THE U20S! The u20s just beat Brazil 2-1. I'm ecstatic. This is the first time I've ever blogged while it would be unsafe to drive.

Whoa! What a wonderful, offensive, energetic game. It was not a game where the US scored two cheap goals and bunkered down. Perhaps the run of play favored Brazil, but it was a game, hotly contested, fiercely played, between two teams in the same league. Hear me now: the u20s can play with anyone. They have great touch, vision, and confidence.

Adu was awesome. Altidore finished. Seitz saved. The US defense stayed coherent in the face of penetrating Brazilian pressure. The phenomenal talent of Pato and Marcelo and friends could not beat us.

USA! USA! USA! I am very, very excited about our future.

FF

The USMNT's loss to Columbia yesterday was absolutely hideous. The less said about it, the better.

Speaking of better, the watercool talk about the u20 World Cup has been strong enough for ESPN to decide to air the US-Brazil game on ESPN (rather than ESPNU, which few people get). Kickoff is today at 6:30 Central, and I will absolutely be watching Adu and the boys.

FF

1. USMNT plays Colombia today in a meaningless Copa match; both teams are eliminated. I'd like to see a win, but I'll trade a loss (even a bad one) here for the continued success of the u20s. They were awesome against Poland -- a win against Brazil tomorrow would be fantastic. Apparently they were rubbish against South Korea (although I didn't see that match), so the question is: which u20 squad will show up?

2. I get bored following transfer rumor and activity, so I don't usually write about it, but I'm hearing credible reports that Carlos Tevez is going to ManU. That stinks. Tevez is an exceptional player who I really wanted at Liverpool. Instead he goes to a team I hate. Ugh. Ronaldo and Rooney and Tevez will score a lot of goals.

Pool's big signing, Fernando Torres, doesn't really mean anything to me because I've never seen the guy play. I understand he's supposed to be fantastic, but it's difficult to get excited about a player you've literally never seen play. Correction: I must have seen him play at WC06, when Zidane and France spanked Spain 3-1, but I don't remember him at all. Of course, now that he's a Scouser, I hope he turns out to be the greatest forward in history.

FF

I'm a bad blogger because I can rarely bring myself to post immediately after unpleasant things happen to my teams. Hence nothing after last week's crushing 4-1 Copa loss to Argentina nor yesterday's ludicrous 3-1 loss to Paraguay. The truth is that those matches -- played by our B team -- were not all bad. We played Argentina tight until about the 65th minute; then things fell apart. Paraguay we outplayed for long stretches, but we were unable to finish some very, very easy chances. We're talking unmarked headers a few yards from the goal mouth. But on to the all good...

The US U20 World Cup team just decimated Poland (who was fresh off a win over Brazil) 6-1. The U.S. looked composed, confident, and aggressive, with Adu (3), Szetela (2), and Altidore scoring. The u20s played better than the USMNT did in either Copa America game. I was pleasantly surprised with the squad's touch and vision; it wasn't just a kickball game where the young Americans were using speed to outrun everybody. The game against u20 Brazil will be something to see.

FF