I hated to start a new topic but this covers several different areas previously discussed and I didn’t know where to post it. There are several things I wanted to comment on, "my views from the island!" I think there have been some interesting and thoughtful commentaries on the World Cup.

Remember when the US didn’t get a seed by FIFA? Mexico did. Could the US have advanced from Mexico’s group facing Portugal, Angola, and Iran? I personally doubt it, but I think Mexico would have fared similarly to us in our group.

Regarding the US performances – I have to preface by saying I’m a big proponent of MLS soccer. The league is extremely important. I question, however, the emotional capacities of MLS players on a stage like the World Cup. Simply put, they do not train with, or face in matches, players like those who play in Europe’s top leagues. Perhaps more importantly, they don’t play in front of 30+ thousand people very often. I imagine that takes some getting used to and I don’t blame them for being intimidated. I think that would be a difficult breach to jump. For instance, Eddie Pope’s defending against Koller was childlike (as was his raised hand while Italy scored) and I can’t help but wonder if a player like Bocanegra or even Berhalter, who mark big guys like that for a living, would have done better.

There’s a lot bad to say about the US team, but I’m most troubled by the personnel selection. It seems Arena picked some players and said “okay, good or not, these are the guys I’m taking to the world cup and they are going to play” regardless of whether they’ve scored in 18 games or not. Can you imagine any high school coach in SC sticking with a forward who hasn’t scored in 18 matches? I’ve heard several “insiders” also suggest that perhaps the USSF tells Arena he has to carry and play a certain number of MLS players. I hope that is not true.

Regardless, there are a lot of good US players that haven’t gotten much of a look from Arena. To add to the official player pool Kyle cited, here are other Americans who should surely be considered for national team duty:

Adin Brown, Aelesunds , Norwegian First Division
Kenny Cooper, Manchester United FC, English Premier League
Ramiro Corrales, Ham Kam , Norwegian First Division
Max Ian-Josef Cream, Dunfermline Athletic, Scottish Premier League
Jay DeMerit,Watford, English League Championship
Jemal Johnson, Preston North End, English league Championship
on loan from Blackburn Rovers, English Premier League
Danny Karbassiyoon, Burnley, English League Championship
Giuseppe Rossi, Manchester United FC, English Premier League
Robbie Russell, Rosenberg BK, Norwegian First Division

The fact that Jonathan Spector, who at least has played with the US, is good enough for West Ham but not good enough for Bruce Arena speaks volumes in my mind. Also, the fact that the above players haven't ever played with the National Team, while Donovan turns in a year's worth of goalless performances, is absurd beyond comment. But with the brilliance of USSF I’m afraid our next captain will be Landon Donovan and the coach will be Marcelo Balboa.

It’s sad because they represent all of us.

Cheers everyone!