I’m in two minds about the very real possibility of the US of A becoming a major force in world football in the next decade. This summer’s Confed Cup has shown that America has the potential to compete with the likes of Brazil and Spain, and although I still think they have no chance to [...]

England continued in the fine tradition of blowing it in major tournaments, by getting hammered by Germany in the U21 Euros final earlier this evening – as the headline says, it was a depressingly familiar story. To be fair to Stuart Pearce, who has matured as a manager during this tournament, his side was greatly [...]

So it’s England versus our old pals Germany in the final of a major international football tournament. It really should be the only thing that anyone is talking about today. And yet the papers are dominated by Jacko, a heatwave and some Scottish bloke doing OK at Wimbledon. Sure, I care about those things, but [...]

I can’t think of many less meaningful non-friendly internationals than the third-fourth place play-off at the Confederations Cup, but this vid is worth watching for Katlega Mphela’s wonderful free-kick in stoppage time. The South African’s net burster made the score 2-2 and forced extra time, during which Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso won the match, also with [...]

Super sub Dani Alves – there aren’t many other teams in world football that can afford to leave a player of his quality on the bench – silenced the hosts’ vuvuzelas with a killer goal just two minutes before full time in last night’s Confed Cup semi final. It was a poor game, although the [...]

Today’s lookalike is a bit obscure, but you get two points for knowing that Fernandez is one of South Africa’s Confed Cup goalkeepers (he plays for Arminia Bielefeld in the German Bundesliga), and that Farleigh is an entrepreneur who used to sit on the panel of BBC’s Dragon’s Den. Email Pies with your lookalikes.

Who saw this coming!? Not me. Not anyone really. And so the USA prevented the Spanish from setting a new world record of 36 matches without a defeat. Somone had to stop Del Bosque’s men – I just didn’t expect it to be the States. Who’s to say Bob Bradley’s team, which is peaking with [...]

Gooch Onyewu enjoys the spoils after the USA’s amazing win over Spain A potted match report: USA took their chances, Gooch defended like a Minotaur (when he’s on his game, he’s close to unbeatable) and Spain looked absolutely knackered. Congrats to the States, who will play either Brazil or hosts South Africa in the final. [...]

One is a striker for the US national team (he scored the opener against Egypt at the Confed Cup), the other is a B-list actor who starred in Crash and Iron Man. They could be brothers. Almost. Got a lookalike (must be a bit shit) for Pies? Email us with your suggestion.

Impressive ball control by the seal-like Brazilian. Pointless, but impressive. [Spotted @ 101GreatGoals]

West Ham’s most powerful fan, Barack Obama, is set to accept an invitation to attend the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Cup. The President is a self-proclaimed “soccer” fan - he’s publicly backed the States’ bid to host the World Cup in either 2018 or 2022. “He accepted [the invite],” a proud Sepp Blatter said [...]

After two comprehensive defeats, the US needed a six-goal swing to reach the Confed semis. But, against Godzilla-sized odds and with a lot of help from Brazil, Bob Bradley’s team dominated a frankly pathetic Egypt to win 3-0 (it should have been more). Fulham’s Clint Dempsey scored America’s third goal, from a cross by West [...]

Shazam! This goal won the match for Bahrain in their recent World Cup qualifier against Uzbekistan. A strike fit to win any game, even one against Uzbekistan.

Against Arsene Wenger’s wishes, but with the backing of Fabio Capello (no one messes with Capello), Stuart Pearce took Theo Walcott to Sweden for the U21 Euros. So you’d think Psycho would play Walcott form the start for England’s key group game against Spain, even though the Arsenal youngster had a disappointing game against Finland. [...]

Egypt’s players found the stray contact lens in no time Another terrific day in South Africa, land of the vuvuzelas (I’m learning to tune them out now). In the Group of Certain Death, an utterly abject USA (FIFA says they’re the 14th-best team in the world. Come on!?) were torn apart by Kaka’s Brazil, while [...]

Despite the scoreline, Spain’s win against Iraq was fairly comfortable, but the European champions didn’t bring their shooting boots and missed several good chances. In the other game in what I like to call “the weakest group in the history of international football”, hosts South Africa notched their first win of the tournament with a [...]

Yesterday, Pies was the first to tell you about the Giuseppe Rossi Judas T-shirt, which is selling like hot cakes and also generating a hell of a lot of debate, especially in the States and, to a lesser extent, Italy. After scoring twice in the Confederation Cup against the country of his birth (he was [...]

That didn’t take long, did it? Available from Objectivo.com Top 10 footballers who revealed T-shirts with messages

With no domestic football to talk about (apart from what’s being churned out by the massive rumour factory), the 2009 Confed Cup is doing a very good job of satisfying my appetite for football. It produced two cracking games yesterday, with 11 goals in all. Egypt, a team you would be foolish to underestimate, ran [...]

When I call FB arrogant, I mean it as a massive compliment. It’s admirable arrogance, if that’s not oxymoronic. This highlights reel, which popped up on YouTube a few days ago, features some great footage of old Franz striding imperiously around the pitch, in a manner that makes it easy to see why he was [...]

Warning: these two men can severely damage your goal difference The Confederations Cup (come on, I know you can feign interest with me…) kicked off at the weekend. Pre-tournament favourites Spain demolished New Zealand, thanks to a Fernando Torres hat-trick, while in the other game, hosts South Africa played out a scrappy goalless draw with [...]

No great shock that Andorra, who would struggle to compete in League Two, were thrashed by Fabio Capello’s boys in white. England could have scored more than ten goals but settled on six. Gold stars for Wayne Rooney, Glen Johnson and Frank Lampard, who were all excellent. This qualifying thing seems all too easy for [...]

An anoymous Scottish man - let’s call him Mad Jack McMad - bet £135,000 on England to beat Andorra in last night’s World Cup qualifier at Wembley, at prohibitive odds of 1/200. He did win his bet, but walked away with just £675 in winnings. Smart, or dumb? (I go with dumb.) “No way do I want [...]

Andorra? Andorra… that’s in Africa, right? Like everyone in America, I know very little about Andorra. I do know that they are playing England tonight at Wembley (Btw, if you have a ticket and live in London, good luck figuring out how to outsmart those pesky Tube strikers – the turnstiles will now open earlier, [...]

Well that was tough. Job done by England but the match won’t live long in the memory. Neat, acrobatic finish by Wazza Rooney for England’s third, and, um… er, not a lot else to mention - a 4-0 win away from home in Europe is a great result, but this Kazakh team is absolutely useless; Championship [...]