USA-Mexico

Mexico is in disarray. They were without three studs due to injury or suspension, and their form has been terrible under their new coach. And they haven't won in the US in 11 games (over seven years) now, and have now lost three consecutive meaningful games (i.e. World Cup qualifiers, Gold Cup, etc) on Columbus by the same 2-0 score. That said, the U.S. looked very good. They're not ready to beat Argentina, Spain, or Italy yet, but US soccer is steadily improving. The three best American national team players: Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, and DaMarcus Beasley, all played great yesterday. Midfield rising stars Sasha Klejstan and Michael Bradley are going to be super (Bradley, the coaches son, scored both goals), and they have one of the best keepers in the English Premier League, Everton's Tim Howard. There's also a ton of young talent on the bench like Ricardo Clark, Jozy Altidore, Benny Feilhaber, Bobby Convey, etc.

Weaknesses? Strikers and Defenders. Bocanegra, Cherundolo, Onyewu, Hejduk, and Pearce are all acceptable, serviceable backs, but not near up to the caliber of the Italians or Germans, obviously. I think the U.S. is improving on defense, but it still glares as the big weakness that could allow a crap goal to cost them in South Africa. But I guess every country has that worry. You've just got to be rock solid at the back and Bradley's charges are not. At least they seem to know who they're going to war with for the next eighteen months, so they can only keep getting better. And they do have a world class keeper, something that wasn't there in '06.

Striker is interesting, because Bradley seems to like playing with a lone striker, usually Brian Ching or Eddie Johnson, letting Donovan, Dempsey and Beasley fill in from the wings and through the middle as complimentary attackers. I like Ching but don't love him, don't like Johnson, and wish the U.S. still had Brian McBride's heading prowess but he's retired. My answer is to play Jozy Altidore as the lone striker. This big, physical, 20 yr old kid is going to be awesome, and I think he would allow the big three to operate freely by holding the ball up and starting attacks through the wings and middle. Ultimately, the reason the U.S. is getting better and better is due to the players' (finally!) willingness to toil in the elite European leagues. There is still have some good talent who play in MLS, but the more US players we hear popping up in the EPL, Germany, Holland, Portugal (and hopefully soon, Italy and Spain), the better the prospects are of competing with the giants in a World Cup. Landon Donovan is finally out of LA and the joke that is the Galaxy, and playing for one of the world's top clubs, Bayern Munich (albeit as a sub, but still). Howard, Dempsey, Johnson, Convey, Beasley, Bocanegra, and Friedel (our other super goalie) all play in the UK, while Onyewu is in Portugal and Bradley is in Germany. This is good. The U.S. has the speed and depth and athleticism to make it to a World Cup quarterfinal or beyond (and not by shocking and sneaking up on teams like in '02, when they sat back and hit teams on counters- a strategy that met with a brutal and efficient death in '06 when the world was ready for them), but they still need to get a lot better at technical skills (ball handling). The team I saw last night looked technically the best I've seen, and the passing was crisp and imaginitive.

Nothing would be cooler than for the US to shock the world in 2010. And just making it through our group with impressive showings would almost suffice. We don't have to win the thing yet, just announce that we're here and command respect. We need to be a top 10 team globally, consistently. Not an easy task (we're #20 now), but definitely attainable. The world elites are only getting better and scarier though, too. Since I've been following soccer closely (about four years), I've gotten the feeling that the sport has grown even more popular globally, due to satellite tv coverage, internet coverage, the EPL broadcasting itself all over the world, ESPN televising Champions League games, etc. And it's definitely growing in America. All that magnified interest seems to be the result of a ridiculous amount of superstars emerging around the world, stars who are both gifted and marketable. This is where Beckham is underappreciated in my opinion...he's responsible for all this hysteria over Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Pato, Henry, Fabregas, Torres, Gerrard, Drogba, Arshavin, Iniesta, Aguero, Rooney, etc etc etc etc etc. So basically, the world has never cared more, because soccer has never been covered with more close focus, scrutiny, and tabloid mania (same is true with our domestic sports, and the ESPN culture) than it is today, which is why the world's elite nations are only going to get harder, not easier, for the US to compete with. So, no, I don't see us winning the World Cup anytime soon, but being feared by Italy and Spain would be nice.

Argentina has no peers at this point. Messi is far better than Ronaldo and IS the best player in the world.