Hello, I'm Landon Donovan and...

Randomness on the World Cup Draw

• Charlize Theron played the dumb blonde role really well. Much better than Sepp usually does...
• I freaked out when I thought the US had drawn Ivory Coast into their group. Thank you for silly rules FIFA! Or, should I thank @ConcacafJack?
• If the US doesn't advance out of its group, this campaign has been an absolute failure. Excuses are not allowed, we have to be able to advance through Algeria and Slovenia to be considered remotely serious.
• Honduras has a decent chance to compete in their group. Spain will be nearly impossible, but upsets are possible against Chile and Switzerland. I'll be pulling for them, but I think Chile is too strong.
• Mexico should get through their group, along with the despicable French. Uruguay looked ordinary against Costa Rica in their playoff, and the Ticos have been weak in the last year.
• Toughest group is obviously G, with one of Brazil, Portugal, and Ivory Coast going home after the group stage. North Korea will pull at least a point somewhere in the group.
• B could be the most fun to watch due to the clash of styles. I'll take Argentina and Nigeria there.
• Germany should be fine in D, I'll take Serbia for now but will be watching out for Ghana to surprise.
• Group E is another competitive one. It should be a battle between the Danes and Cameroon for 2nd place, but I'll be curious to see this high powered Japanese offense in action.
• F is the easiest one, Italy and Paraguay are locks.
• The US v. England game on Saturday, June 12 at 2:30 pm on ABC could be the biggest game in American soccer history when it comes to publicity and PR. Let's hope the USMNT can make the most of it. A win there could create some serious World Cup hype in this country like we've never seen before.

World Cup Draw musings

Today's the big day, isn't it? The day when the hopes of the USMNT are determined by some celebrities, some bowls, and some ping pong balls.

Sadly, I'm not kidding. Today can make or break the US chances of advancing at next summer's World Cup. If we get the true GROUP OF DEATH of Brazil, Ivory Coast, and France things will be much tougher than if we were to draw South Africa, Algeria, and Slovenia.

We have no control over this, so we just have to wait to see how this plays out this afternoon. Let's hope there's no back room dealings involving Sepp, Mr. Warner, and any other FIFA authority figures/shady figures...

What can the USMNT control in the run up to South Africa?

• Friendlies: Thankfully, it looks like Bradley will not be following Arena's 2006 model of playing a bunch of nobodies. I kept waiting for East Timor to end up on the schedule. Depending on the draw, hopefully he'll look to add some African teams since we rarely play them.
• Media relations: Looking good so far, Landon has been everywhere talking about the draw. Hopefully this can help control the WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE hysteria if we do fall in a Group of Death. Get some other guys out there giving interviews and spreading the word.

Let's get off of this obsession with Donovan going on loan in January. Just because Beckham is doing it doesn't mean Landon has to do the same. The USMNT will have a January camp as always, which will help keep Landon sharp prior to the MLS kickoff. England won't do that, so Beckham going back to Milan is a good move in his case. Besides, there's a lot of jerseys to sell...

Besides the draw, keep your fingers crossed for the recovery of Onyewu and Davies. I just don't see the depth out there to replace those two if they can't come back in time. Regardless of the group, we might be in big trouble without those two...

It had to be the Revs, didn't it?

The New England Revolution ate all the cupcakes! Thanks to Prairie Rose Clayton, the team received a little reward for making the playoffs, check it out...

On a side note, I'll try to get back into the bakery and update things more frequently than every month or so around here. I can't make any guarantees, but I'll give it a shot...

The US Soccer Blame Game

Mexico 2, USA 1.

USA still can't beat Mexico at the Estadio Azteca, even after a one goal lead.

So, who's to blame?

BLAME THE REF
I thought the cards were inconsistently given, although it wouldn't have led to anything substantial. No one deserved a send off. Yes, I think Nery Castillo deserved a yellow after the Davies incident, but so did Feilhaber.

However, the ref had nothing to do with the result today.

BLAME CONCACAF
This usually follows the blaming of the referee. I don't think there's a grand conspiracy against the US in CONCACAF. There's way too much money to be made by CONCACAF in the United States. Why do you think they have the Gold Cup here every time?

CONCACAF assigns the referees, yes. I don't think they've ever screwed the US over with a referee assignment. If you want to argue about the competency of referees in the region, take that up with the national associations who train and develop referees, not CONCACAF.

BLAME THE COACH
There's lots of Bradley haters out there, I'm not exactly sure why. Is he the best coach in the world? No. Has he done a good job in charge of the US national team? I would say yes.

I'm not the biggest fan of Bocanegra on the left. In this game, I think he was the best option we had. It's a position that is a weakness right now. If you have a kid, teach him to play left back.

I thought he had a good, balanced group on the field. I don't believe it was his call to park the bus after the Davies goal. The team began to play scared and couldn't even complete a pass. Ching was wasted up top, because we couldn't even find him so he could hold the ball. We were not able to relieve the pressure in the first half, and the goal was always coming.

Things seemed better in the second half. I think he did the right thing with Altidore. Jozy was never going to be able to go very long in this game, he hasn't been training consistently and didn't have 90 minutes to give. The Holden sub was the only one I wonder about, I don't think it worked very well. I believe the idea might have been to go to more of a 4-5-1, but it never worked out that way.

Again, I don't think Bradley is the best in the world, but I think he's doing a good job overall. Definitely good enough to get to the World Cup. Who would you replace him with right now? Dominic Kinnear will end up being the coach of the US national team, but bringing him in now wouldn't change things very much. Give him the team at the beginning of the cycle so he can start to build his own team. Right now is about knuckling down and getting the necessary results to qualify for the World Cup.

At the beginning of the hexagonal, who thought we'd beat Mexico in Mexico this time anyway?

Unfortunately, Mexico was the better team today. That's okay. It was a game that they HAD to win, while it was a game that we never counted on winning.

Personal thoughts on the game:

• Too much whining about the refs by the announce team of Schoen and Balboa, I think that might be coloring the fans' opinions.
  
• Definitely a big game feel to today, I love these types of games...
• Donovan needed to see the ball more. Beautiful pass on Davies' goal.
  
• The altitude/smog definitely took our legs away as the game went on. Bradley really didn't have much else he could do with the calendar on this one. Can't blame him for going into the DF at the last minute. At least we didn't pull an Argentina in Bolivia type of fiasco...

I'm just not that disappointed after today. A little frustrated, yes. Thinking it was an opportunity wasted, yes. Disappointed in the team or the program, nope.

Come see me if we don't make it to the World Cup or go 3 and out in South Africa and then we'll talk...