Freddy leaves the witness protection program

That's right, dear readers, the diminutive gentleman pictured above is none other than Freddy Adu. Didn't he retire a few years ago? Haven't heard much from him in a while...Ok, so he's actually rotting in the reserves for Monaco. Same difference.

Freddy and the rest of the US Men's National Team are training in Miami this week ahead of their game this weekend in El Salvador. A spin through the CONCACAF qualifiers, after the jump.

Bradley has called in a full strength roster for the Central American road trip this weekend and next Wednesday's game in Nashville against Trinidad & Tobago (tickets still very much available). The squad is mostly euro-based and has the usual suspects, except for Steve Cherundulo who is battling injury. Perhaps we will see Jonathan Spector get some minutes at right back. Jay Demerit is also in line to sub for Bocanegra or Gooch in the middle. Realistically, though, this two game set should produce 6 points without too much trouble, despite the always exciting hostile crowd/ref/pitch/water/urine combo in San Salvador.

The biggest game this weekend actually takes place in Azteca between El Tri and the Ticos. Despite pasting Bolivia in a meaningless, quasi-unofficial friendly in Denver (?) two weeks ago, Sven Goran-Eriksson remains very much on the hot seat. Rumors are swirling that he could be sacked if results don't go his way this weekend. Costa Rica has won in Mexico City before, and an upset on Saturday could be the final nail in Sven's coffin.

Rafa Marquez didn't travel as he is hurt, while Carlos Vela is suspended for the first game. Marqeuz told FIFA.com that "it's unfair that people are trying to pin the blame on me for the bad results we've been having. If you ask me, Mexican football has a deep-rooted problem and that's the cause of the bad patch we've been going through. Our football is stagnating and with everything that's happened, it's time to come right out and say it. If we carry on like this we're all going to pay for it." I think I just shed a tear of pure shadenfreude.

And Sven has called in poor Oswaldo Sanchez, who will at least be happy he isn't facing Landon Donovan this week. Sylvester Adame of Goal.com notes:

Once again Sven has called up Sanchez and we resume the soap opera of who will be starting for El Tri. For many the game against Bolivia was going to be the start of the Guillermo Ochoa era but Eriksson sees it different.

“We will see who starts but I don’t want to discuss that now. Oswaldo looked fine on the weekend but I don’t want to talk about that now,” Eriksson said.

The full CONCACAF schedule is here, and without promising too much I imagine there will be a UF liveblog of the USA-El Salvador game on Saturday night.

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Lord, why are there no games on tv today?

Now the crushing reality of the summer sets in, as our Saturday mornings are strangely open (And yeah, no one was going to fork over for the FA Cup Final. Congrats Pompey!). No drinking before noon? No Hirshey mustache jokes? Grrr....All we have to comfort ourselves is the upcoming international season. And the MLS. And lots of rumors, after the jump:




The most interesting rumor today is that Sven Goran Eriksson is being lined up to coach the Mexican national team. I guess Sven really liked Nery Castillo. El Tri was hilariously mismanaged during the Hugo Sanchez era, who failed to even get the U-23s into the Olympics, and couldn't seem to beat Bob Bradley & Co. Of course, if the Mexican federation actually allowed the national team to play games in Mexico, they might get better results. SGE running the Mexicans would actually be pretty neat from a US perspective. Bob Bradley matching wits with a multi-time World Cup and European quarterfinalist!

In other US news, the national team released its provisional roster for the upcoming England/Spain/Argentina troika. Think Eddie Lewis and Frankie Hejduk, and 31 others. I'm hoping for a Michael Bradley hat trick at Wembley and a move to Arsenal. I also believe in Santa Claus. UF will be on hand at the Argentina game, and all UF readers are welcome to join us in for some tailgating in the Jersey swamps beforehand. Its possible there will beer and footie involved.

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USA! USA! USA!

The new US shirt drives the cougars wild

Tonight, the US Men's National Team plays host to El Tri at Houston's Reliant stadium. Is the US going to continue its recent run of domination over the Mexicans? Or will Hugo Sanchez's boys actually beat the Americans for the first time in seven tries? Pointless nationalism after the jump.

Tonight's friendly, which is rapidly becoming an annual tradition (and excellent money spinner for US Soccer), features CONCACAF's two best teams for what seems like the 1,000 time in the past couple of years. Then again, beating Mexico never gets old. The big story is the debut of a new generation of players on both sides. The Mexicans called in Dos Santos from Barcelona and Carlos Vela from Osasuna (he's Arsenal property). The US counters with Michael Bradley, who has been out of his mind at Herenveen, Freddy Adu, and Jozy Altidore, the Haitian sensation. Sadly Bob Bradley did not leave Landon back home in California to work on his tan. This should be a really exciting game, as both teams have more or less a first choice starting XI. The crowd will likely be overwhelmingly pro-Mexico, but I think the US continues its domination with a 3-1 win.

Oh, and the best news of the night by far is that the moronic tandem of Dave O'Brien and Eric Wynadla have apparently been replaced by J.P. Dellacamera and John Harkes. So hopefully there won't be any comparisons of corner kicks to Manny Ramirez home runs over the Monster tonight.

For more pregame hype, check out these links.

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