FanHouse Tim Howard

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Landon Donovan was named the best player on
the U.S. team for a record-breaking sixth time on Tuesday.

Donovan, 27, was instrumental in the Americans' successful qualifying campaign for the World Cup and its trek to the Confederations Cup final.

SANDY, Utah (AP) -- Tim Howard made six saves in regulation and stopped three shots on penalty kicks to lead Everton over the Major League Soccer team 4-3 on penalty kicks following a 1-1 tie in the MLS All-Star game on Wednesday night.

Howard, the U.S. national team goalkeeper, was voted the most valuable player after stopping Seattle Sounders midfielder Freddie Ljunberg on the final penalty kick.

The Premier League club wrapped up its North American preseason tour by becoming the first international team to win the MLS All-Star game.

The ecstasy on the faces of the Brazilian players celebrating the go-ahead goal near the corner flag and the tears rolling down that of their captain, Lucio, at the final whistle, demonstrated just how much today's Confederations Cup final meant to the world's most famous soccer team.

That measure of commitment, combined with a lot of talent and the flagging energy of a U.S. side struggling to stay with a superior opponent for the second straight game, was enough to overhaul a two-goal deficit and lift the Brazilians to a 3-2 triumph and the tournament title.

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The U.S. national team's unexpected victory over top-ranked Spain in Wednesday's Confederations Cup semifinal set off a predictable, but still annoying, flurry of pontification about the growth and relevance of soccer in America.

Mainstream journalists who watch a game or two every four years, political types who wonder if soccer is consistent with American values and sports anchors who asked if a victory in Sunday's final against Brazil would install us as World Cup favorites, all turned up suddenly to offer their well-informed opinions and pile a bit more pressure on Bob Bradley's boys.

The coach and several players admitted they came out "tentative" in the 3-0 group-stage loss to Brazil. Imagine how much more frightened they'd be if they felt the sport's future depended on a single result? Thankfully, the U.S. showed against Egypt and Spain that it can play both aggressively and intelligently while ignoring external distractions and someone else's big picture. A similar approach Sunday could yield a trophy.

David Beckham can hawk his signature cologne in our department stores, including Macy's in New York, where an employee followed me down an aisle and sprayed some of Becks' metrosexual potion on me. But soccer? He'd much rather play in Europe than in our league, which explains all you need to know about the game's place in America.

In the stateside food chain of professional sports, men's soccer has been a can of Spam. If you have absolutely nothing better to eat, you nibble. It isn't so true on the women's side, where Mia Hamm and the golden girls captivated a nation for years and Brandi Chastain gave us a landmark moment for feminism by stripping down to her sports bra.

But the men? The quality of play has been so maligned that Giuseppe Rossi, who was born and raised in New Jersey and could have been a major star for our national squad, never even considered Team USA. In his teen years, he tapped into his dual citizenship and signed up with Italy, a global football power.

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Wednesday night in chilly Bloemfontein, South Africa, the U.S. national team lodged one of its greatest victories in its history, beating FIFA No. 1 Spain 2-0 in the Confederations Cup semifinals. The win snapped Spain's 35-match unbeaten run, denying them a chance to set a new record at 36.

This win almost made me pull out the thesaurus for the proper word to describe it. Stunning? Yes. Unbelievable? Pretty close. Deserved? You bet.

As I write this, the United States Men's Soccer Team leads Spain 1-0. The match is in its 64th minute and despite the surprising score two-thirds the way through this, the Americans are getting outclassed by the Spaniards everywhere but on the scoreboard.

At a time when Americans have become somewhat of an endangered species in the England's Premier League, a bit of good news came down Wednesday when it was announced goal keeper Marcus Hahnemann was signed by newly promoted club Wolverhampton.

Hahnemann, who had spells at Fulham and Reading, was released by the Royals last month after a long stint at the club, helping them reach the top flight for the first time in their history due to budgetary concerns.

A participant in FanHouse's live chat during last night's World Cup qualifying debacle in Costa Rica referenced Project 2010, the initiative launched in the late 1990s by the U.S. Soccer Federation and well-traveled Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz intending to create a developmental blueprint that would put this country in position to compete for the 2010 World Cup.

It's not looking good.

Perhaps Costa Rica did the U.S. national team a small favor last night, of the "We must burn this village in order to save it" variety. The side was exposed for what it is, and it's better we know sooner than later. Bob Bradley has some quality players at his disposal, but not enough. More importantly, this is a team that almost to a man continues to demonstrate the inability to maintain composure when removed from its comfort zone. This does not win you World Cups.

As an American fan of the English soccer scene, the FA Cup remains a weird outlier. It has some appeal, yes, but the aura and mystic the well-over 100-year knockout tournament seems to be lost in the Atlantic translation.

In any event, the FA Cup signals the traditional end of the English season and Saturday at London's Wembley Stadium Chelsea beat Everton 2-0 to send short-term coach Guus Hiddink out a winner. It was the fifth FA Cup for Chelsea.