Landon Donovan, the best player in MLS years running and Team America’s MVP, received a contract extension this week reported at around $9 million over four years.  Merry Christmas Landon, you deserve it.  It’s long been a sore spot that MLS will pay big money to aging international players like Beckham, Blanco, and Angel, but continues to underpay the best Americans in the league.  Maybe this is a good first step, although with the players’ contract negotiations looming, it’s tough to see it.

Also announce this week, Donovan’s impending short-term loan to Everton in England.  It’s a good scenario: 10 weeks with a club that has a good manager in David Moyes, needs some attacking cover due to injury, and has some history of accepting our players in (Moore, McBride, and now Tim Howard).  It gives Landon the chance to show what he can do in the EPL and maybe make even more money in Europe next year with strong performances and a good World Cup.  So why don’t I like it?  Selfish reasons, mostly.  This year I’d prefer Donovan take the winter months to rest his body and mind for the summer instead of playing in the world’s most physical league.  I don’t want him injured on some soggy field in Bolton.  I want him fresh and in peak form for South Africa, because make no mistake: no Landon = no advancement, no matter how nice our group looks now.  Period.

In other U.S. Soccer related news, DaMarcus Beasley is back on the radar after playing several games in a row for Rangers in Scotland.  He’s been scoring and assisting also.  I’ve long been a fan of Run DMB, and I hope he will get himself back in the mix.  But the last time he played for Team America he was very, very bad, so I remain unconvinced.

The enigmatic Jermaine Jones continues to have troubles with his injured leg in Germany.  It’s been six months since his surgery and he’s still having pain.  For U.S. Soccer fans who hoisted a beer when we heard Jones wanted to play for the country of his father’s birth, it’s time to accept that we may not see it.  If Jones doesn’t heal up soon and begin playing, how’s Bob Bradley supposed to incorporate him?  Maybe U.S. Soccer should invite Jones to the L.A. winter camp next month – even if he’s not healthy – so he can meet some of his teammates and see how Bradley manages.

Big props to ‘Tony Danza Army’ on this one*…

RISE UP!  One great thing about the homemade video mixes:  they take their footage from anyone and everyone.  Thus these guys have the Feilhaber golazo from the 07 Gold Cup Final, which is a clip you rarely see.

We also have the video U.S. Soccer commissioned as part of our bid for the 2018 or 2022 World Cups.  Sort of a counterfeit Sportscenter vibe…

And who is our perceived chief rival for this bid?  That’s right, England.  Who do we open against in South Africa on 6/12/10?

Yeah.

*Double-click on videos to open them in youtube and watch full-screen

The most critical day for U.S. Soccer this year was the win in Honduras that secured the trip to South Africa.  But nearly as important was yesterday’s draw to set the field of 32.  And after much gnashing of teeth when FIFA put the USA in the pot of what was essentially #4 seeds, after hearing from everyone we would once again get the Group of Death, the draw occurred.  And lo!  It was good…

Charlize with the Draw

It doesn’t get much better than that.  We open against England on June 12 – a game that’s likely to set TV ratings records for soccer in this country.  Get points from the limeys and we could win the group.  Even with an opening loss, you’re looking at a pair of games against Algeria and Slovenia in which we will be the favorite.  Watching the draw over lunch, I was so psyched to see Algeria (one of the weaker African teams) pop up on the screen, then for the final slot I was just hoping we could avoid France or Portugal…   Slovenia has some good players, but it’s their first World Cup and they simply don’t provide as many problems as most of the other European teams. As Alexi Lalas said in the post-draw reaction (nice coverage on ESPN btw), if you’re a U.S. fan you should expect to be in the second round next summer.  This news capped an encouraging week for Team America, as injured players Jermaine Jones, Mo Edu, and Jay DeMerit all returned to training for the club teams after lengthy injury stints.  Word also came out that Oguchi Onyewu is recovering on schedule, and Charlie Davies has responded very well to treatment after the car crash and could be targeting a comeback in time for the World Cup.  We shall see. For now, it’s time for the hype.  These French guys already have a mix-clip ready, and they’re using audio from Gladiator, which is always a solid choice.

MLS Cup kicks off in about two hours, featuring the back-from-the-dead L.A. Galaxy, last year’s dysfunctional laughing stock, vs. hot-at-the-right-time Real Salt Lake – they of the many merry midfielders.  The news from Seattle is the locals have embraced the championship with nearly as much vigor as they took to their Sounders this year, and 40,000 are expected despite the crap weather.  Good news for MLS.  Even better news if the Galaxy pulls it off – what a fitting final chapter to this whole Beckham Experiment thing.  But Salt Lake has only beat two of the supposedly best/most talented teams in Columbus and Chicago to get here, and anyone who’s watched them the past month knows they are fully capable of controlling play and scoring goals.

