U.S. Will Face Mexico In Philadelphia

Great news for U.S. men's national team fans: it was just announced that they will face Mexico on August 10 at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field.

These two bitter rivals are just coming off a Gold Cup Final meeting back in June at the Rose Bowl. The U.S. went up 2-0 in the first half before quickly choking it away and going down 4-2.

That crowd in Pasadena, California was very pro-Mexico but I know the U.S. fans will turn out in full force at the home of the Philadelphia Eagles.

“We’re thrilled that fans in Philadelphia will have a chance to witness this special rivalry,” said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley. “A match between the United States and Mexico inspires a lot of passion from both sides and creates an outstanding atmosphere in the stadium. These types of games are great experiences for our players, and we look forward to the challenge.”

The match on Aug. 10 will mark the 59th meeting between the USA and Mexico. The U.S. has a lifetime record of 15-32-11 against Mexico in a series that dates to 1934, but the U.S. has a 13-8-9 advantage in home matches since 1957. Since the rivalry between these two teams began in earnest in 1990, the sides have played 31 times, with the U.S. holding a 13-10-8 advantage. In the teams’ most significant matchup, the United States defeated Mexico 2-0 in the Round of 16 of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, advancing the U.S. to the quarterfinals of the tournament for the first time in 72 years.

The U.S. National Team will return to Philadelphia for only the third time since 1992, with Lincoln Financial Field serving as a magnificent host on two occasions. Most recently, the USA came from behind to snatch a 2-1 victory against Turkey in front of a raucous crowd of 55,407 fans who witnessed the team’s final match before departing for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. A year earlier, the U.S. sealed a 2-1 overtime victory against Panama in the quarterfinals of the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup in front of another heavily partisan U.S. crowd.

Coming off the Gold Cup and ahead of some interesting friendlies in September (vs. Costa Rica in Carson, CA and at Belgium), what better way to get back on the field than against Mexico. Should be an awesome game, wish I could go! Crossing my fingers that my buddies from One Goal can go (and we can link some of their footage) and possibly some of my other friends that live in or around the City of Brotherly Love will attend and write something for us.

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Women's World Cup: U.S. vs. Sweden 2nd half live blog

Alex Morgan in for Rodriguez to start the second half, the U.S.' first sub.

She wins a corner on her first touch but the U.S. can't do much with it.

The Swedish goalkeeper makes a mess of a save on a long shot but there aren't any U.S. players close enough to take advantage of it.

Cheney shoots over again. In the first half, Ian Darke and Julie Foudy (ESPN's annoucners) raved about how she always puts her chances on goal. That hasn't been happening today for her, guess they jinxed it.

Rapinoe beats a defender down the side and forces a save, Shannon Boxx gets the rebound but skies it over. The U.S. appears nervous, not sure why since they're already down 2-0. What is there to be afraid of?

Fishcher shoots wide, Sweden is looking like the better team even though they're ranked No. 5 and the U.S. is No. 1.

Cox on for Le Peilbert. Nightmare game for the U.S. defender as she gave up the PK and then had the deflection for the second Swedish goal.

Yellow card for Fischer. Lloyd takes the free kick, it's a hard shot but right at the Sweden goalkeeper who juggles it but makes the save.

Sweden has never beat the U.S. in World Cup play.

Long free kick by the U.S. is punched out by Sweden's goalkeeper.

Morgan wins another corner kick. U.S. has to get a goal soon, time is running out. 25 minutes and change remaining.

There we go, my girl Wambach finally gets on the scoresheet. She went up for the header on the corner but it went off her shoulder. Classic Wambach goal, she beat multiple defenders. (2-1 Sweden in the 67th minute).

Cheney has a chance to tie it but her header is way wide. Suddenly, the U.S. has some life.

10 career goals in World Cup for Wambach, 2nd all-time for U.S.

Kelley O'Hara in for Rapinoe. Her first CAP for the U.S. That's the last U.S. sub.

Dahlkvist is out, Hammarstrom is on (first Swedish sub).

Terrible call by the referee giving Sweden a goal kick when it clearly went off their player and should have been a U.S. corner.

Haha Darke and Foudy already start looking ahead to U.S. vs. Brazil even though there's probably 10 minutes left in this one and the U.S. only needs one more goal.

Yikes. Cheney finds O'Hara wide open in the box but she misses badly. Should have been a goal. I know it's her first CAP but if you want to play with the big girls, you gotta make some plays. That'll probably be their last chance.

