The US draws China, Germany, and Bolivia in our World Cup group!

Everyone is beatable, that was proven at the last World Cup, but I think it will be quite the challenge. I can't wait to root for the USA!

Even so, eliminating a team like China earlier on could help in later rounds.

A last minute draw against China - A steady start

Could be worse!

Heartbreaking equalizer from bolivia.

I'm excited to have my first look at the national team.

A couple of observations: John Deatrick has mentioned this before. Three of the top four defenders are left side focused. If would be great if Beasley, McVicker or Outhwaite had more center experience.

Also, I'm a little surprised at the lack of a set-piece specialist. Perhaps this is special attribute to think about for an up-and-coming midfielder.

Happy off-season everyone.

The US National Team has had a solid run through qualifying for the North American championships. With one point in the final two games the US will wrap up the top spot in our group. We dropped one game to El Salvador. This was a bad loss, but one of those away games where we outshot (13-5) and out tackled (13-5) the other team and completed 97% of our passes, but just can't put the ball in the back of the net. We also gave up a penalty for their only goal. I'd question the refs decision, but that won't do any good.

The real competition will come in the championship tournament. St. Lucia and Jamaica have both looked strong. Jamaica have only given up one goal in 6 games, St. Lucia have scored 19 times in 7 games.

Anguilla may be a dark horse for the North American crown as they have a very strong team. Haiti may be looking like a team for the future as they've been playing well with a very young roster.

We took a small rankings drop recently as the El Salvador (ranked 189) loss came close to a couple of interland losses. Though it would be nice to continually rise up the rankings, it is important for young players gain experience, particularly in meaningless games.

Our shortlist doesn't have many teenagers or 20 year old, but does have some quality 23/24 year-olds. I hope to find more playing time for these folks when we wrap up our qualifying group and interland games return.

Anyway, I've written much more than I intended. Feel free to respond with questions, comments, even complaints (I guess).

We have a lot of young talent coming up in the 16-19 year old range. I have 2 1000 credit players who are just turned 16 and already 3 stars. We have a bright future!

Ugly, but we're in

It was super ugly. We lost our last two qualifiers for the North American championship. Despite strong performances against the Bahamas and Montserrat, we lost close games. The Montserrat game was very frustrating as they scored twice on three shots and only had one tackle.

I need to rethink a couple elements of strategy going into the tournament.

Hello all,
National team manager candidates can express interest officially tomorrow. I am interested in managing another term. I would like to manage a world cup, then will move out of the position. I also don't want to monopolize the position. If not me, I would like the manager to come from the US league, so I don't want to split votes if someone else has interest.

I'm in full support of you managing again

You'll have my vote, cdowne. Maybe I'll run again next World Cup, it's the only trophy I haven't won in this game(not include U21 Champion Cup).

A bit of an unlucky draw for the group stage of the North American Championship. Drawing Jamaica gives the group two teams currently ranked in the top 4 in North America. Their defense is stout and may have the best GK in the tournament. Anguilla is also a tough team, currently ranked #9 in North America. They were difficult in qualifying and have a talented team. Antigua and Barbuda could prove to be a difficult team to beat. Despite struggling to qualify for the tournament, they have stronger players than many teams ranked similarly.

We should advance to the knockout stage, but it is going to be a battle.

The US got a 1-0 win in a major defensive battle in our first game of group play. Mathos Ninis finished the first shot of the game for the game's only goal. After that the US defense went to work. The US out-tackled Anguilla 21-17 but were outshot 5-2. Eduard Westerman was no doubt the man of the match with 13 tackles from his defensive midfield position, thwarting many Anguilla attacking opportunities.

The US plays Antigua and Barbuda tomorrow in what promises to be an important match. In their first game, the Benna Boys (Antigua's nickname) scored two goals against Jamaica's formidable defense, but gave up 3. They will be hungry for a point to keep their hope of advancing alive.