US/Brazil Roster Released...

From Yanks Abroad -- once again, no Altidore or Adu:

Goalkeepers
Howard, Tim Everton (England)
Seitz, Chris Salt Lake (MLS)

Defenders
Bocanegra, Carlos Fulham (England)
Cherundolo, Steve Hannover 96 (Germany)
DeMerit, Jay Watford (England)
Onyewu, Oguchi Standard Liege (Belgium)
Pearce, Heath Hansa Rostock (Germany)
Simek, Frank Sheffield Wednesday (England)
Spector, Jonathan West Ham United (England)

Midfielders
Beasley, DaMarcus Rangers (Scotland)
Bradley, Michael Heerenveen (Holland)
Convey, Bobby Reading (England)
Dempsey, Clint Fulham (England)
Feilhaber, Benny Derby County (England)
Mastroeni, Pablo Colorado Rapids (MLS)

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

Who will Fabio Capello manage next?

Could he replace Steve McLaren as the Three Lions' manager or perhaps take the over the USMNT duties from Bob Bradley. Or maybe even take over at Chelsea should Jose not bring home the Champions League hardware this year. Sportingo examines the possibilities:

But I want to dig even deeper into the possibilities here. What about England? What if trophies fail to arrive at Chelsea and Liverpool this season? If Liverpool do not win the Premier League it is not out of the question that Rafael Benitez will be fired. Jose Mourinho is not guaranteed to be at Chelsea next season if multiple trophies (and I don't mean of the FA Cup and Carling Cup variety) make their way to Stamford Bridge.

Thus, two big clubs with big budgets and lots of talent could have manager openings. Thinking even bigger for a second, England national team manager Steve McClaren will be gone either before Euro 2008 because England fail to qualify or immediately after the competition when they crash out in dismal fashion again. Managing England is one of the highest profile jobs in the world. Signore Capello - your ego is landing.

And let me throw this out: Would Capello consider managing in the United States?

Consider the total lack of pressure on the US national team manager, and I would have to believe Capello could balance managing an MLS club with the national team job. He could settle in at LA Galaxy, Chivas USA or Chicago Fire all while guiding the Americans to respectability at the international level. If we've learned anything over the summer it is that current manager Bob Bradley hasn't done much to raise the competitiveness of the US national team. They look pretty ordinary outside of CONCACAF and if David Beckham is getting MLS on front pages and prime-time television shouldn't the national team strive for the same?

Capello, of course, would be a great hire for the USMNT and coincidentally was in the UK yesterday and met with Bob Bradley to share technical advice:

Capello met with U.S. coach Bob Bradley and U.S. soccer federation president Sunil Gulati in London on Thursday.

"They wanted my views for a series of technical questions," Capello was quoted as saying in Friday's Gazzetta dello Sport.

The meeting lasted three hours, according to the Gazzetta.

The United States was beaten 1-0 by Sweden in a friendly Wednesday to extend its losing streak to four games — the worst such stretch for the Americans in a decade.

Capello met with U.S. coach Bob Bradley and U.S. soccer federation president Sunil Gulati in London on Thursday.

"They wanted my views for a series of technical questions," Capello was quoted as saying in Friday's Gazzetta dello Sport.

The meeting lasted three hours, according to the Gazzetta.

The United States was beaten 1-0 by Sweden in a friendly Wednesday to extend its losing streak to four games — the worst such stretch for the Americans in a decade.

If Bradley needs advice from Capello he should just switch the interim manager tag to assistant manager or former Manager - especially considering the aforementioned four game losing streak.

Yanks and Three Lions fall

A pretty weak effort from the Yanks tonight in Sweden. A few players such as Kamani Hill and Jay DeMerit had decent form but overall "a mediocre performance" as Donovan Beasley stated.

A strike by Kim Kallstrom in the 56th minute gave Sweden a 1-0 result over the US Men's National Team in a friendly at Ullevi Stadium in Goteborg, Sweden on Wednesday.

The score marked the end of what had been a first-half power struggle on a clear Scandinavian night.

In the first half, things got off to a shaky start for the predominantly European-based squad when a Michael Bradley mishap gave Sweden's Kennedy Bakircioglu space and options in the second minute. Bakircioglu found Zlatan Ibrahimovic on a centering ball but the Inter Milan striker went wide with it.

The Americans quickly returned the favor on a great chance for DaMarcus Beasley in the third minute. Landon Donovan took a creative pass from Clint Dempsey and played it flat to Beasley who, alone, went wide left.

"The contact was there but it was just the wrong side of the post," Beasley told reporters after the match. "I should have scored. I thought it was going in."

Beasley's miss seemed to leave him a bit shell-shocked in the following moments.

DeMerit looked to be the best Yank when he came on late; it's about time for him to get more minutes. Most supporter seems to be curious to have seen how Jozy Altidore might have fared against Sweden; hopefully that day will come soon. Also worth noting was the debut of Sal Zizzo.

Struggling with their fitness England looked like and fared as well as their 1998 World Cup team, with Owen & Beckham playing together. Kevin Kuranyi and the Germans got a gift equalizer from the shaky Paul Robison. Cristian Pander put the Germans ahead with a marvelous blast that Robinson was helpless to stop.

