Jeff Cunningham scored his first international goal, but three second half goals saw the United States lose to Denmark.

As you can see from the highlights, the US MNT’s 1-0 loss to Slovakia wasn’t pretty, but they hung in there, got some good chances, and only allowed a goal on a questionable penalty kick (also, good job spelling Marek Hamsik’s name wrong, USsoccer.com).

There really isn’t too much you can say about this match. It was a friendly, the roster was missing some key components, and there were only about 37 people in attendance. So, yeah, there it is.

Looking ahead to Denmark, Bob’s side will be slightly different as Cherundolo, Dempsey, and Chad Marshall have all been given back to their club teams, with Ricardo Clark, Stu Holden, and new boy Edgar Castillo taking their spots in the team. This is Castillo’s first call for the US, after FIFA’s recent rule change allowed him to switch allegiances from Mexico.

Like Jose Francisco Torres — who was excused from the squad for personal reasons — Castillo plays in the Mexican Primera division and could prove worthy of major minutes at left back. If nothing else, the Denmark match should be interesting just to see how Castillo factors in.

Marcus Hahnemann is back in the US MNT roster with his new ride (hint: it’s his bike — don’t get you hopes up for a pimped out 1970s army tank or something), but first, the best news of the week from The AP:

U.S. forward Charlie Davies was released from a Washington hospital on Tuesday nearly a month after a car accident killed a fellow passenger. [...]

In a statement, Dr. James DeBritz of Washington Hospital Center said Davies will rehabilitate with the national team staff.

DeBritz said it will take extensive physical therapy for Davies to recover from several broken bones, including two in his right leg, and a lacerated bladder.

Davies is expected to need six to 12 months to recover, essentially ruling him out of the World Cup, which begins in South Africa in June.

So Charlie is thankfully now on the long road to recovery and while he won’t be with the team for the World Cup, I’m sure the boys will use him as inspiration in South Africa and hopefully we’ll see Charlie back in uniform sooner.

And now for the full 22-man roster for the Slovakia friendly:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton), Troy Perkins (Valerenga)

DEFENDERS (9): Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)

FORWARDS (4): Jozy Altidore (Hull City), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), Jeff Cunningham (FC Dallas), Eddie Johnson (Fulham)

Most notably absent from that group are Tim Howard and Landon Donovan, but since this match doesn’t really count for anything other than a practice test, that makes sense.

Dax McCarty and MLS leading goalscorer Jeff Cunningham (he finished the regular season with 17 goals — one more than Conor Casey and five more than Landon) are a couple of interesting additions, with the latter perhaps auditioning for a last-chance move to Europe.

Also, hey look! The Grown Ass Man is back! Amazing what scoring a brace for the Fulham reserves can do for your career.

After a tough start against Spain the United States’ U17 side was able to stack up 1 – 0 wins against Malawi and the United Arab Emirates. The United States will advance after securing second place in their group. A skillful side that is able to move the ball around and keep possession, the United States kids have drawn criticism from some for lacking a clinical finishing edge, but they seem to excel at moving the ball around (something we haven’t been able to say about many US sides). The midfield pairing of Luis Gil and Marlon Duran have impressed and hopefully these two and other standout players like goalscores Jack McInerney and Alex Shinsky will continue to shine.

The United States Men’s U17 side will take on Italy on Wednesday, November 4th at 10 am.

Right – disclaimer out of the way and without further ado, I give you my USWNT v Germany post-game analysis…

Twitch of the Match Lori Chalupny. Our captian kept that back line in order. It’s no coincidence that Germany had 12 shots but only one shot on goal.

Who’s the number one twich now? A failed punch away from No Neck Nadine allowed Abby Wambach to head the ball (not so dramatically) into the German net to score the only goal of the game. Meanwhile Hope Solo spent a bit of the second half stopping the German offense before they could even get that party started.

Those twitches DID benefit from a pro league! The crazy phsychic voodoo communication between Solo and Chalupny can probably be attributed to their season together with the Saint Louis Athletica. It was a bit eerie at times.