 Of course Beckham is carrying an injury (say this for the man – he knows drama) and could be fairly limited.  He’s likely one crunching Kyle Beckerman tackle from being out.  The real key to this match of course is league MVP Landon Donovan.  Salt Lake will be completely fixated on denying him the ball, but that might not be enough.  And maybe it opens the way for someone like Mike Magee or Alan Gordon to be the hero.  I’ve been predicting L.A. would win it all for months (just thought they’d be playing the Fire) so I won’t change my pick now.

In other  news, FIFA denied Ireland’s request for a reply against France after now-infamous Hand-of-Frog, featuring Thierry Henry (video after the bump).  Of course what else are FIFA going to do?  Admit that it’s time to employ instant-replay and other technology to prevent these kinds of mistakes?  Yeah, right.  It’s going to take something like this at the actual World Cup before they move forward.

The sad thing for the Irish:  they had two very solid chances to score that second goal in regulation and put the French down before this play.  Henry has apologized and stated a replay would be the fair route.  Of course he’s in damage-control mode, but to hold him personally responsible for a play 99 out of 100 other guys would attempt in his shoes is a little disingenuous.  Personally, I’ve been a big Henry fan for about 10 years now, and handball or not, I still hope he comes to MLS when his Barcelona contract is up as has long been rumored..

The World Cup field is set (though Ireland may yet have something to say about that), and the U.S. acquired another pair of losses in Europe over this latest international break.  After dominating Slovakia everywhere except the final third, it was 1-0 Slovaks.  And then, with an 80% second-tier squad, Team America proceeded to get spanked by Denmark 3-1.

I’ve often called for Coach Bob Bradley to trust his depth and play other guys beyond his chosen core group of 7-8 surefire starters, but performances like these illustrate that without guys like Donovan, Gooch, Dempsey, and yes Jermaine Jones, Team America looks very average.  The midfield was completely overrun versus the Danes, with Michael Bradley (who starts every game he’s eligible) attempting to run the show.  Not a good sign.  A couple of upward trends from these games included Jeff Cunningham’s workrate and finishing ability, Jonathan Bornstein’s continued play and Jon Spector showcasing his versatility.

So without further adieu, here’s The 23 – the players Beemsville would bring to South Africa if we were in charge:

Goalkeepers – 3:  Tim Howard (Everton, England), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England), and Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton, England)

Defenders – 7: Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan, Italy), Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes, France), Jay DeMerit (Watford, England), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96, Germany), Jonathan Spector (West Ham, England), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA, MLS), Edgar Castillo (Pumas, Mexico)

Midfielders -9 : Landon Donovan (L.A. Galaxy, MLS), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England) Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach, Germany), Jose Francisco Torres (Pachuca, Mexico), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus, Denmark),  Maurcie Edu (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04, Germany), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo, MLS), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew, MLS)

Forwards – 4: Jozy Altidore (Hull City, England),  Kenny Cooper (1860 Munich, Germany), Jeff Cunningham (FC Dallas, MLS), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo, MLS)

The only changes from last month are Ching for Casey as the final forward (he works harder) and Hahnemann into the third goalkeeper spot, based on his recall.  I assumed he was done, but he looks fit and ready from the video clips.  I’m tempted to move Robbie Findley or Freddy Adu, or hell, Edson Buddle for that 4th forward in lieu of Ching or Cooper…  Man, will we miss Charlie Davies next summer.  I’m more convinced than ever that bringing crazy ol’ Jeff Cunninham along is a must.

I continue to omit Rico Clark in favor of Mo Edu, even though Clark was probably the best midfielder against the Danes.  Spector’s versatility makes it easier to bring along Castillo.  Taking into account injuries and form, here’s my starting lineup as of today:

Howard

Cherundolo          Spector              Bocanegera                   Bornstein

Holden                Bradley              JF Torres                        Donovan

Altidore                 Dempesey

Major League Soccer has survived the contraction of the early aughts to emerge as a league with 15 teams.  This goes to 16 teams next year with two more expansion teams waiting in the wings.  In the bad old days, 75% of the teams made the playoffs, but nowadays a playoff berth is actually an achievement so the final 8 are pretty solid teams.  And the fact that going into the last two weekend’s of league play only two teams were eliminated from playoff contention made for a highly competitive and exciting finish.  While the Eurosnobs would like to mimic the Old Country and do away with the playoffs, let me add to the chorus and assure everyone that our way is better.

