Photo by ISIphotos.com
Plenty to discuss in the world of soccer on the day after the Miracle in South Africa so let's get started:
Know how many fouls Michael Bradley, Jay DeMerit, Oguchi Onyewu and Ricardo Clark combined for against Spain? Try two. Bradley's lone foul was the one he was issued a red card for. One foul, one red card. Good job there Jorge Larrionda. Between that call and the two red cards he gave American players at the 2006 World Cup, you can't blame U.S. fans for hoping Larrionda isinvolved in a scandal at some point.
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Aside from the million the U.S. national team has made the federation for reaching the Confederation Cup finals (yes, teams are awarded prize money for advancing), several U.S. players have bolstered their transfer prospects with some amazing performances.
Heading that list? Oguchi Onyewu, who is out of contract. There was a report that he had signed with Fenerbahce, but his representatives say he hasn't signed a thing.
Who else should see their paychecks get a boost? Jay DeMerit absolutely must get some EPL offers after his performance against Spain and you have to think Landon Donovan has upped his stock. Ricardo Clark has been a European target in the past, at least there's been passing interest, but he just might be the next MLS player to make a move to Europe.
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Remember back in 2007 when Bob Bradley took a young team to Copa America and the team was whipped up? Plenty of critics called it a wasted opportunity. Well, here are some of the players who gained some experience in that tournament: Jay DeMerit, Charlie Davies, Benny Feilhaber, Jonathan Bornstein and Ricardo Clark to name a few. Suddenly that tournament doesn't look like such of a waste, does it?
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Take a bow New Jersey. Jozy Altidore's goal vs. Spain increased the number of goals scored by New Jersey-born players in the tournament to four (Altidore, Michael Bradley and two from some Italian guy). I don't know where that ranks among states in the world, but it's still pretty impressive.
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I know there was some talk about Spain and not wanting to trade jerseys after the match. As far as I know at least three players swapped jerseys. Oguchi Onyewu and Fernando Torres, Jay DeMerit and Xabi Alonso and Jozy Altidore and Joan Capdevila were the jersey swappers I noticed.
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After throwing together a preliminary MLS All-Star ballot, I was reminded that D.C. United, Toronto FC and the New York Red Bulls (stop laughing) have CONCACAF Champions League games that day. Well, if Dom Kinnear takes that into account and leaves those teams untouched, this is the ballot I would cast right now:
---------Landon Donovan---------Conor Casey---------------
----------------Guillermo Barros Schelotto-------------------
Brad Davis-------------------------------------Shalrie Joseph
----------Osvaldo Alonso---------Paulo Nagamura-----------
Geoff Cameron---Jhon Kennedy Hurtado----Wilman Conde
-----------------------Zach Thornton--------------------------
Closing fast on this group? Omar Cummings, Stuart Holden and Dwayne DeRosario.
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Tickets for Real Madrid-Toronto FC at BMO Field on Aug. 7th have sold out while more than 35,000 tickets have already been sold for Real Madrid-D.C. United at Fed Ex Field on Aug. 9th. In other words, if you're hoping to catch a climpse of Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo with their new team you had better hurry.
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The Showdown in Chinatown, the charity soccer match hosted by Steve Nash and Claudio Reyna, managed to dodge the rain clouds to give New York fans a great treat as NBA and international soccer stars played some soccer.
Here are some highlights:
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That's all for now. Share your thoughts on any of the above topics in the comments section below.
