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Soccer Saturday: Your Running Commentary

Fabio Cannavaro 1 (Getty Images) 

The U.S. national team's final tuneup prior to the World Cup is in the books, but there are still some international friendlies on tap as teams look to finish their preparations.

From Italy looking to bounce back from its midweek defeat to Mexico when it places Switzerland, to Serbia battling Cameroon, there are enough quality international friendlies to fill pre-World Cup appetites.

All 16 MLS teams will also be in action today, with the Los Angeles Galaxy aiming to stay undefeated against the Houston Dynamo in one of the marquee matches of the weekend.

If you will be watching any of today's action on television or through internet streams, feel free to provide your thoughts, opinions and play-by-play in the comments section below.

Comments

  1. Reading the English press today following the match. It is a sure way to tell how the English are thinking. The press there is VERY astute, very informed and study the games very seriously.

    They all mentioned the US’s lack of organization and trouble handling the crosses and corners. It seems that the US weakness is in it’s defense of the aerial game., noting that crosses were routinely missed or not cleared. The strength are in the pace offered by Landon Donovan and to a lesser extent Findley. They do not believe that Buddle will be able to get position to be an effective scorer.

    That said, they mentioned Bradley’s comment on blaming the Jubliani ball for the US sloppy defense.

    What was not mentioned was the real sloppy field, full of divots, irregular bumps and slick areas especially in the box where it troubled both teams.

    But what struck me is that no one has mentioned the ball coming in off the setting sun. Both Hahnemann and Demerit both mentioned they lost the ball in flight due to the SUN in their eyes.

    What was also overlooked was that the game was at altitude where the ball trajectory is heard to measure compared to sea level, double that for a new ball.

    This is not to say that the US need to be a little more sharp, but this is the same back line that beat Spain, a far more potent attacking team than England.

    I’m questioning whether the Rnglish Press and the England scouts (and Beckham) missed this?

    Either way, I believe the Three Lions will try and exploit this (perceived) weakness with “lots” of speculative balls into the box, from all angles. THe US is susceptible to giving up corners and free kicks close to the box and I think the British will try to capitalize on it.

    Right now the Bristish Press, based on the last three friendlies, believe that the US key weakness is their back line. This is pretty much a consensus. Very Interesting.

    For those who want to read for themselves; go to Google News to advanced search then type in “edson Buddle” or “Landon Donovan” in the search field and then go down to Location and type in UK, press search and them further sort by date, instead of relevance.
    Have fun!

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  2. Fair enough, but there’s a difference between the top clubs (which are basically world all-star teams) and the rest. I don’t think this club of US players will be making the Champions League every year.

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  3. I’d LOVE to see a megabucksman soccer fan by a big EPL team and stock it with top American talent.

    Unfortunately, there’s some sort of UEFA limitation on non-Euro passport players on teams. Those are very difficult to come by for Americans, so you’ll not see more than 2-3 US Nationals on any one team.

    Sucks a$$.

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  4. Arsenal has virtually no English players but the Emirates is full nearly every week. Fans support results, the nationality of those providing those results matters none.

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  5. Agree with you Dank. I had a chance to test out that ball and it responds a lot different than the ball used in place like the EPL, La Liga and MLS. I was glad to see fairly good first touches from the US today but judging the ball in the air and putting the right touch on passes in the air seemed to be a problem for the US. I say a cross from Landon fly all the way to the far touch before landing.

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  6. Go watch the videos from training in Princeton. They used them then. Didn’t use them in the send off friendlies because of the Nike contract.

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  7. Dish Network is the only provider I know of that offers FSC in HD. The tradeoff is that Dish broadcasts MSG only in standard definition.

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  8. So I heard that the US team hadn’t been playing with the new ball until they got the SA. If true, that’s an outrageous decision, especially given how much trouble they had on crosses against Australia.

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  9. MLS is still young and not able to pay top dollar. I would not begrudge Buddle for going to Europe and cashing in for the last stage of his career. An athlete has a family and bills just like we do, but with a much shorter career span.

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  10. You make it sound like these guys are getting paid 60,000 or something, they are both making what they deserve in this league if Chivas was paying Sascha 300k i think everyone on this board would be calling that front office idiots. Last time I checked Sasha was closer to 200k and borenstien around 150,000 thats good money for a league everyone told it would fold.

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  11. no. The more young American talent in MLS the better. We want a league that Americans want to play in, and only the biggest stars go off to Europe.

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  12. What’s the point? He’s 29, so he’ll be 33 for the next go around. By that time, he’ll be winding down his career and won’t likely be playing internationally. It would be better off for the US if he stays in MLS

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  13. Wishing the Red Bulls were on MSG HD tonight but instead Fox Soccer picked it up. When is Time Warner going to come around and add Fox Soccer HD to its channel lineup?

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  14. Hey this is good. well okay maybe not for the NT. but for those 2. They’re sure to be making at least $250,000 and up to maybe $400,000. Several times their paychecks in MLS. So congrats

    the more americans who play abroad, the better right?

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  15. The Bornstein deal is supposed to be a swap in which Chivas USA will get Venezuela’s all-time leading goal scorer.

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  16. Another OT, So chivas usa losing players after the world cup? Bornstein to Atlante (yanks-abroad) and Kljestan to Anderlecht (Keith Costigan twitter)?

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  17. Remember that the club would need local fans to buy tickets and support the team. If it’s a team full of Americans, why would a bunch of English, German or French people support it?

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  18. Intriguing move for Torres but I doubt it. I mean sure he could play with everyone from the NT and score a load of goals and championships etc but I doubt he’d ever wanna play in La Liga ever again against Atletico Madrid. And I don’t see him leaving for Chelsea or Man City so i’d say he heads to Italy if he does leave.

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  19. Oh yeah I can see it now. Buddle makes Team of the Tournament with 4 goals. Now that would be quite a bet.

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  20. whatever happened to Kenny Cooper? Heard he was heading back to 1860 Munich. He should have never left

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  21. You know what. An American needs to own a English or German or French football club and just bring over a ton of American talent. It would totally work. The guy who owned Reading FC did the same and suddenly like 4-6 Icelandic players over the last few years or so. why not the same for us?

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  22. EJ’s NT career is over. He hasn’t scored in 2 years and that was against Barbados. His last goal before that was in the 07 Copa America. A PK against Argentina. He should focus on either playing for Fulham in a limited role or slashing his wages to play fulltime for Aris.

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  23. i feel like buddle has been linked to an epl team before…i just cant remember who. blackburn rovers?

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