The U.S. Men’s National Team defeated their Algerian counterparts 1-0 in a test of wills that went down to the final moments at Pretoria Wednesday afternoon. With the dramatic victory, the U.S. capture Group C and advance to the round of 16 at the 2010 World Cup. The winning goal came off the boot of Landon Donovan, for whom the victory was particularly emotional.

“England starting to get a little lackadaisical?” This is, no joke, a line from my match notes, right before Robert Greene’s gaffe gifted the U.S. Men’s National Team the equalizer at Rustenburg’s Royal Bafokeng Stadium. There would be no more goals on the night. The 1-1 score held up as final. On a chilly night [...]

The LA Galaxy enter the two-week World Cup break undefeated after beating the visiting Houston Dynamo 4-1. Forward Jovan Kirovski led the scoring charge with a first-half brace while forward Tristan Bowen and midfielder Alex Cazumba supplied the second half strikes. It took just 47 seconds for the Galaxy to get on the board. Ivan [...]

Red Bull Arena hosts the most important match in its short history tonight when the Columbus Crew face the New York Red Bulls. Both teams face manpower shortages. For the Crew, Guillermo Barros Schelotto is suspended and Robbie Rogers and Chad Marshall are at national team camp. New York is without Joel Lindpere and Salou Ibrahim, leaving a cranky, creaky Juan Pablo Angel to shoulder the offensive burden.

The LA Galaxy hoped to send Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle off to national team camp in style but Toronto FC keeper Stefan Frei had other ideas. Three thousand miles away, at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., Fred Montero single-handedly put an end to the New York Red Bulls unbeaten run at their new ground, while in Philadelphia Brek Shea’s first regular season goal held up as the game winner for 94 minutes before Danny Mwanga got his first to rescue a draw for the Union. All this and more in our Week 8 wrap-up.

It was a Saturday of spankings in Major League Soccer. Four of the seven matches were decided by three goals or more, as teams from New York, Philadelphia and Seattle turned in lackluster (or worse) performances. The LA Galaxy continued their dominance in the latest sign that maybe, just maybe, MLS’ culture of parity is coming undone a bit. Or not, judging by events in Toronto and Columbus.

In the nation’s capital, DC United lost its plot in the second half of a steamy encounter (over 90 degrees at kickoff) with the New York Red Bulls, succumbing 2-0. For New York it was the first victory at RFK Stadium in nearly five years, which was of particular satisfaction to veteran defender Mike Petke. But the most noise was made once again by Edson Buddle.

Barely 72 hours after winning 2-1 in their first-ever meeting, the New York Red Bulls defeated the Philadelphia Union again by the same score. The setting for this Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup preliminary match, Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., was the same as well. The similarities end there however.

In a game that featured plenty of end-to-end action and goal chances, though little in terms of finesse, the New York Red Bulls were fortunate to prevail 2-1 over FC Dallas at Red Bull Arena Saturday night. Juan Pablo Angel converted a penalty in the 90th minute to break the deadlock. Previously the Red Bulls dodged one bullet after another, with Bouna Condoul’s heroics, the post, the crossbar, and Jeff Cunningham’s incompetence in front of goal keeping the score at 1-1.

After 14 years, MLS has made scant inroads with the general U.S. public. Sure, it’s successful in select markets (Toronto and Seattle, basically) and deserves credit for that. However to sustain this success, and grow it to where it genuinely captures the imagination of the greater North American public, the media is going to have to play its part. MLS has either failed to realize this or bungled the execution–badly. And it just hit a new low.