Bob Bradley announced the final 23-man roster for the World Cup this morning, whittled down from the preliminary 30. The group of men shouldering the hopes and dreams of a nation (no pressure, guys!) is: Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan, Marcus Hahnemann, Tim Howard Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Bornstein, Steve Cherundolo, Jay DeMerit, Clarence Goodson, Oguchi Onyewu, Jonathan Spector Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley, Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, Landon Donovan, Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber, Stuart Holden, Jose Francisco Torres Forwards: Jozy Altidore, Edson Buddle, Clint Dempsey, Robbie Findley, Herculez Gomez After watching the disappointing-but-not-all-that-meaningful 4-2 loss to the Czech Republic last night, there are a couple of inclusions I'm happy to see and a couple that have me confused, though not wholly surprised. (I say not meaningful because, of course, many of our main starters were not on the pitch but rather in a sky box looking down and, in the case of Bocanegra at least, eating. Like, the whole time.) Gomez made a strong case for himself, coming in as a second-half substitute, scoring a goal and looking sharp overall. Buddle didn't look overly dangerous but did show his speed and quick-thinking at times. Beasley was a pleasant surprise - he had a lot of energy and focus, and looked much more confident than the last few times I'd seen him with the national team. I'm happy to see all three of these guys get the call and am hoping this will only increase their determination to prove their worth. I'm at a loss to explain Findley's inclusion, mainly because he didn't even play last night (though he was on the subs bench). I can only assume he's done well in camp - well enough to knock Ching out of the final squad. (I'm back and forth on my opinions of Ching, but I didn't expect him to be left out.) Bornstein really showed no reason at all last night why he deserves to be a mainstay on the team, except for the fact that our defense pool is about as deep as a petri dish and beggars can't be choosers. But there's not much to be said now, and overall it's not like we didn't know what 90% of the roster was going to look like, so now the focus is on making this group work together and getting everyone comfortable in their roles. Seeing Dempsey noted as a forward is promising, as he's seemed to be much happier and to play better up top rather than on the wing where he has to think about defense in addition to scoring. Now that we've seen Donovan play on the right with Everton and knowing Torres can move around the midfield, including to the left wing, we have the option of letting each man settle in where they feel most able and dangerous. But at the moment, I'm awaiting the game against Turkey on Saturday and hoping for a good result. What we saw last night was not a precursor to what we'll see in South Africa; what goes down on Saturday very well may be.

So the previous video I posted made me all sappy and even a little - ew - uplifted. But this new World Cup ad from Nike is a very different experience: AW YEAH! Seriously, I've watched this four times in the past half hour and it just KEEPS GETTING MORE AWESOME. I'm literally bouncing in my chair in my cubicle (having this chair makes that a bit easier). What I really love about it is not just that it shows the incredible waves of excitement and fervor surrounding the game and the Cup around the world, but also all the tongue-in-cheek bits and the sort of "inside baseball" ("inside soccer"?) scenes - the ridiculous rise and fall of opinion in the British press and public, the uber-glamorous-fantasy Ronaldo montage, the YouTube videos of people trying to imitate Ronaldinho when no one can really imitate Ronaldinho, etc. (Have to say it makes me a bit sad to see him in the video, since Dunga decided on his roster after four days of peyote-driven sleep deprivation or something. Obviously this was all put together long before the rosters were named, and I doubt Nike thought he'd get left behind.) Every day I think I can't get more excited for the World Cup. Then something comes along to increase my anticipation by a mile, and it's now approaching slight insanity. By the time June 10th rolls around, I may be speaking in tongues. (H/T to Dirty Tackle)

This year will mark the first time I have lived outside of England during a World Cup, and while this should prove beneficial in some regards - particularly in that I can avoid the jingoistic fever and over-hyped expectations for the England team that the British media will stir into a frenzy - it does mean I can't have a punt on the winners, as gambling is (as far as I know) illegal here in the States. Regardless, I thought it might be quite interesting to have a look at what the bookmakers at home think is likely to happen this summer, and see how far we agree with them.

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I'm not usually one to want to be emotionally uplifted - call your movie "heartwarming" or "inspiring" and you'll pretty much guarantee I will never see it. However, this new video from Go USA Bid about soccer fans in the States is getting me uplifted like nobody's business. Soccer is the only thing that can get me to chant USA! USA! with no hint of sarcasm or eyerolling.

If you haven't done so already, go sign that petition.

Bob Bradley has submitted his 30-man preliminary roster for the World Cup, so let the games begin! No, I don't mean the football matches - I mean the "Bradley's a moron!", "We need a foreign coach!", "Where's Freddy Adu??" games. It is, indeed, a hallowed tradition of United States soccer fans to bemoan the hell out of our team and our coach and everything related. I am in general a Bradley supporter - or at least, I don't want to chase him down with pointed sticks - and while I understand the frustrations expressed by his, shall we say, non-supporters, I often find that a lot of those frustrations are underscored by unrealistic expectations. That being said, I do have some worries about the roster, but I'll qualify that in a bit. The group heading to camp is: Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan, Marcus Hahnemann, Tim Howard Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Bornstein, Steve Cherundolo, Jay DeMerit, Clarence Goodson, Chad Marshall, Oguchi Onyewu, Heath Pearce, Jonathan Spector Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley, Alejandro Bedoya, Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber, Stuart Holden, Sacha Kljestan, Robbie Rogers, Jose Francisco Torres Forwards: Jozy Altidore, Edson Buddle, Brian Ching, Robbie Findley, Herculez Gomez, Eddie Johnson Many of the usual suspects, of course. A quick look-see at some others...

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I'll say no more.

SAO PAULO - In a snap poll, researchers have found that the Brazilian economy has ground to a near-complete standstill. The researchers said that they have found only one cause for this mass event: Argentina's horrific play in the World Cup qualifiers. "We're dealing with a nationwide case of schadenfreude," said Sao Paulo Police Chief Paulino Arantes. "The Argentina National Team came into this week so arrogantly, and leave so humbled. It's just too delicious." Entering this week, Argentina and coach Diego Maradona had their destiny in their hands. However, following thorough losses to Brazil and Paraguay, the Argentina side has slipped to fifth place in CONMEBOL qualifying. If qualifying ended today, the Argentines would be forced to play a home-and-away playoff with CONCACAF No. 4 Costa Rica with the winner going to South Africa.

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Midfield: Workmanlike. Goalkeeper: Strong. Forwards: Inconsistent. Defense: Embarrassing. Referees: Atrocious. (The officiating was terrible in both directions, really, but several of the calls against the US, including disallowing my boy Altidore's goal, were unforgivable.)

Watching England v. Slovenia (friendly) and wondering whether penalties should be eliminated altogether. The highlight of the day, of course, will be USA v. El Salvador. This Real Salt Lake beat writer thinks that Bradley will start Altidore, which naturally makes me happy, but then I remember it's Bob Bradley, and then I'm sad again. It's a must-win, obviously, and Donovan is saying the right things:

Our absolute goal has to be to finish in the top three...If we can't finish in the top three, we probably don't deserve to go anyway.

Although El Salvador is a tough opponent, a team of the class the USA is looking to be can't afford to do anything but close this match out in a clinical style. I'm not as nervous as I was ahead of the Mexico game, but I'm not sanguine.