FanHouse MichaelBradley

Every Monday during the PGA Tour season, Monday Pin Placement will run as a wrap-up of the weekend's action. Basically, we'll focus on what you missed while you were out grinding on the putting green.

Mickelson Toughs It Out -- You don't usually see "tough" and "Phil Mickelson" in the same sentence. His lone shining moment under pressure was at the 2004 Masters, when he rolled in a birdie putt on the last hole for his first major championship. Otherwise, he has never been that dominant in the high stress environment of the Ryder Cup, and his additional attempts at "clutch" have ended with "fore left" at Winged Foot and final-hole major losses to David Toms (2001 PGA Championship) and Payne Stewart (1999 U.S. Open).

Well, on Sunday, at a tournament he had never won, on a golf course he had never conquered, Mickelson had to be tough. And tough he was.

Two weeks ago, rumors emerged that Ligue 1 club AS Monaco were pursuing emerging American soccer stars Freddy Adu and Michael Bradley.

Half that rumor came to fruition yesterday. Portuguese club Benfica has sent the 19-year-old Adu to Monaco on a one-year loan deal with the possibility of a permanent move at the end of the season -- unless Adu has a career year in the French league, which would cause Benfica to pull him back and sell him to the highest bidder next summer. Still, it's a great move for Freddy, who is expected to get plenty of playing time in Monaco's midfield after he returns from the Olympics in Beijing, and right now, playing time is what he needs the most.

Monaco, a club whose French-American president is also on the U.S. Soccer Foundation Board of Directors, is continuing to pursue Bradley, though Middlesbrough and Bayer Leverkusen remain in the picture. At last report, however, Monaco was offering Heereveen a $13.6 million transfer fee for Bradley, which would be a record for an American player. Spanish runner-up Villareal paid MLS $10 million for Jozy Altidore last month.

(H/T: Soccer By Ives)

Two years after retiring from international soccer, Brian McBride will wear the USA jersey one last time.

McBride was one of the three over-23 players named on the U.S. men's Olympic soccer team, which was announced today by U.S. Soccer. The former Fulham striker will join future Aston Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan and New England Revolution defender Michael Parkhurst on the team.

There are few surprises among the under-23 players on the roster. McBride joins Jozy Altidore, Robbie Rogers and Charlie Davies up front. Freddy Adu and Michael Bradley headline the midfield, which also includes MLS standouts Maurice Edu, Stuart Holden and Sasha Kljestan, along with Benny Feilhaber (Derby County) and Danny Szetela (Brescia).

Parkhurst leads a back line that includes Michael Orozco (San Luis) and three MLS starters -- Patrick Ianni, Nathan Sturgis and Marvell Wynne. Chris Seitz will back up Guzan in goal.

McBride hinted last April that he would be willing to join the U.S. Olympic team. His presence would allow Peter Nowak to play a 4-4-2 with McBride and Altidore up front, rather than the 4-2-3-1 that barely managed a goal in Olympic qualifying. The U.S. side still faces an uphill battle in Group B against the Netherlands, Nigeria and Japan, but it's hard to argue the talent isn't there.

If you're a fan of the U.S. men's national team, you might be paying a lot more attention to French soccer next season. SoccerAmerica is reporting that Ligue 1 club AS Monaco is preparing to make bids for Freddy Adu and Michael Bradley, two up-and-coming American stars currently playing in Europe.

Bradley scored 15 goals last season with Dutch club Heerenveen and had been linked to Premier League clubs Everton, Blackburn and Middlesbrough and German clubs Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen. Adu, meanwhile, moved to Benfica last July and has struggled to get playing time after a mid-season managerial change.

This is worth noting for two reasons. One, AS Monaco's president is Jerome de Bontin, a French American who is also on the Board of Directors of the U.S. Soccer Foundation. Two, Monaco is perhaps most famous for developing French national team stars like Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet, Emmanuel Petit, Lillian Thuram and Patrice Evra. Perhaps Monsieur de Bontin is hoping some time in Monaco will help Adu and Bradley get as good as those guys.

If these transfers go through, that would put three U.S. national team starters in France. Carlos Bocanegra has already signed with Rennes, who finished 6th in Ligue 1 last season.

(H/T: The Offside)

Michael Bradley can't stop scoring goals.

Ever since Dutch club Heerenveen sold Afonso Alves to Middlesbrough last January, the 20-year-old wunderkind has become a goal-scoring machine. The video above shows his game-winner against Roda last Saturday, his second on the day and his 15th goal in Eredivisie this season. He's not only beaten Brian McBride's record for most goals scored by an American in a European league season; he's obliterated it.

Everton, Blackburn and Hamburg all appear eager to obtain Bradley's services. (If Hamburg can finish second and go directly to next year's Champions League group stage, they might win out over the English clubs.) Do all these goals, however, mean that Bob Bradley would move his son from midfielder to striker for the U.S. men's national team? Michael is still listed as a midfielder on the U.S. roster for this Wednesday's friendly against Poland. How long before that changes?

(H/T: Soccer by Ives)

The basic goal of any father is to keep his daughter off the pole. As this video shows us at the 0:47 mark or so, U.S. men's national team head coach Bob Bradley should have kept his son Michael off the pole, too.

Michael Bradley joined his Heerenveen teammates in a team-building exercise in fierljeppen, a traditional Dutch sport that involves using a long pole to jump over a body of water. For Bradley, however, fierljeppen is clearly Dutch for "forehead lump."

Clearly, Bradley is much better at soccer -- Everton and Blackburn seem to think so, anyway -- and, if Heerenveen allows, Bradley could be called up to the U.S. U-23 men's national team for the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifiers this month. Fox Soccer Channel will air all the U.S. team's qualifying matches next week.

(H/T: Soccer By Ives)

Hi. I was at Soldier Field for the USA-Brazil friendly today and have just returned. I'm tired. I haven't had the benefit of replay to see if the USA deserved a penalty after the Heath Pearce bomb or if the Ronaldinho free kick was set up by a legit foul or not. Also I'm not entirely sure about who did well and who didn't because of the being there thing. But we soldier on anyway. Compensation: pictures of fans tomorrow.

Well, for a few minutes the USA led Brazil; we took a picture of the scoreboard. And then, later, for like a minute, the USA had tied Brazil 2-2; we did not but should have taken a picture of the scoreboard. And even though the game ended 4-2 to the bad, the USA acquitted itself pretty well against Freakin' Brazil, standing up to the generally acclaimed best team ever in the history of anything about as well as you could expect a bunch of dudes with a tenth of Ronaldinho's talent between them. Heck, we should get like three goals for the sweet Dempsey strike, and if you could the Onyewu own goal for us -- we scored it, after all -- the final was like 6-3, USA, which is cool.

But that's about as realistic as all those overheated "the USA will win the World Cup by 2010" predictions that popped up after 94 and then in 2002. Six years on from the latest round of unrealistic expectations, it's clear that the USA remains a threat to get out of any group that isn't the Group of Death, but do little else. The performance today was both encouraging and a stark reminder that the best answer for "when will the USA win the World Cup?" is "never." That's life as a USA soccer fan; fun can be had anyway.

After the jump: boxes! Sweet.