That twitch needs to learn how to share Was Carli Lloyd the only creative playmaker on the pitch that day? Yet, at times, when she got her opportunity, she tried to score instead of maybe pass to a player in a better position. I’m guessing this is not what Pia meant by “possession football” or what I’d rather rename “put put pass.” So my words of advice to our midfield are the wise words of Kenny Rogers: “You got to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.” Hmmm, and I read Tobin Heath was on the roster yet she didn’t play? I’m thinking to make this new system work and work well, we need a bit more flair in the middle. And by flair, I don’t mean flair, I mean flair.

But that twitch gets a consolation prize Ella Masar got her first cap when she replaced A-Rod in the 72nd minute. But, uh… did she even touch the ball?

And that twitch needs to learn from the pros In the second half, Abby got pushed from behind and attempted a really really really pathetic dive to draw a penalty… that the refs completely ignored. Ooops.

Studs up, twitches But to be fair, there were some precarious clips from Lloyd and Averbuch during the first half that went unnoticed.

and finally…

Thanks to the twitches on twitter Because I actually got to watch this one since the link Cat Whitehill found turned out to be a bust. But minutes later, the very small but very vocal grapevine found another stream that worked. Shout out to alondra_h and AreYouOnTheBall for the twits and retweets. That is apparently how we do when we follow this sport.

Peace Twitches!

Here are the facts (or as many facts as I can remember): The #1 and #2 ranked teams in the world are about to play a friendly in the future location of the 2011 Women’s World Cup. Germany recently won the Euros by destroying England 6-2 and if you caught that one on the internets, I don’t use the term “destroying” lightly. Oh, and it appears coach Pia is hell bent on switching the US squad over to this “possession football” thing since she’s bringing over an assload of midfielders plus Abby & A-Rod. And she’s also got a few newbies with her to boot. Gone are Angela Hucles (retirement) and Megan Rapinoe (injury) replaced with Ella Masar and Kacey White. And A-Rod arrived to training hella late (like 2 days ago) cause she apparently hasn’t graduated from USC yet? And a couple of days ago, the USWNT got their asses beat 9-1 by the Bayern Munich U17 boys team! (but to be fair, it was never made clear if the game was on FIFA10 or if it was live on the pitch) This is awesome! We are soooo gonna kick their asses!

As for the dramz, this game will be a matchup against arguably the top ranked goalkeepers in the world: Hope Solo and Nadine Angerer. On a side note, someone told me a story a while back where they were in line at a bank in Germany and Angerer was in front of them and when she got to the teller, the teller mistook for a man. But in my opinion, she really doesn’t look like a man, she just doesn’t have a neck. Seriously people, even if you have zero interest in women’s soccer, check this game out and get back to me on the neck thing. It’s a bit weird.

And, in the US, the game is not on television but thanks to the generosity of Cat Whitehill and her twitter, this link may for realsies be showing the game which starts on Oct 29 at 1pm ET.

p.s. One more thing…

(Thanks to Annie at ONTD Football for the enhanced picture. She’s got more pics in her post so go check ‘em out!)

First things first, the US MNT has added another friendly to the November schedule by announcing their stop in Slovakia four days before playing Denmark, which will make for a good pair of measuring stick matches against a couple of fellow World Cup qualifiers on European soil. Both Slavakia and Denmark finished atop their UEFA qualifying groups, so these matches should provide a good show of where we stand against quality competition several months removed from the Confederations Cup.

Meanwhile, Sunil Gulati is patting himself on the back for his blind, unwavering, and perhaps somewhat ignorant faith in Bob Bradley. Speaking to the New York Times‘ Jack Bell, Gulati boasted:

“Bob is taking us back to South Africa, no ifs, ands or buts. “Bob is signed through the World Cup, and we’ve never been tempted to make a change. The record of the team over the last three years is Bob’s record. It’s the highest winning percentage of any coach we’ve ever had against our toughest schedule outside the U.S. We’ve qualified again, qualified early, went to our first final of a FIFA competition. We won the Gold Cup that got us to the Confederations Cup.

