Bob Bradley has taken charge of some massive games over the course of his 35-year coaching career. The 58-year-old has captured an MLS Cup, two U.S. Open Cups and a CONCACAF Gold Cup. He led the United States to victories over Spain in the 2009 Confederations Cup and to the top of group C at the 2010 World Cup.
He’s also been on the losing side of some of those momentous matches.
On March 9, Clint Dempsey turned 33. George Best, Eric Cantona and Michel Platini all retired before reaching that milestone. Zinedine Zidane, Pele and Jurgen Klinsmann all retired at 34. With that in mind, you could forgive Dempsey for slowing down as he reaches the later stages of his playing career.
But Clint Dempsey would never forgive himself.
Dear Guatemala Football Federation,
I would like to personally offer a sincere danke schoen thank you for embarrassing my team Friday night in Guatemala City, beating us 2-0, and thus forcing me to make several changes to our squad. I learned so much from that butt-kicking on your home soil and that is precisely why we were able to beat you 4-0 in Columbus, Ohio Tuesday night. So, again, thank you!
USA vs. Guatemala didn't go very well on Friday for the USMNT, but they figured it out in COlumbus, cruising to an easy 4-0 win thanks to goals from Clint Dempsey, Geoff Cameron, Graham Zusi and Jozy Altidore. We'll let Twitter take it from here.
How are people feeling about the lineup? I'm sticking to a 3-0 USA win, assuming they bring their finishing boots: pic.twitter.com/UqwXohmxOj
The United States heads into its Olympic qualifying playoff against Colombia bearing both the brunt of national pressure and the knowledge that they’re coming up against, in many ways, superior opposition.
The stage is set for the biggest international tournament in the United States since the 1994 World Cup finals. The 2016 Copa America Centenario promises Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, James Rodriguez and another chance for both Mexico and the United States to disrupt the accepted international footballing hierarchy. This is your ultimate guide to the ultimate tournament of the Americas, the 2016 Copa America Centenario.
*All times indicated are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)
Alejandro Bedoya deserves a call up for the USMNT when they take on Guatemala in World Cup Qualifying. Bedoya has become something of a hero of late for French Ligue 1 side Nantes. After not scoring for Nantes for nine months, the United States international has now scored four in six games. Some of those goals have been extremely important.
Players like Bryan Ruiz, Clint Dempsey, Javier Hernandez and Dwayne De Rosario (recently retired) have been leading their respective countries attacks for years now. With the 2018 World Cup qualifiers underway, these young forwards, aged 24 and under, will be looking to make massive contributions on the road to Russia.
So, how do the forwards stack up against each other? Which CONCACAF nation has the most promising goal scorer? Don't let your allegiance and bias cloud your judgement...or do. We won't stop you.
Let’s get this out of the way: there was absolutely nothing Tim Howard could do about this second goal from Stoke City’s Xherdan Shaqiri on Monday. The ball over the top is sublime and Shaqiri’s first touch is even more sensational, lobbing the ball over Howard and into the top corner with zero hesitancy.
Prior to her final game, Abby Wambach drummed up her best Donald Trump impersonation, including both his political xenophobia and TV-like firings. By now you know what she said. If not, listen to the podcast here.
Initial reactions criticised Wambach almost for taking any sort of position on the matter rather than the appropriateness of her comments. Wambach has never been a quiet leader. She notoriously drops the F-bomb to fire up her team.