Your matchups are:

• L.A. Galaxy v. Chivas USA.  The Cali Classico.  Underestimate Preki and the Goats at your peril.  Still, we’ll take the Galaxy.
• Seattle Sounders v. Houston Dynamo.  Expansion team vs. Proven winner.  While it wouldn’t surprise anyone if Houston won it all, I like the graybeard in goal (the American one) for Seattle as the X-factor, so I’ll pick the Sounders.
• Columbus Crew v. Real Salt Lake.  I like watching Real, and Clintino had the goal of the year (by a mile).  But the Crew were your overall #1, and they’re too tough to lose this one.
• Chicago Fire v. New England Revolution. The classic trap game for the Fire.  The Revs have ended their season so many times it seems, but this year they’re too banged up.  The Fire have too much here.

Even though I have little faith in the Fire (Columbus does have some injuries), I’ll take them in the next round, to match up with the Galaxy. For MLS Cup,  Bruce Arena will be the last man smirking.  Hey, you have to pick someone…  Tune in later to see how the picks pan out.

FIFA 10 dropped earlier this week, which partially explains the extended absence of posts.  That and some minor flu issues… 

Yes, this game is really, really fun.  After (ahem) only a few hours of dedicated play-testing, I can report a number of improvements over last year’s edition.  Team America is tougher for one thing (finally garnering some respect), and the game physics and passing seem more realistic.  Basically, everything mentioned in my demo preview still stands.

Soccer bloggers across the nation are watching their productivity decline.  It’s all reminiscent of the summer several years ago when GTA San Andreas came out, and suddenly a number of popular comic books were inexplicable delayed as the freelance community suddenly had something else to do.

Hit me up on PS3 for a match: MacShark_72.  But don’t bring the weak stuff.  I’m like the Cobra-Kai dojo – No mercy and I will sweep the leg…

An eventful week for the US Men’s National Team saw qualification for next year’s World Cup overshadowed by the terrible news of a deadly car wreck that left promising forward Charlie Davies severely injured and a young woman dead.  Much has been written about this, so I won’t add to it; suffice to say that our thoughts go out to the affected families.

So Team America battled to a 2-2 tie against Costa Rica in D.C. Wednesday.  It was an emotional and error-plagued performance that really means nothing in the grand scheme other than putting the more-deserving Honduras in the World Cup instead of the Ticos.  The U.S. wins the hexagonal for the second straight cycle, which is the rough equivalent of winning your low-major conference tournament by 20 in March: you still know you’re going to get a crappy seed.  Also the U.S. lost defender Oguchi Onyewu to a knee injury that will keep him out for several months and puts his Milan career in doubt. 

But we’re qualified for real!  So let the prognostications begin.  It’s The 23 aka the players Beemsville believes should form the US team’s roster for next summer’s World Cup.  Note that this is not who I think Coach Bob Bradley will bring along; this is strictly my own opinion, based on exhaustive armchair midfielding, a fair amount of soccer watching, and a decent amount of interwebs research.

Goalkeepers – 3:  Tim Howard (Everton, England), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England), and Troy Perkins (Valerenga, Norway)

Defenders – 7:   Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan, Italy), Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes, France), Jay DeMerit (Watford, England), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96, Germany), Jonathan Spector (West Ham, England), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA, MLS), Edgar Castillo (Pumas, Mexico)

Midfielders -9 : Landon Donovan (L.A. Galaxy, MLS), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England) Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach, Germany), Jose Francisco Torres (Pachuca, Mexico), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus, Denmark),  Maurcie Edu (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04, Germany), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo, MLS), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew, MLS)

Forwards – 4:  Jozy Altidore (Hull City, England), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids, MLS), Kenny Cooper (1860 Munich, Germany), Jeff Cunningham (FC Dallas, MLS)

And seriously, anybody could hold down that last forward spot, which firmly belonged to Davies before the accident.  I’ll go with Jeff for now because he’s speedy, he’s old, and he’s a little bit insane.  It’s also probably a little soon to be knocking Rico Clark off the roster, but I feel that Jones, Edu, and Bradley are the superior options at that position.

