As the sun sets on the 00s, it is worth an initial look back on the decade that was and some thoughts on the decade that will be. While politically, economically, and socially this will be seen as one of the worst decades in memory, when it comes to soccer,...

To conclude - This was a great great draw for the US, a better draw for Mexico, but no complaints from this US fan. I think all the groups look pretty balanced. We got the weakest teams in pot 3 (Algeria) and pot 4 (Slovenia). England will likely take care...

There has been a lot of activity going on in Philadelphia. Their new coach, Peter Novak, has pretty much telegraphed his approach to next season: defend first and then scrap for goals. This is a team being built from the back.

The industrious Greg Seltzer, of No...

I have a theory about the US team. I think we match up much better against more technical sides than sides that can match our athleticism.

Against technical sides like Italy and even Spain that play at a more measured pace, we match up very well. The first half...

Well that didn't feel good. 3-1 defeats never do. The US had a decent first half and went in with a one-nil lead. Benni Feilhaber was all over the place and Jeff Cunningham had a great goal, putting him in contention for a World Cup spot. But Denmark outplayed the...

In the blogoshpere, the US team has often been compared to Slovakia when trying to assess America's international soccer. Optimists argued the US was far superior to Slovakia, while critics of the UMNT often argued that the U.S. wasn't even close to the Slovaks. Slovakia is exactly the type of...

The US will take on Slovakia in Bratislava on Saturday in its first exhibition match since it qualified for the World Cup (10 am on Fox Soccer Channel). These are two very evenly matched teams with Slovakia featuring Liverpool's intimidating central defender Martin Skrtel and Serie A midfielder Marek Hamsik.

Thought experiment: Who else really should have won the Nobel Peace Prize? I am sure you can come up with some names, but the basic fact is that Obama - by making the most powerful country in the world not just reengage but lead on major global issues - has...

It is sometimes easy to overstate the significance of a fight over a particular weapon system. But in this case I think it is fair to say that this is a huge victory for Obama and Gates and is a big step forward toward instituting a strategic shift within the...

Gary Schmitt's riff on America's victory over Spain is rightfully getting ripped. What I want to add though is how weird it is that the neocons -- the people who are all about invading foreign lands -- would adopt such an isolationist view, especially at a time...

In response to the news from the streets of Tehran, American conservatives took to the airwaves, calling for aggressive and direct American support for the demonstrators. Americans are justifiably sympathetic to the Iranian demonstrators but an over the top response from the Obama administration, would only make the situation worse,...

This has been tossed around on the internets today and I think it is very much an open question. There was a wide expectation that Hezbollah was going to win the parliamentary elections, instead the more pro-western March 14th movement was victorious. The AP framed the elections as...

Since coming to office Gates has discussed the need for the military to move in a dramatic new direction, but action had been limited - until now. The budget laid out by Gates gives a clear indication that the Obama administration is serious about finally shedding the legacy of the...

I have to take issue with the now clichéd line that Afghanistan is harder than Iraq. It is hard - very hard - but saying it is "harder" is Monday morning quarterbacking with rose-colored glasses. As Iraq descended into chaos in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, there was...

In what is sure to make all oped writers blush with envy, Obama today had an oped on the global economy published in 30 papers around the world. I believe that maybe the first...

One of the real benefits of last year's election was that it dispelled the myth that McCain was a reasonable foreign policy centrist and exposed the fact that he was actually a reckless neocon. For instance,...

The special relationship is losing its luster and it relevance. Contrary, to the UK press, this has little to do with the personal relationship between Obama and Brown or his electoral troubles, but is a byproduct of Iraq and the UK's...

Things are getting bad in Europe, real bad, and the costs of European dithering are increasing. There has been plenty of excellent commentary about the crisis in Europe and the need for European political leaders to step up. (See Matt, Adam, and NSN's piece today). But to...

While some are questioning the appointment of George Mitchell as a special envoy to the Middle East on the grounds that he will be too objective and balanced, but if peace is your objective then Obama could not have picked a better person. His...

The appointment of Secretary Gates is sure to irk many progressives - and for good reason. Gates was a part of the Bush administration, he oversaw the implementation of the President's "surge" strategy, and has supported missile defense. While many progressives acknowledge that Gates has said some reasonable things (on...