

Go on the Dutch - though it will be an achievment if a team containing Dirk Kuyt wins the World Cup.

I fancy the Germans big time against the Argies tomorow. Argie defense is absolutely awful and Oezil and co will destroy them..

:D:D:D:D

That was a blast, but what was the keeper thinking?

South American teams faltering...

There has been a lot of complaints about the ball. It looked like it came off his foot straight (no type of spin) and then made a right hand turn (tons of spin). Reguardless, I thought it was a horrible goal. But for the goalie to look that bad on a shot from so far away, I'm really thinking that the ball did do a trick on him.