The Horror...

Some observations from the US/Italy fiasco, surprisingly, some (ok, one) of them are positives for US Soccer:

1) Pelle, Pelle, Pelle - if you ever wanted to know what Ibrahimovich was like as a U20, now you know. How do we get us one of those? His foot skills had the US defense enthralled as they watched for the next move. Let the bidding begin...with any luck, he'll follow Zlatan to Ajax (but hopefully, not to Juve after that).

2) About That Contract - after a nice opening game against Argentina, the announcer was talking about Chad Barrett very kindly and even mentioned the possibility of overseas interest - after his frightening inability to close out 3 or 4 very makable opportunities, one wonders if he'll get any more PT in Chicago this season. Could have been 3-0 by halftime. Needless to say, Nate Jaqua isn't worried about his spot in the line-up.

3) Freddie and Eddie - Freddie had some clever tricks and Gaven put some nice shots on goal which always seemed to end up heading right for the keeper's gut (no matter where he put them). In general, though, both failed to live up to the hype. They both need to show more a more consistent ability to stamp their will on the game. Lets hope that's just part of the maturation process.

4) Shooting - we still can't shoot from distance. The Italians had 6 or 7 speculative shots on or near target from well outside of the 18. One of the less worst of the bunch ended up deflecting off of the unlucky Jon Spector for Italy's first goal. Any chance we'll start teaching this skill soon?

5) Disappointment - OK, we were all pissed that we got hosed against the Germans in 2002 but lets be honest, we were sort of happy to be in the Final 8 vs. the Germans. This is the first time I really remember expecting to win against a traditional world power (I had already started figuring out how to rework my schedule for the Quarterfinal match on Friday). I'm not really a fan of moral victories, but like marking up the kitchen doorway as a kid, its a nice way to mark our growth as a soccer power on the world stage.

6) FAD Marvelle Wynne - He was beaten once or twice later in the game after we started sending everyone forward but if you didn't know ahead of time you would have guessed he and not Spector was the Man United defender on the US backline. Can MLS get to him before Arsene claims him for Arsenal? I'm torn as to what I want the answer to be. Either way, a year or two at Ajax or PSV would be an excellent next stage of his development.