Frank Lampard's early goal was not enough as Germany came from behind to beat England 2-1 at Wembley and heap more pressure on Steve McClaren. There was not a penalty in sight but Paul Robinson's howler ensured England still experienced that familiar sinking feeling against their old rivals.

Lampard's first international goal for 12 months had raised hopes of a rare home win against the old enemy.

Unfortunately, on a night of experimentation and preparation, the positives gained from an encouraging performance which deserved better than the eventual result, will be overshadowed by Robinson's woes.

The Tottenham man gifted Kevin Kuranyi Germany's equaliser with a miserable mistake and nothing during his 45-minute appearance suggested anything other than that his replacement, veteran David James, should be installed when Israel head to Wembley on September 8 for a game coach Steve McClaren has already described as "must-win" if England are to reach Euro 2008.

The goalkeeping conundrum will occupy McClaren's mind for most of the next 17 days, although there was little Robinson could have done to keep out the sweet strike from Christian Pander which ultimately gave Germany their win.

The aforementioned Pander goal:

Feilhaber debut delayed...

Derby supporters will have to wait for the debut of the young American as his registration wasn't completed in time for today's fixture versus Man City:

Derby boss Billy Davies plans to rotate his team, even though they began with an encouraging draw against Portsmouth. One man definitely still out is midfielder Giles Barnes, who is sidelined by a foot injury. Derbys latest recruit, American midfielder Benny Feilhaber, is ineligible because his international clearance has not yet come through.

Hopefully this weekend he will be able to build on his strong performances with the USMNT

USMNT releases roster for Sweden friendly...

From USSoccer.com:

CHICAGO (August 14, 2007) — U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Bob Bradley has named the 19-man roster that will travel to face 11-time World Cup finalists Sweden on Aug. 22 in Göteborg. The U.S. team will begin arriving in Göteborg on Sunday, Aug. 19 and will train twice before Wednesday’s match. Kickoff at Ullevi Stadium is set for 2:30 p.m. ET (8:30 p.m. local time) and will be broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel (with Galavision airing the match live at 2:30 p.m. ET and delayed at 2:30 p.m. PT). Fans can also follow the match live via ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker.

"We are happy to be able to see so many of our foreign-based players in action and to put them in another challenging environment,” said Bradley, who is 10-3-1 in 2007 and making his first trip to Europe with the team. ”We are continuing to develop our team as World Cup qualifying approaches, and this group will certainly play a large role in that process. Sweden is bringing a very competitive roster, so it should be a great match.”

Here's the roster:

ROSTER BY POSITION
Goalkeepers (2) – Marcus Hahnemann (Reading FC), Tim Howard (Everton FC)
Defenders (6) – Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham FC), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)
Midfielders (6) – 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 (5) – Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Kamani Hill (VfL Wolfsburg), Josh Wolff (1860 Munich), Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96)

Anaylsis from ThatsOnPoint:

1. Benny Feilhaber is listed as a Derby County player. The deal isn't totally official as of Tuesday afternoon. Here's the official Derby release notes. At first I didn't think this was a good move, but I've come around. Hamburg might be near the top of the Bundesliga come May, but it's still not the Prem. Even if Derby goes straight back down, he'll get bigger exposure and should move to a new, higher-profile club in a year. The sky appears to be the limit...right now. (Crossing fingers.)

2. Jon Bornstein is Bob Bradley's adoptive son. There are two MLS players in this squad. Pablo Mastroeni makes sense, Bornstein over, say, Heath Pearce who now plays at Hansa Rostock or Frank Simek at left back just doesn't make sense. After the two International tournaments earlier this summer we all know exactly who Bornstein is. The other two players, not so much. This is a perfect opportunity, wonder what Bradley's thought process is here.

3. Welcome back -- Steve Cherundolo, Marcus Hahnemann, Bobby Convey and Josh Wolff. Considering there won't be a lot of pre-training before this one-off game, which is more of interest to Sweden that anything, it kind of makes sense to recall these players. No sense bringing in any excess MLSers who are still in season. It'll be good to see if Cherundolo has anything left in the tank. Wolff...umm...he had his moments but is past the sell-by date. The Reading boys both deserve looks. Hahnemann should have earned a start after his work vs. Manchester United. Who knows what Convey has coming off his lengthy knee injury.

4. Sal Zizzo is a forward? Looked like a winger to me during the U-20 World Cup.

Again, this isn't a huge game in the grand scheme of things. Yes, Sweden is a nice team with a good pedigree, but this is just a friendly. You can't read too much into it, yet this is a lineup that should be able to compete.

You just wonder if Bradley will recall a similar, Euro-based squad for the much anticipated friendly with Brasil in early September.

The matchup I want to see the most in the Sweden game is Onyewu vs. Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

I would add that although he's young, and just joined Benfica, I think Bradley needs to start considering giving Adu some friendly call-ups so he can get some caps under his belt prior to 2010 as he proved to the world in the U-20 World Cup that he is one of the most skillful Yank in the USMNT's talent pool. Not to mention that it would be nice to cap-tie him.