It could've been different, but it wasn't. Today once again proved that if you're the American team, you can't sit on a draw.

The United States were actually able to take advantage of the match early when Charlie Davies turned Juarez and put the ball around Ochoa. His pace has become a deadly asset for the United States and he should have a good season with Sochaux in Ligue 1 this year.

Not long after the goal Mexico found a way to threaten and score. Israel Castro hit a thunderbolt which left Tim Howard with no chance, he was never the most likely goal scorer, in fact he's only scored seven times for Pumas, but that was a goal anyone would be proud of. Cuauhtémoc Blanco played a role in the build up.

Somehow after the goal three American defenders found a variety of ways to get booked. Onyewu for handball, which was probably smart considering he was well beaten if the ball had gotten by him and DeMerit and Bocanegra for late tackles. That made the defending complicated for the remainder of the match.

Early in the second half Javier Aguirre took the chance to introduce Carlos Vela into the fold and it wound up paying dividends. Though he wasn't directly involved, it seems the Americans find it extremely difficult to deal with the Arsenal man.

Mexico's winner came when Juarez made amends for his early mistake with a storming run up the right that set up Miguel Sabah. No previous Mexico manager has even cared about the current Morelia man, but he's in a real purple patch as of late and Aguirre's faith in him won Mexico the match today. He's scoring a goal every two games for Mexico, a fabulous return for anyone.

There was some controversy in the match, Nery Castillo was incredibly testy and probably could have been sent off, or at the very least cautioned for grabbing Charlie Davies head as he lay on the ground after cramping.

It must be said that Mexico deserved the win, they outplayed the US outside of the first 15 minutes. It was a win they desperately needed as it, at least for now, moves them into third ahead of Honduras for the last automatic qualification spot. Honduras is at home to leaders Costa Rica tonight, while the Soca Warriors visit El Salvador in the other fixture.

Mexico v United States - CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

This is the most important and the fiercest rivalry in North American sports. I know some people are likely to take issue with that statement, but don't let your own loyalties cloud your judgment, this is the absolute zenith, it does not get any bigger than this on our continent.

Many things contribute to the rivalry between Mexico and the United States, not least culture and geography. No matter what some misguided people in either country will tell you, the two are sister nations, forever interwoven within the very fabric of the other and it's not just a recent thing, it was ever so. The fact that the United States will very likely field Jose Fransisco Torres, a Texas-born Mexican-American, in this match is proof of that.

Mexico has long been the dominate, nearly undisputed power in CONCACAF, and they have not taken well to the recent rise of their neighbors to the north. Despite winning 5-0 in last month's Gold Cup final at the Meadowlands, many Mexicans still feel the sting from a 2-0 American win during the 2002 World Cup in Korea Republic. But they still have one trump card, the Azteca. The Americans have never won at the vaunted stadium and as such it has begun to carry a mystique about it which makes the stadium itself a factor in the match. It's more than the 110,000 fans right on top of the players, more than the elevation and the pollution in Mexico's Federal District, more than the green of El Tri, the "Colossus of Saint Ursula" is in and of itself the twelth man.

As if either team needed anymore motivation for the match, Mexico's qualification hopes may well hinge on the result. Currently El Tri site fourth in the CONCACAF Final Round -- a playoff spot with South America -- only a single point ahead of a resurgent El Salvador side who face minnows, though newly buoyed, Trinidad & Tobago this week. Be assured that the Americans would revel in having played some part in Mexico missing the World Cup.

Somewhat, okay, very, controversially the English feed for the match will be on the relatively little known Mun2, a sister-network to Telemundo, who hold the Spanish rights to the match. NBC Universal has worked to make sure the match will be accessible to as many people as possible, as expected, they're using this as an opportunity to introduce Mun2 to a wider audience. If they're successful in doing so we could end up seeing more soccer on Mun2, and that's a good thing for the viewing public. Plus I'm addicted to The Chicas Project now, wait, I didn't say that.

DC United v Real Madrid & Seattle Sounders v Barcelona

Two more friendly matches from the "summer of soccer" and I have to say that despite the results I was pleased by both. There was a sellout crowd in Seattle and a nice crowd in Landover -- the match was too big for RFK -- for the DC match. Hats off to both sides.

