OK, I'm not afraid to admit it, when the US lost in the Olympics to Nigeria the other day, my secret thought was:


"Man, I can't get enough of that Natalie Coughlin...."

Er, um, I mean, my OTHER secret thought was "Well thank you Petr Nowak for delivering the coaching job I always expected of you. Click to continue reading...

We all know Cobi ain't the long-term answer for the Galaxy.

The L.A. Times think Nowak is the one favored. But at last night's Super Clasico, that Leiweke dude was chilling with Arena and raving about the former USMNT coach.

Hmmmm....

• Hilarious faux Lampard contract.

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It's weird to see Cobi in a suit and in charge. How long will this last? Now that Nowak has a ticket back to the States, will he end up in La-La Land?

Who are some of these guys in the stripes? I know they have a ton of injuries, but damn...

Isn't SuperClasico Derby match redundant? Click to continue reading...

I don't know about you, but somehow today, this just makes me think of Petr Nowak.



And then there's this one, which kind of summarizes the whole US Soccer effort, now doesn't it:

(Background music: Sportscast intro)

Newscaster: And right now it's time for athletics, and over to Brian Goebells in Paris. Click to continue reading...

Here is a link to a really good analysis by Fox Sports' Jaime Trecker of the U.S. Olympic team's performance after they lost to Nigeria and are out of the tournament. It really was an overall disappointing performance by the team. They should be looking to achieve better results at this point and I agree that its time for Peter Nowak to move on. Click to continue reading...

It was an early morning kickoff for us following here in the USA, and the US team was able to get a result against a talented Ivory Coast squad.  This match was just a tune-up for the Olympics so we can't take much from it, except for the lineup Nowak chose.  Some fans had speculated that the [.. Click to continue reading...

While Michael Harrington wasn't named to the orignal group of players heading to the Olympics, or to that alternate list, Harrington has now been added to Coach Nowak. Harrington moves into the spot vacated by Dax McCarty, who moved onto the team to replace Nathan Strugis. He won't travel with the team to China, but will be on call should another injury occur to one of the players on the team. Click to continue reading...

The first link is to a nice story in the New York Times about Robbie Rogers from the Columbus Crew being named to the U.S. Olympic Team. Apparently, he didn't expect to be named, but has been doing so well this season and coach Peter Nowak couldn't ignore him.

The second link is to an article from Sports Illustrated, which contains the national team from Holland that the U. Click to continue reading...

Not too long ago the US Olympic team was made up of exclusively college players. 1996 was the first year of MLS and MLS players did make that team. Since 1996 the Olympics have been a goal of American MLS based players looking to move up to the first team if they haven't already made a spot for themselves. Click to continue reading...

The U.S. Men's National Team for this year's Olympic games was announced today and it contains a great list of some very talented players. Coach Peter Nowak made some excellent choices, especially with the 3 over age 23 players that he is allowed to select in Brian McBride, Brad Guzan, and Michael Parkhurst.

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No shocker at all, but Coach Nowak announced his Olympic roster, including the likes of Jozy Altidore, Brian McBride, Freddy Adu, Brad Guzan and Michael Parkhurst. The Offside took part in the press conference this afternoon, with your humble blogger as your representative.

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The Offside took part in a teleconference for the announcement of the US Under 23 National Team Roster (Here's to respectability!). Coach Nowak has found his senior players, cut out some fat, and has found what he feels is the right choice of boys and men to represent the United States. GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan [. Click to continue reading...

Two victories off penalty kicks send the Americans to the semi-finals of Concacaf Olympic qualifying, with a likely matchup against Canada as of the time of this writing. I think the US is probably the favorite to win at this point, despite some pretty unconvincing victories.


1. Stuart Holden - Looked like maybe the Man of the Match for the second game in a row. Click to continue reading...

On a day that can be considered the official start to the 2008 US Soccer season, I've been trying to brainstorm a new player rating system to use in postgame reviews. Numbers and letter grades just seem so trite. So instead we'll use a more original player rating system that is based on something with which I'm proud to have quite a bit of experience: liquor. Click to continue reading...

U.S. Under-23 national team coach Peter Nowak has named a 24-man roster for next month's Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Jozy Altidore and Freddy Adu were a couple of the bigger names released. Some will be surprised that Michael Bradley isn't on this roster but things couple change before the games kickoff in March down in Tampa. Click to continue reading...