We don’t intend the title to insinuate we believe that the USA will be bringing the actual World Cup home…we hope that is the case, of course. Nor do we reference our recent bid to bring the World Cup tournament back to American soil in 2022. The title refers to an entertaining and wildly educational blog post from The Unlikely Fan wherein the author, one Brendan Hunt, equates each of the 2010 World Cup sides to the American sports team they most closely resemble…in style, history, colors or fan base. It is a fun read…and makes picking the teams that will (most likely) advance from group play much easier. That said, there is always a Valparaiso.

Cameroon is the new Boise State. Irrepressible charisma, mandatory viewing and impossible to root against. Most of that I made up…but The Unlikely Fan does have Cameroon as BSU…which will make hard to root against them if they play the USA in the semis or finals. Not that hard, I guess.

Either way, we suggest boning up on a little ethnocentric edumacation that speaks a language the casual/non fan can appreciate. I mean, can you really see the New Jersey Nets getting over on the New York Jets?

A buddy shared this Nike WC commercial with us this week. It is definitely worth the watch if you’ve the 3 minutes to spare…and even if you don’t. The commercial, however, raises the point once more…what the Kaka was Dunga thinking leaving Ronaldinho off Brazil’s World Cup roster…entirely…not even providing a provisional spot for the artist formerly know as Ronaldo de Assis Moreira? I bet Nike was pissed after giving Ronaldinho such prime coverage in this commercial…and am even a little surprised they weren’t able to influence Dunga. At least a little.

By the way, only 19 days, 20 hours and 57 minutes left until Mexico v. South Africa.

With just 30 days and a few hours remaining until the US Men’s National team opens 2010 WC play against the motherland, Coach Bradley names his 30 man training squad tomorrow.

We kind of can’t wait.

We really hope includes Charlie Davies.

This is a great commercial. Nothing like a jingoistic war tune to get the soccer blood a-boiling.

What started as an incredibly favorable draw for the US Men’s soccer team to advance beyond group play in this summer’s World Cup in South Africa, has quickly turned into a rather dire situation. In fact, so much so, that the team that showed some flashes of brilliance during qualifying rounds and in the Confederations Cup last summer (with wins over Spain and Egypt) will be nearly unrecognizable to the team that will take the pitch this June.

The US has suffered some devastating injuries along the way…first with up-and-coming striker, and our only legitimate speed, Charlie Davies breaking many parts of his body in a fatal car accident this summer and then Gooch doing his knee. Both starters and, even, stars will very likely miss the World Cup. Gooch may have a look at it, but I fear Davies may be done for sometime yet. And who really knows how he may recover after breaking a leg like that.

All this, and then now it seems the US may now lose their most creative on-ball threat next to Landon. It appears Clint Dempsey may have torn a cruciate ligament today in Premier League play for Fulham. If this is true, I fear you can almost put a fork in the Nat’s chances this summer. Losing not simply 3 of our starting 11, but more likely 3 of our top 5 players may be a little too much to overcome with nearly all of the preparatory friendlies behind us. Beyond that, as referenced in a previous post, Dempsey is also our only on-mic threat too…Don’t Tread.

Pour some out today soccer fans.

This summer, or at least the last couple weeks, have been a little different. The US Men’s National Soccer team (no idea how to capitalize that) has backed their way into the semis of the Confederations Cup in South Africa and face world #1 Spain today. To be fair, the US did play a spirited match against Egypt to advance. That said, the Nats (as they are called by some, and now me) put together just one solid half against Italy out of their opening two matches. They looked outclassed, for the most part, and had the omni-present soccer naysayers cutting the squad off at the knees…and the sport in general. Either way, the US has an opportunity to make great strides today, to shock the world even, by beating a team in Spain that has not lost in 35 straight matches. If we (yes, we) can pull off the upset it will assure the US of its highest finish ever in a FIFA event…and this one featured the #1, #2, #4 and #14 teams in the world.

Tune in on ESPN at 2:25pm EST if you get the chance.

If not, just watch Clint Dempsey’s only slightly painful foray into hip hop here (and, mind you, he couldn’t possibly fare any worse than those attempts made by the street-savvy NBA stars that went before him):