I don't hate Seattle! I actually think they're very good for the game and genuinely hope they're able to build upon what they currently have.

W-League and PDL Champions

Congratulations must go out to the Pali Blues and the Ventura County Fusion who won the championships of the USL W-League and USL Premier Development League this weekend, respectively. Both teams come from the LA area and show what a great pedigree the area has for the game. While it's mostly known for being the only city with two MLS teams the city offers much more than that in terms of soccer and it really shows. This is the second championship in two years of existence for Pali, and the first for the Fusion. Credit must also be given to the Chicago Fire who are truly one of the most complete clubs in the United States, their reserve team finished as PDL runners-up.

Dani Jarque 1983-2009

As you are all aware, Espanyol's captain Dani Jarque passed away this weekend after suffering a heart attack. At only twenty-six Jarque tragically leaves behind a pregnant girlfriend. It serves as a wrenchingly sad reminder of just how precious life is. May he rest in eternal peace.

NBC Universal has announced that it will offer a free preview of Mun2 during the August 12th World Cup Qualifying match between Mexico and the United States at the Estadio Azteca.

Also, NBCU has announced that Phil Schoen and former United States defender Marcelo Balboa will handle commentary duties on Mun2, Telemundo's primarily English language sister channel.

Today Mexico handed the United States nothing short of a savage, savage beating at The Meadowlands. After seven years of hearing gloating chants of "Two-Nil!" the Mexicans finally have a chant of their own.

5-0.

While watching the match I was attempting to figure out a way to explain it, as I watched I continued to ask myself how it happened. I didn't know, there was no way to explain it, Mexico simply hammered the United States. Each goal was a lesson in how to play football, how to pass, how to run, how to dribble, how to play off the ball, and how to finish. The penalty could be disputed, but there was no doubt that Jay Heaps grabbed some of Gio dos Santos' top in the process. Giovanni made a meal of the shirt tug, but Heaps should've known better. To be honest, he was a bit of a bomb scare every time he stepped onto the field and he ended his Gold Cup by being sent off stupidly.

It's hard to place blame for the loss, the score was 0-0 at half time and the Americans seemed to be in control, but sometime shortly after the start of the second half a very important component fell off somewhere, and whatever it was, it was missed big time.

Sadly this beating, and it was nothing short of that, will take some of the gloss off of the Confederations Cup run in the eyes of a newer fan who may not fully understand the difference between the teams that played. This was without any doubt our B, or even C team. But we can't make excuses, we simply can't lose 5-0. We can't lose 5-0 anywhere. Not at Azteca, not at Saprissa, and especially not in the United States. It's embarrassing.

We heard a lot about the superior American athletic ability, the superior American strength, and the superior American fitness, and we were shown again why those facts are brought up so much. The inferior American artistry. Yes, we have artistic players, but it's been exposed once again that we aren't producing enough of them. In South Africa we had Benny Feilhaber, Landon Donovan. Charlie Davies, and Clint Dempsey. Men who can paint beautiful pictures with the ball. At the Gold Cup we had Kyle Beckerman and Stuart Holden, both of whom were superb until the final, but seemed overwhelmed by the fact that they were playing Mexico. In this country we value strength and muscle, it's pushed on our young athletes from a young age. We force fed vertical leaps and 40 times until our ears bleed from an overload of numbers. Strength and speed are wonderful, and you absolutely need players who have those things, but we neglect the artistic side of the game. The side of the game that makes Argentina and Brazil so great. This needs to be fixed.

Today Mexico showed us, five times, why this matters so much.

Next month we have to travel to Mexico City, to the feared Estadio Azteca. Yesterday we were actually favored to win this match. Today? No. We have a lot of thinking, and a lot of work ahead of us.

I apologize in advance for only watching one match and any errors in the article, my medicine has made me hilariously sleepy this week.

Though there were chances in the first half nothing really perked me up until Jimmy Conrad had a head-to-head collision with a Panamanian player who's name escapes me, Conrad came off by far the worst and was bleeding out of his mouth. He looked spaced out. After halftime it was announced that he'd been taken to the hospital with a concussion. Good luck to him.