“I understand that if you’re a fan, you have a right to be demanding and emotional. That’s part of the territory. Our expectations have risen, and that’s a good thing. It’s acceptable and normal that fans get emotional. We want them to. We’re glad that people care.”

“We won’t even pretend to consider any of their concerns, but yeah, sure, we’re glad they care.” Lovely. When can get this guy out of office again?

drinking beers…

first row seats at Saturday’s Bayern/Frankfurt game…

kickin it at some creepy scary looking castle that is totally not the house from The Shining (cause that one’s in Oregon)…

So here’s a shout out to Cat for the updates! The game’s on Thursday by the way and despite the fact that the #1 and #2 ranked teams are playing each other, this one does not appear to be available on tv or the internets. Yup.

For the last time, it’s pronounced HUE-clees!

The Boston Breakers site just announced Angela Hucles is retiring from professional soccer. She says:

I always wanted to involve myself in things I was passionate about and give 110 percent. I feel like I’ve come to a point where I no longer can give that much and I know that there are other players who are ready to step up to the plate in order to bring the World Cup trophy back to the U.S. and carry on the growth of professional women’s soccer in the United States as well.

Sounds like there were a lot of deep thoughts happening in the Hucles household recently. And she will certainly be missed during the US Women’s upcoming friendly against Germany later this month (I’ll have the usual half-assed preview up soon). Hucles has been a rock in the midfield since 2002 who helped us win gold medals in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. And during the 2008 games, she was one of the players chosen to fill in for the injured Abby Wambach. At the end of it all, she wound up the leading scorer for the team with four goals.

Talk about going out with a bang! And her parting professional words ring true because today Pia called up “uncapped with the senior team” Ella Masar to travel to Germany instead.

(Yeah so the USMNT qualified for their World Cup but coming up it will be the women’s turn to qualify for 2011. Stay tuned… uh, just as soon as CONCACAF schedule the qualifiers.)

That was bizarre. But it ended up being bizarre with a good ending, so whatevs.

With a shocking last second goal from Jonathan Bornstein off a corner, the US came back to draw 2-2 with a time wastey Costa Rica and finish atop the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying group. Atrocious defensive play marred the first half for the US and put them in that 2-0 hole, but their tenacity down the stretch was admirable and perhaps a credit to their desire to put a smile on Charlie Davies’ face.

Here’s Marlon’s take on the game:

Well, I think it’s important to not get too swept up in the excitement of the last second goal. The spirit and will of the team that we want to see was there, but some of the discipline and skill were missing for much of the game. Centerback is a big worry for this team. It was once a lock who would be starting, but with Onyewu out of form and now injured and Bocanegra uninspiring I can’t say I’m pleased with the center halves.

And while Robbie Rogers put in some good crosses at the end of the day I won’t want him going to the World Cup ahead of Freddy Adu. I don’t know what the kid has to do to prove he should be on the bench in South Africa, but hopefully he gets it done. I don’t think he’s a starter for us right now, but I see him as a much more valuable sub then Rogers at the end of the day given his left footed free kick hitting ability and his trickery on the ball.

Stuart Holden put in another good shift, and hopefully this will see Dempsey move up top with Altidore. If anyone needed proof that Conor Casey’s two goal performance on the weekend was a bit flukey then this was it. His mishit at the beginning of this match was absolutely woeful. He had all the time in the world, and I can understand wanting to surprise the keeper and hitting the ball first time, but his attempted curler wasn’t even close.

So, once again the US team showed it can claw back from the holes it puts itself in. We have problems with our holding mid roles and the center of our defense, and hopefully this will all be sorted out at some point. Though with Bob Bradley as manager I’m not sure what to expect.

Speaking of which, does anything think Ives and Martin Rogers were having second thoughts during the first half about publishing their eerily similar “hooray for Bob Bradley” pieces last week?

Anyway, there you have it. Qualifying is finally (finally!) done. Now we just have to hope for good health, more playing time for The Adu, and perhaps for a worm hole to suck Bob Bradley up and deposit him somewhere on Neptune between now and next June.

[Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images]