The U.S. beat a clearly out of their depth Trinidad & Tobago Wednesday night, taking advantage of their opponents' obvious inexperience (and lack of leadership as ESPN commentator and former T&T goalkeeper Shaka Hislop pointed out numerous times) to comfortably win 3-0 in Chicago.

Some observations:
*Neither Brian Ching nor Eddie Johnson were particularly convincing (again) at forward.

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Here's a semi-shocking stat: according to Kasey Keller 1/5th of all EPL teams will have a US keeper. Never thought about it but it's fairly rad. That and other revelations are, erm, revealed in this marathon interview with Soccernet's Shaka Hislop. And unlike his interview with Jozy Altidore, Hislop doesn't look in need of No Dose this time. Click to continue reading...

Well, David James' afro and full beard are still going strong -- in fact, they look better than ever.

Portsmouth's goalkeeper was the best at his position in the Premiership last year, and as he was voted as such by the players in their Team of the Year, it obviously isn't just me who thinks very highly of James. Click to continue reading...

... he gets a work permit.

Chivas USA is preparing to lose Brad Guzan -- at the LATimes, Grahame Jones all but names his replacement. SI's Luis Bueno and ESPN's Ives Galarcep have more detail on the transfer itself, both naming Aston Villa as his destination.

If you think you've heard this before, you have.

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The Guardian's anti-Americanism often troubles me, but I find its coverage of the game in England and on the Continent to be quite good. (The less that is said about Shaka Hislop's sorry MLS blog the better.) And this morning's bevy of interesting articles is a case in point.

On Russia and its surprising run to the Euro 2008 semifinals:

"Moscow flyers signal arrival of new superpower" by Simon Hattenstone

"Russia revels in the flair that has wowed Europe" by Jonathan Wilson

On tonight's Germany-Turkey semifinal:

"Adrenaline-fuelled Turks sense greatness in their grasp" by Richard Williams

"Turkey's miracle worker sets his sights on toppling a Goliath" by David Hytner

"Ballack looking to add new experience to his growing maturity -- victory" by David Hytner

And intriguingly, on Cristiano Ronaldo's potential move to Real Madrid, particularly the role that new Chelsea coach (and former Portugal boss) Luiz Felipe Scolari has played in the affair:

"Scolari risks makign enemies with his advice to Ronaldo" by Richard Williams Click to continue reading...

It seems that as the actual quality of Shaka Hislop's columns on MLS improves (more informative, interesting opinions, solid points, less inaccurate info) the comments on his blog become more snarky about why he is even writing about the U.S. league. Click to continue reading...

March is closing out and so does a crazy month of soccer, but all that's really grabbed the headlines is drama. But before we get to the drama, take a look at former FC Dallas keeper Shaka Hislop's new blog with the Guardian. Hislop calls the Houston Dynamo the favorites for the upcoming 2008 MLS Season. Click to continue reading...

I got to listen to the Saints game yesterday morning. Unfortunately I didn't listen closely since I was dealing with work stuff (I was on-call) and then dozed off at some point in the 2nd half. I was happy that they had won 2-0. But they were at home and Leicester had only won 1 of their previous 10 games. Click to continue reading...