...and pain

Brazilians wax USMNT, 4-2

The U.S. managed to hold a one-goal lead over the five-time World Cup Champions for exactly 12 minutes, before U.S. defender Oguchi Onyewu handed Brazil an equalizing own goal. Three goals in the second half, including a trademark Ronaldinho free kick, sealed the deal.

With over 43,000 people on hand at Soldier Field in Chicago, Fulham capatain Carlos Bocanegra put the Yanks on top in the 21st minute with a chest ball, off a Landon Donovan corner kick. The equalizer came qucikly after, as Tim Howard's fantastic reaction save one-v-one against Kaka, bounced off the Gooch and past his helpless keeper.

DaMarcus Beasley had his requisite number of wasted chances, before halftime, but it ended 1-1 after the first 45.

Despite a strong showing by the U.S. early in the second half, Brazil would take the lead in the 53rd minute when Lucio headed home a Ronaldinho corner. Howard reportedly dislocated his finger on the play, but stayed in the match.

“It was pretty sore. I just tried to play through it, and hoped that the adrenaline would get me through it. You know to be honest, you know how it is when you travel with injuries—right now it’s swollen like a balloon, and I’m hoping that the flight doesn’t take too much out of it. I’ll see the doctors when I get back,” said Howard, following the match (ussoccer.com).

Some hard work by the U.S. put things even in the 73rd minute, when Steve Cherundolo found Clint Dempsey, who was making a trailing run through the box. Dempsey put it inside the far post to make it 2-2.

Two minutes later, Brazil would get the winner in their usual stunning fashion. After Bocanegra was whistled just outisde the area, Ronaldinho beat Howard with a seeing-eye shot that went through the wall and curled past Howard. Elano added an insurance goal from a PK in second half stoppage time.

The U.S. have scheduled a couple of European-soil friendlies against Catalonia (although the Spanish Soccer Federation might balk) on Oct. 14 and Switzerland on Oct. 17.

There 'Arnaud' suprises in U.S. roster

U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley released his 19-man roster for the September 9 friendly versus Brazil in Chicago, that some overzealous USSF marketeer dubbed the "Clash of Champions."

Here it is:

Goalkeepers: Tim Howard (Everton FC), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)
Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham FC), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), Frank Simek (Sheffield Wednesday), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)

Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Bobby Convey (Reading FC), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Benny Feilhaber (Derby County), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids)

Forwards: Davy Arnaud (Kansas City Wizards), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Eddie Johnson (Kansas City Wizards), Josh Wolff (1860 Munich)

A pretty strong side, but a bit on the boring side. No real surprises. There were only two names that really gave me pause. The first was Real Salt Lake's young back-up keeper Chris Seitz. If (god forbid) Timmy got hurt, you are setting up poor Seitz for quite a shellacking. Sure, he played well for the U-20s at the recent World Championships, but this is Brazil and they aren't bringing their C team. Hello, Ronaldinho. Why not throw poor Brad Guzan a bone? The guy has a 0.94 GAA for Bradley's ex-club Chivas USA. The other name that stood out was Davy Arnaud. Arnaud has just four goals in 23 matches. He's not exactly lighting it up for Kansas City, who have to rely almost exclusively on Eddie Johnson for goals.

You'll also notice that there are no representatives from any of the top six MLS clubs. No Jozy. No Taylor. No Marc Burch! (Burch is a big reason DC went undefeated in August). Sounds like MLS-USSF collusion to me. But you can't really blame them. DC, New England, Houston, Chivas USA, New York, and Dallas are all still in the hunt for the MLS Supporter's Shield (the true champion of MLS). As a matter of fact, DC United and New England Revolution have an important Eastern Conference match on the same day. Hence, Davy Arnaud. Maybe, he'll celebrate his default call-up by scoring a goal.

Samba with a Texas drawl?

Dallas FC are still targeting Brazilian midfielder Denilson, a member of the the 1998 World Cup runner's up and the 2002 World Cup champions, who currently plays for Saudi Arabian side Al-Nasr. And reports are that the club is close to a deal.

Denilson, 29, ended up in Saudi Arabia after a failed trial at Portsmouth. Before that he played 31 matches for French club Bordeaux in the 2005-2006 season. Once upon a time, Denilson was highest value player in the world, breaking the transfer fee record with a move from São Paulo to Real Betis (around $40 million).

Despite the fact that his best days are behind him, the thought of Juan Toja and Denilson combining in midfielder is intriguing if the Brazilian doesn't show up to Dallas out of shape and overweight.

Still can crack it from distance (courtesy of alnassr on YouTube)

U.S. is better than Brazil (Fun with syllogisms)

The better team wins the match
Mexico beat Brazil 2-0 last night
Therefore, Mexico is better than Brazil

The U.S. beats Mexico 2-1 in the Gold Cup
The U.S. is better than Mexico
Therefore, the U.S. is better than Brazil

See, it's all simple once you break it down. Good luck to our boys facing Argentina tonight! Hopefully, our young, inexperienced squad won't know enough to be intimidated by the likes of Riquelme, Crespo, Cambiasso, etc.

And hopefully they don't read the newspapers: "Argentina the team to beat in Copa America"