A few other guys on the cusp include Clark, Jimmy Conrad, Frankie Hejduk, DaMarcus Beasley, Freddy Adu, Brian Ching, Sasha Kljestan, Chad Marshall, Jon Busch, and lord help me, Eddie the Playa Johnson. 

Tune in later as the countdown to Cape Town continues…

Team America is World Cup bound.  All the teeth-gnashing and hand-wringing about the squad’s inconsistent play, their inability to score goals from the run of play, Coach Bob Bradley’s squad selection – it can all go away, at least for a little while. The US beat Honduras 3-2 Saturday night in San Pedro Sula, the only team to win down there during qualification.  And they did it by battling hard, refusing to quit even after going down a goal, and riding the superior skill and tireless efforts of one Landon Donovan.

I ended up watching this game on my computer via alternating webfeeds from Central America and Iraq (of all places).  The quality was bad and the feed lagged at times, but at least I was able to watch.  Five point in your bound-for-South Africa Pentagram…

• Conor Casey? Yes, Conor Casey. CC has always had a couple of key attributes: his physical play (running into keepers) and his clinical finishing skills.  It’s why, now that he’s finally been able to play a full season without injury, he’s near the top of the MLS goal-scoring list.  Casey is slow and looked downright bad at times in the Confederations Cup, but he was all aces Saturday night.  Were those two goals enough to book him for next summer?
• Holden should play next summer. He’s athletic and skillful enough to make a difference; now he just needs more seasoning (and to stay healthy).  His crosses provide an added dimension on the flank, and he was like a mini-Hejduk out there tracking back and overlapping.  Dempsey remains the best option on the right, but Holden has clearly set himself up for some PT.
• Backline looks shaky again. After putting it together his last summer for a time, the defense has work to do.  DeMerit has been sorely missed, but there’s no guarantee Bob would start him there again anyway with his obvious preference for Bocanegra (who seems to be good for at least one bad mistake per game).  Gooch’s lack of playing time for Milan was evident, as was Spector’s.  Meanwhile, Bornstein seemed better on the left, but most of us can’t wait to see what Edgar Castillo might do there.
• Donovan continues to bring it. He was everywhere.  Again.  Setup the go-ahead goal for Casey and then stepped up to hit that free-kick like your MVP should, not to mention the tireless running and composure on the ball.  During the first half, when Honduras was pressing, he seemed like the only midfielder able to bring the ball forward.  Hopefully Bob decides to employ some different midfield options to alleviate this (Edu, Jones, Feilhaber?), so Landon can do more playmaking.
• Now what, boys? First of all, beat Costa Rica on Wednesday and win the Hexagonal outright.  Then we can talk about integrating guys like Castillo and Jones (assuming his leg heals).  We can all begin wringing our hands about the 23 players who will make the trip next summer, all while hoping to avoid key injuries.  It will be interesting to see what kind of friendlies the US lines up in preparation.  Here’s a guess – you will see some marquee teams on the list.  But of course most important in all this is the actual World Cup draw, which will take place in Cape Town on December 4.  A favorable draw (like getting one of the weaker Asian or African teams) would make things a lot more manageable than the group of death we faced last time around in Germany.

In other sports-related news from the weekend, Beemsville endorses the Grubbhub analysis of what happened in Champaign on Saturday.

In a strange and annoying turn reminiscent of the mid-90s, US Soccer has managed to not have the second-to-last World Cup Qualifier broadcast tomorrow.  Oh, the game is available for viewing, via closed-circuit TV in a handful of bars across the country, but no pay-per-view, no web-cast, nada.  For me, this would mean a drive to Chicago if I really wanted to watch this game.  And I really want to watch this game – just not enough to spend six hours in the car.

It’s an important, vital match.  Win or tie and Team America is in the World Cup.  Lose and the last game against Costa Rica in D.C. next Wednesday becomes scary.  Just to review:  tomorrow I can watch Bahrain v. New Zealand or Denmark v. Sweden, or even freaking Liechtenstein v. Azerbaijan.  But no USA v. Honduras.

So I’m annoyed with US Soccer for cowtowing to the CONCACAF rules allowing away match TV rights to go to shady media companies that decide to use closed-circuit TV.  I’m annoyed that ESPN didn’t step up (although to be fair they have more programming than they can handle this weekend), and that Fox Soccer Channel or GolTV, or even Telemundo didn’t come through.  And, of course, I’ll be scouring around tomorrow night for word of some bootleg webcam feed.  Mostly, I’m disappointed that despite the general progress of soccer in this country, stuff like this can still happen.  As the man once said…