Things got worse for the US after the Conrad incident, Panama went down to the other end and scored after a corner kick. Some shambolic defending by the Americans eventually let Blas Perez have an easy chance and he made it 1-0. Some fan ripped his shirt off in the celebrations, Max Bretos said he could've gotten booked for it (he was already on a yellow) but the referee gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Following halftime the Americans equalized with a long range effort from Kyle Beckerman who had a superb match. Beckerman has done a good job putting himself into the shop window during the Gold Cup, don't be shocked if Europe beckons soon.

Later on Stuart Holden came close to making it 2-1 but his effort brushed wide of the far post. Substitute Kenny Cooper also had chances but couldn't convert.

For long spells of the second half Panama couldn't get forward at all, Troy Perkins probably took a nap. They did threaten late but were unable to do anything.

The match went into extra time where the US again had the run of play and managed to score after Cooper was speared in the box which lead to a penalty, Cooper converted.

The second half of extra time saw more of the same, and the match stayed 2-1. Panama's keeper did the slowest walk up ever to attack a corner at the end, he didn't even get to the box. It was weird.

All in all a good win for the Americans, but alarm bells will be ringing since Conrad will likely miss the semifinal, and probably final. That doesn't leave the team with many centerbacks by trade though Goodson did well stepping in.

Who designed Lincoln Financial Field? Was it done with only a ruler? Seriously, that place has no curves at all. Yes, I like curvy stadiums and curvy girls. I totally didn't say that. Stadium comments aside, Philadelphia produced a good crowd, something around 31,500. If they can do that for Philadelphia Union that'll be excellent.

Anyway, the US will play Honduras in the semifinals. The other two participants will be determined tomorrow in Dallas.

I'm very proud of our team. Our players showed incredible heart and passion, they played with a pride and intensity we rarely see from American male national teams. Last summer the basketball team showed it as they swept to victory in Beijing but usually players look at national duty as a waste of time. That isn't the case with our soccer team, maybe because of soccer's international standing. But I was particularly impressed with the players and their level of passion throughout the Confederations Cup.

I wasn't impressed with Bob Bradley's tactics. He seemed scared and overly cautious. He waited until Brazil equalised to make a change and did the wrong things when he made them. Again, I can't fault the players he brought on, they did what they were asked, but I have to ask why he picked them.

Our most dangerous players were Landon Donovan and Charlie Davies, both looked especially dangerous when they got the ball out wide exposing Brazil's weakness on the wings by getting the ball away from Brazil's strong spine. Bradley's change was to bring on Sacha Kljestan and Jonathan Bornstein. Bornstein made since, he's a pacy wide player with an ability to get into the box, Kljestan did not. In certain situations I like Sascha Kljenstan, he provides a nice option at times, but today wasn't the time for him. Many question Bradley's reliance on players he coached at club level, and their questions may have merit.

Aside from his sub there is the question of Bradley's tactics. After taking the lead he again seemed content to go into his now infamous bunker. We don't have the players for this. Our defenders play their best when pressure isn't being heaped on them, and in particular Brazilian pressure. You could tell the defenders were tired. While Tim Howard is one of the world's top goalkeepers he remains human, he is not superman, there is no superman. Howard was heroic today, and while you may look at the scoreline and say he let in three, you don't see the saves he had to make thanks in large part to the bunker tactics.

Our team has changed, this new generation of American players has brought good attacking promise, and it must be used. Bradley isn't tapping it correctly with his tactics, and if the Brazil game wasn't proof enough, look at Costa Rica and El Salvador. Or Italy. That tactic doesn't work for us, that tactic doesn't work for anyone. It's antiquated and exposed.

I am no manager, I never claimed to be, but I'd have brought on Freddy Adu. Freddy would've provided the same thing Donovan, Dempsey and Davies did, he would've provided what was working.

Again, I'm proud of our players. They deserve us to be proud of them, we should all be proud of them. I just feel upset that Bradley's current tactical scheme may be doing our players a grave disservice.

Hats off to Landon Donovan. You're a hell of a player, it's time everyone admits that.

Congratulations to Brazil. What is this? Trophy number 84? Heh.

It's not like the US has never won anything before, they've lifted the regional Gold Cup on several occasions and each time it means something, but it doesn't mean what this does.