Final: Sweden 2, U.S. 1

Sweden plays Australia on Sunday at 6:30 a.m. while the U.S. meets Brazil at 11 a.m.

The U.S. should have done better overall in this match that they only had to tie. Going down 2-0 in the first half was predictably too much to overcome. Both goals were their own fault and they should have scored a few more times than they did. Sweden is a good team though and they earned the three points and Group C title.

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Women's World Cup: U.S. vs. Sweden 1st half live blog

All the U.S. has to do is tie and they'll win Group C and get Australia in the quarterfinals on Sunday morning. Lose and they'll face Brazil-who might be the best team in the field.

Shaky call on a Swedish attacker nullifies a possible 2 on 1 break from the top of the box.

Carli Lloyd with a long shot wide.

A long ball off a Sweden goal kick leads to a breakaway but Hope Solo knocks it out for a corner. Quality save, no idea what happened with the U.S. defense there. Lloyd's header went backwards and right to Sweden. Gross.

485 consecutive minutes without conceding a goal for Solo.

U.S. defender Ali Krieger puts a dangerous cross out for another Swedish corner kick. They get a head on it but not on goal.

Sweden is offsides but it takes a second for the player to realize it, haha must be real loud there.

Abby Wambach with her first chance but it's easily saved.

Yellow card for U.S. defender Amy Le Peilbert and Sweden gets a penalty kick. Clumsy challenge, not needed. She's lucky not to pick up a red card. It takes forever to set it up and Solo does her best to distract her. She guessed the right way but it was struck well by Dahlkvist. 1-0 Sweden in the 16th minute on Dahlkvist's second of the tournament.

How does the U.S. respond to such a slow start and their first conceded goal of the tournament?

Wowzers. Great sequence by the U.S. Rodriguez's cross gets deflected, Wambach sets it up for Cheney who just hits it wide. Outstanding stuff, unlucky that it didn't go in.

Cheney with another good look but she puts it over by a slight margin.

The U.S. has not trailed in World Cup since loss to Brazil (4-0) in 2007 Women's World Cup.

Cheney is making it happen. She puts a cross right on the Sweden goalkeeper and she touches it out for a U.S. corner. Wambach was right behind her, almost connected on it.

Lloyd redirected the corner but not on goal. The U.S. has really responded since its bad start. Seems like a goal is brewing.

Haha Cheney is wearing an orange sports bra which is pretty easy to spot under her white jersey. You little minx!

Rodriguez should have tied it up. She fights off a defender and flicks it over the goalkeeper but it goes off the crossbar and over. Unlucky, nice piece of skill there.

Mistake by Buehler leads to a Sweden free kick from outside the box. The U.S. defense is their weakness at the moment, looking a bit shaky for whatever reason. Ugh, the shot gets deflected off the wall and Solo is out of position. No chance to stop it. It went off Le Peilbert and in. Nilla Fischer (who really looks like a scary biker dude) got it for Sweden. 2-0 Sweden in the 35th minute.

The U.S. women's defense is looking like the U.S. men's defense and that's never a good thing.

U.S. has never come back from 2-0 deficit to win or tie. So yeah, this isn't going well so far.

Lloyd denied from in close, good stop by the Swedish goalkeeper. Nothing is really going right for the U.S. at the moment. They deserve a goal by now with all the chances they've had.

Rapinoe put a shot wide. She started today but that's honestly the first thing I can remember her doing. Needless to say, she hasn't made her presence felt yet. Some are better suited as substitutes for whatever reason.

Two minutes of added times, looks like the U.S. will trail 2-0 at halftime.

Halftime: Sweden 2, U.S. 0

U.S. will need a big rally in the second half just to tie it up, let alone think about winning. Facing Australia (if they tie or win) is much more appealing than Brazil.

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U.S. vs. Costa Rica slated for September

Yesterday, we told about the U.S. men's friendly against Belgium in September. Well today they added another match, this one coming Sept. 2 (four days before playing in Belgium): vs. Costa Rica at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

Both are FIFA international fixture dates, meaning head coach Bob Bradley -- if he's still in charge -- can call in any healthy player from any club on the planet.

What's likely is that he'll use a domestic roster, primarily Major League Soccer players, for the match against the Ticos, then field a team of European-based players against Belgium. The games will be the Yanks' first since falling to Mexico in the June 25 CONCACAF Gold Cup final at the Rose Bowl and will serve as preps for the start of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Belgium is something of an unknown since they're not a team that normally faces the U.S and they're not one of Europe's best so we don't get to see them much. On the other hand, the U.S. is well aware of Costa Rica since they're a CONCACAF rival and always a quality opponent.

