Eyes On Hurting D When USA Faces Turks
by Ridge Mahoney (Preview | Soccer America - May 28)
On a teleconference call Wednesday discussing his World Cup squad selection, U.S. coach Bob Bradley said he'd like to field his projected starting XI, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, against Turkey Saturday (1:30 p.m., ESPN2) at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. more details | go to article

U.S. Roster Soap Opera Settled On Daytime TV
by George Vecsey (Commentary | New York Times - May 27)
The call came after 2 in the morning, but DaMarcus Beasley was not asleep. His roommate, Oguchi Onyewu, gave him hugs and handshakes, and that was how Beasley knew he was going to the World Cup again. more details | go to article

Bradley Set With Most Of Lineup
by Paul Kennedy (Preview | Soccer America - May 29)
After many starters sat out Tuesday's friendly against the Czech Republic, look for Coach Bob Bradley to field close to his first team for Saturday's friendly against Turkey in Philadelphia (TV: ESPN2, Galavision, live, 2 pm ET). more details | go to article

Raging Bull All Grown Up And Leading The English
by Jeré Longman (Profile/Interview | New York Times - June 3)
The life and times of Wayne Rooney, England’s star and star-crossed forward, can be floridly traced in the body art of his tattoos. more details | go to article

Deadline Day As US Makes World Cup Roster Cuts
by Ronald Blum (Analysis | Yahoo - May 26)
One by one, seven players were getting called in for those dreaded individual talks, short, blunt conversations that are soccer’s toughest. more details | go to article

USA 23: Lots Still Up In The Air
by Ridge Mahoney (Analysis | Soccer America - May 26)
The key issue arising from a 4-2 U.S. loss to the Czech Republic Tuesday night is: which questions have been answered, and which are still unresolved? more details | go to article

Brazil Cuts Beer Duties To Avoid Shortages
by No Author Listed and Peter Murphy (Article | Reuters - May 27)
Brazil has slashed beer duties to avoid shortages during the World Cup, after local brewers warned they would be unable to meet surging demand despite sharply increasing production. more details | go to article

U.S. Soccer Conference Call Regarding 2010 Division 2 Soccer League
by No Author Listed (Profile/Interview | USSF - January 7)
U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati, CEO/Secretary General Dan Flynn, USL CEO Alec Papadakis and NASL Acting Commissioner Jeff Cooper spoke to media today to announce the creation of a combined USL/NASL Division 2 professional soccer league in 2010 more details | go to article

Lalas Rings The Alarm Bell
by Paul Kennedy (Analysis | Soccer America - May 26)
American voices will be almost entirely absent from ESPN's expansive coverage of the World Cup, but luckily it will have Alexi Lalas. He rang the alarm bell about the U.S. backline. And that was before the game started ... more details | go to article

Rural South Africa Gets Taste Of World Cup
by Tshego Letshwiti (Profile/Interview | Yahoo - May 26)
Outsiders are rare as rain in this dusty corner of northern South Africa. So when cars carrying government workers, flags and a sound system arrived at the community sports field, curious villagers streamed in. more details | go to article

Quote Sheet Bob Bradley And Players Discuss World Cup Roster Selections
by No Author Listed (Profile/Interview | USSF - May 26)
Bob Bradley; Landon Donovan; Clint Dempsey; Oguchi Onyewu; Tim Howard; Jose Torres; Clarence Goodson; Steve Cherundolo; Brad Guzan; Jonathan Spector; Stuart Holden; Robbie Findley; Herculez Gomez; Edson Buddle; Jozy Altidore; Maurice Edu; Ricardo Clark; Jay Demerit. more details | go to article

Press Conference Quotes Before Czech Republic Match
by No Author Listed (Profile/Interview | USSF - May 24)
Landon Donovan; Carlos Bocanegra; and Bob Bradley. more details | go to article

Two Strikers Score Their Way Into The Picture
by Billy Witz (Profile/Interview | New York Times - May 17)
Herculez Gomez, like each of his four siblings, was named after a Greek god. Edson Buddle was named after a Brazilian one — Pelé, the soccer deity whose given name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento. more details | go to article

England's Soccer Team Shuts Out Distractions In Training Camp
by Kevin Baxter (Article | Los Angeles Times - May 23)
If oversized striker Peter Crouch was beginning to feel comfortable with his place on England's national soccer squad, it didn't take long for him to learn that comfort would have no place in the team's World Cup training camp. more details | go to article

Few Surprises, A Little Drama In US World Cup Provisional Roster
by Brad Paton (Analysis | US Soccer Review - May 13)
In the Made–for–TV movie version of “The Charlie Davies Story” that’s surely in pre–production on the ABC networks as we speak, May 11, 2010, will be marked as the real beginning of Davies’ return to scaling the soccer heights that he hinted at being capable of last summer in South Africa, a journey sure to end in World Cup glory in Brazil (assuming they figure out how to build a few stadia down there between now and then). more details | go to article