dateline: nuremburg
(a kneejerk reaction caused by intense disappointment)


consider this a postcard of sorts:

to landon donovan (posterboy for united states soccer): you may be more comfortable in mls. your personal life may be great, but the face of us soccer, you should not be. you could not have been any more ineffective in these three games. you did not set up one decent scoring opportunity in any of the three games. half the time you looked scared. you are now the captain of this team moving forward to 2010. at the moment, i could not be any more underwhelmed or disconcerted at this thought. worthless.

to demarcus beasley: you cannot utilize your speed unless you run hard. i can count on one hand the number of times i felt like you were giving your all. you were lucky to serve one good ball to clint dempsey in the ghana match, but otherwise, you were also a waste of talent and space.

to kasey keller: how about making a fucking save!!! only once in three matches did you make a save worth noting. anything else that found it's way into your hands would have fallen the same into the hands of an average high school goalkeeper. world class goalkeeper??? my ass. make a fucking save!!!

to claudio reyna (captain america): captain america, huh? not anymore. enjoy retirement and enjoy hitting the post in your retirement community rec. games. you are quite accomplished at this. thank you for giving ghana their first goal and the game. auf wiedersehen.

to bruce arena: you pointed us in the right direction. you really did. good job in 2002 and thank you for bringing us soccer to this point. i fear, though, that your abilities have reached their potential. you were outcoached in all three matches, make no mistake, and you have no idea how to create an attack other than serve it in to brian mcbride and hope something good happens. good luck at your next job. and thanks for the good times.

to clint dempsey, brian mcbride, eddie johnson and oguchi onyewu: thank you for playing like this was the most important tournament of your life. you all showed up and played hard. i wish for better for you all.

to the rest of the team: you are nondescript in my memory right now. not good enough or bad enough to make a mark. some of you played, some of you did not, but i feel lukewarm toward you all and spit you out of my mouth.

to us soccer: this is what it feels like to take two steps back. all is not lost. us soccer is here to stay. it just hasn't "arrived" yet. maybe soon. i hope so.

see you in south africa.

p.s. - to anyone that wants to blame the ref for the penalty kick and the winning goal...stop. please blame carlos bocanegra and his boneheaded header back into the penalty box.