The U.S. is 11-11-6 all-time against Costa Rica, which is currently playing as a guest team in Copa America, South America's nations championship, after reaching the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals. The Ticos have a four-game unbeaten streak going against the U.S., although the most recent meeting -- a 2-2 draw in October 2009 in a 2010 World Cup qualifier in D.C., forged on Jonathan Bornstein's stoppage-time goal -- sent Honduras past Costa Rica for the region's final berth in South Africa.

This will be the first friendly between the sides since 1998.

The atmosphere for U.S. vs. Costa Rica should be a good one even if as expected, it's mostly MLS players and not the big boys.

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There Will Always Come A Day When A Great Player Will Leave Arsenal

It's hard to relate it to American sports since they're a great club team that spends money and is always one of the top squads in Barclays Premier League and Europe but it's a proven fact (over and over again), that almost all great players will leave Arsenal at some point.

The latest to join his fellow French countrymen (Patrick Vieira, Kolo Toure) at Manchester City is left back Gael Clichy, who signed a four-year deal with the team that finished third last season in the Premier League and captured the FA Cup.

Arsenal was forced to sell the 25-year-old Frenchman because he had only one year left on his contract and could have moved on a free transfer at the end of next season.

Clichy spent eight years at Arsenal after joining from Cannes in August 2003. His ability on the left of defense was one of the reasons the Gunners were able to allow England international Ashley Cole to make a high-profile switch to Chelsea three years later.

Clichy was backup to Cole when Arsenal won the 2003-04 Premier League title with an unbeaten record, making him at the time the youngest player to earn a Premier League winner's medal - aged 18. He was the last member of that squad still with the north London club.

"I can't wait to get started and I think anything is possible with this team,'' Clichy said. "When I first came to England, it was Kolo Toure and Patrick Vieira who took me under their wing and really looked after me.

"Kolo would pick me up and drop me at home and his wife used to cook meals for me. Patrick was always there to offer me advice, so it's wonderful to be back and at the same club they are at.''

City did not say how much it paid for Clichy. British media widely reported the fee to be about 7 million pounds.

"I'm really happy to be joining such a great club,'' Clichy said. "I hope I can add to the quality we already have here because we have a fantastic squad who I believe will continue to get better.''

With their playing style, supporters and history, Arsenal is one of the most likable club teams in the world. British author Nick Hornby wrote the book Fever Pitch about them before it was adapted into the terrible Jimmy Fallon movie about the Boston Red Sox.

So if you're a fan of the Gunners, you must go to sleep every night worrying that their current superstars Andrey Arshavin and Cesc Fabregas will eventually leave you at some point. That's no way to live.

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U.S. backup goalkeeper headed to Germany

For as long as I can remember, the U.S. men's national team has always possessed a surplus of quality goalkeepers.

For whatever reason, we produce top-flight goalkeepers (Tim Howard, Kasey Keller, Brad Friedel) but we can't get a couple homegrown goal-scorers to come up at the same time. Make of that what you will.

Anyways, U.S. goalkeeper David Yelldell (born in Stuttgart, Germany to an American father) has signed with German club Bayer Leverkusen. He most recently played for second-division side Duisburg and received his first CAP with the U.S. men's national team this year.

Yelldell is expected to be a backup for Leverkusen's Germany goalkeeper Rene Adler.

Leverkusen will play in the Champions League after finishing second last season in the Bundesliga. The club gave no details about Yelldell's contract.

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U.S. men headed for Belgium in September

After the excitement and then bitter failure in the Gold Cup final against Mexico last weekend, the U.S. men's national team will officially try to put that behind them starting in September.

They'll travel to Brussels, Belgium on September 6 to take on the Belgian national team.

The exhibition at Stade Roi Baudouin will be the first game for the United States since its 4-2 loss to Mexico on June 25 in the Gold Cup final. Belgium plays Azerbaijan on Sept. 2 in a European Championship qualifier.

The game will be the fourth meeting between the two countries.

The United States won the first game, a 3-0 victory during the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay. But Belgium has won the last two, both played in Brussels, with the teams last playing in 1998.

This is a decent friendly for Bob Bradley's team; they play a mid-level European squad that they rarely see and it's on the road which is always a good experience for a team that's trying to get better.

The happiest person in the world has to be my best friend from home that actually lives in Belgium right now. Hopefully I can get him to go to the game and file a real report for us.

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