USMNT

The USMNT's prospects for winning the Confederations Cup playoff next month against Mexico are not looking very good, if the team's form against Brazil Tuesday is any indication. Brazil annihilated the USMNT 4-1 behind two goals from Neymar. This is a result that demands a bit of wild speculation, which we are only too happy to deliver, in the form of positive and negative takeaways from the game.

There were quite a few negatives. Here are three.

Does Jurgen Klinsmann have any idea what he's doing?

The USMNT take to the field this Tuesday in a glamor friendly against Dunga’s Brazil at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.

Collegiate soccer programs began to truly emerge sometime in the 1980s. For women, the passage of Title IX opened up opportunities for female athletes that were only available to men playing football (the oblong type) and basketball. Men’s soccer programs have been around significantly longer (the first NCAA championship was played in 1959), but consistently take a backseat to padded football and madness of basketball.

It seems with each passing game the USMNT acquires a new potential savior, the athletic, skilled player that will become a superstar and lead the U.S. to glory and cement America as a world power. Right now, fans are bandying about around five potential saviors, and we have uptades on all of them (except for maybe John Brooks, but whatever).

Bobby Wood

American international Aron Johannsson is reportedly moving to Werder Bremen for the 2015/16 Bundesliga season. AZ Alkmaar, the club Johannsson departs,  announced the transfer on Twitter. 

After a disappointing loan spell at Hamburg SV in the Bundesliga, American 20-year-old Julian Green will give it another go at Bayern Munich in 2015/16.

He will start out in the U23s, where he will attempt to establish himself in the first team, and help the side win promotion to the German 3rd division. 

There's not much we can write about the Gold Cup third-place match between the USA and Panama that's positive. The game itself was boring, and Panama took it so seriously they played kickball the day before instead of practicing.

The game ended 1-1 in regulation and 1-1 after extra time, sending a game nobody wanted to go to penalties to penalties. Panama won after Fabian Johnson missed and Michael Bradley and DaMarcus Beasley were denied. 

Tim Howard has confirmed his one-year hiatus from international soccer will end after, well, a year. 

Howard's return comes at a time where the USMNT is in need of some stability and confidence, having been bounced from the Gold Cup by Jamaica in the semifinals. The U.S. now have to play the winner of the final, between Mexico and Jamaica on Sunday, in October for the right to play in the Confederations Cup.

After last night's loss in the Gold Cup semifinals to Jamaica, we don't know how to feel about Jurgen Klinsmann. So we made a list.

Pro:

Bobby Wood, America's most recent soccer sweetheart, wasn't available for the Gold Cup because his club team wanted him to stay in Germany.

Con:

Klinsmann doesn't have enough pull in Germany to be able to borrow Bobby Wood for a few weeks?

Con: 

Could Klinsmann not find anybody better than Aaron Johanssen to play striker?

Pro:

USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann commented on the stakes of tonight’s Gold Cup semifinal against Jamaica, saying that everyone knows what’s on the line, that he expects his team to be prepared, and that Jamaica will give it their all.