This isn't the World Cup, not by a long shot. It's a dress rehersal for the big show next summer, but it does mean something, it's a serious competition. Quietly the Confederations Cup means a lot, particularly to those outside of Europe but even that didn't stop the Europeans from sending strong squads this year, they weren't ordered to, but they came to win.

Today marks the first time an American men's team has reached a FIFA final. This has generated somewhat of a buzz in the United States. The sport struggles for positive publicity here - indeed, many will take any small opportunity to ridicule it - but this team, and this performance has managed to produce it. The Americans were hammered twice, once by the team they face today, to start the tournement, after two matches it looked like a lost cause. Needing a five goal swing in the final group matches the American side put in a brave performance to beat Italy's impressive conquerers Egypt in the third group match and got a massive favor from Brazil as the Samba Boys completely put Italy to the sword in the other fixture. 3-0, 3-0. A six goal swing, they had done it.

2-0. It is the most famous scoreline in American soccer. Known mostly for it's symbolence against heated rivals Mexico, it has taken on new meaning following the Confederations Cup semi-final against world number 1 Spain. Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey provided the goals and Tim Howard the heroics as they pulled off a victory many saw as impossible at kickoff.

This is a proud moment for fans of the United States national team, they follow the team through thick and thin and though often critical, they're also very proud and very protective. Today, whether they win or lose, their boys have made them extremely proud.

TV - 2:25 EDT ESPN (En) & Univision (Es).

South Africa did everything they could to make the 2009 Confederations Cup a story of underdogs. Up against seemingly impossible odds against the superpower of superpowers Bafana Bafana fought bravely and lost by the most narrow of margins.

It was a superbly taken, razor accurate free kick from substitute Dani Alves that crushed South Africa's dreams of reaching their first final and doing it on home soil. For 88 minutes the crowd at Ellis Park were energetic and hopeful as they watched their heroes look Brazil directly in the eyes and not back down. Lead by the inspired play of Everton's Steven Pienaar the hosts frustrated Brazil time after time. Goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune was nearly cast into the role of hero as he made some big saves to keep the Brazilians at bay.

Indeed at times luck played a role for South Africa but their heart and bravery cannot be denied. it was a harsh ending for South Africa but their adventure will provide them a much needed boost as the prepare to host the big show next summer. For now they will look to Rustenburg where Spain await at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium, to the South Africans, this match means a lot.

Meanwhile the United States will partake in their first ever FIFA men's final as Spain's conquerers will take on the same Brazil team that beat them by three goals in the group stage.  Brazil have won the trophy twice in the past in addition to their five World Cups.

Before the match FIFA will take time to honor the late Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe prior to the match.

American head coach Bob Bradley found out right away that his Beasley at left back experiment is not working out well as the Rangers' man made a mistake which lead to Costa Rica's opening goal just after the first minute in San Jose at Estadio Saprissa. Beasley gave up the ball cheaply and it eventually found it's way to Saborio who with the help of some keystone kops-esque defending placed the ball wonderfully into the top corner of Tim Howard's goal.

Beasley, again playing out of position as a left back, was also responsable for El Salvador's second goal last time the US played a match on the road.

Costa Rica continued to give the Americans a lesson by stringing several passes together and stomping out any US passes near the box save for a few that went on to become wasted corner.

Soon the Ticos would make it two, a well worked move up the left wing lead to a short cross in the box which midfielder Borges had no trouble finishing.

At halftime Bradley brought on Sacha Kljestan for Jose Torres in hopes of creating more (read: any) chances against a solid, yet little worked Costa Rica defense. The switch didn't go as planned and Costa Rica opened with a flurry and didn't relent until they found a third goal to kill the match.

That goal came in the 69th minute up the right hand side as Herrera sliced open the majority of the US defense to slide the ball slowly into Howard's goal. It was a classic.

The third goal put the game beyond doubt for the Ticos who were content to defend for the remaining 20 minutes. In stoppage time Costa Rica committed an infraction in the box which lead to a Landon Donovan penalty, little more than consolation on a bad night for the US, and an excellent one for Costa Rica.

Bob Bradley should expect to have his team selection heavily questioned over the next few days, particularly as he left Jonathan Bornstein on the bench in favor of makeshift defender Beasley, and utility defender Jonathan Spector out of the squad all together.