Neymar & Brazil Beat USA 4-1

Last night a crowd of 67,619 was on hand at FedEx Field in suburban D.C. to watch the United States host Brazil in a friendly, the second friendly for the US as it prepares for CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers. After a 5-1 drubbing of Scotland in Jacksonville on Saturday night, the US entered Wednesday's match with a little extra momentum, but Brazil is Brazil and they picked up two goals early in the first half, one of which was a penalty kick converted by Neymar in the 12th minute.

The US gained some ground at the end of the first half when Herculez Gomez, with some help from Michael Bradley and Fabian Johnson, scored for the US.

The US played strong in the second half, with numerous shots barely missing goal or being heroically saved by Brazil's keeper Rafael, but the US was not able to pick up another goal, let alone enough goals to beat Brazil. Brazil, which was primarily fielding a U-23 Olympic squad, managed to add two more goals thanks to Marcelo in the 52nd minute and Pato in the 87th minute.

While last night's match against Brazil marked the 16th time that the US has lost to the South American powerhouse, the US side acquitted itself well. The 4-1 loss to Brazil is a small stumble in the Juergen Klinsmann era, but Wednesday's match evidenced both growth and the further need for growth by the US national team. The never die, never quit attitude of last night's US side was refreshing to see and definitely sets this squad apart from the Bruce Arena side that played in Germany in 2006. On the other hand, the US needs to learn how to defend better against sides like Brazil and needs to learn how to finish some of those excellent goal scoring opportunities that they had last night.

One thing seems clear after last night, Michael Bradly and Herculez Gomez have secured national team roster spots for the foreseeable future.

Up next for the US is a friendly against Canada on Sunday June 3rd. Meanwhile, Brazil faces Mexico at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas on Sunday June 3rd.

Derby della Madonnina - Highlights

Today's Derby della Madonnina at the San Siro definitely lived up to the hype, well, it lived up to the hype for Milan fans and neutrals, not so much for Inter and its fans. Fueled by a Pato brace, Milan totally dominate Inter in a 3-0 victory.

Coming into today's Derby, Milan sat atop the table in Serie A, but Inter was only two points behind, making a charge to win the Scudetto again. While today's victory doesn't even come close to sealing up the Scudetto for Milan, it gives them some breathing room with only 7 matchweeks left in Serie A.

Now, today's highlights:

Pato scored his first goal in the 45th second of the match:



Great save by Abbiati off a corner in the 38th minute:



Chivu gets a red card in the 54th minute:



Pato gets his brace in the 62nd minute - check out the dance moves:



Cassano converts the penalty in the 90th minute:

Serie A - 20ª Giornata

Is Pato the shot in the arm that Milan needed in order to breathe new life into its season? In today’s match against Genoa, the eighteen year old Brazilian scored two goals, the only two goals of the match. Pato’s first goal came off of a header in the 68th minute and he added the insurance goal in the 82nd minute.

Today’s victory moved Milan into seventh place on the table, and only 1 point behind Sampdoria, and only 6 points behind Udinese who managed to hold Inter Milan to a nil-nil draw, this was the first time in 9 games that Inter has failed to win.

Inter’s draw combined with Roma’s 1 goal victory over Palermo yesterday puts Roma only 5 points behind first place Inter. Meanwhile, Juventus’s 3-1 win over Livorno puts the Old Lady only 5 points behind Roma. Unlike last season, there is a real race for the top spots in Serie A.

Serie A Report for January 13, 2008

Serie A returned to this pitch this weekend, and the big question was could Milan finally win a game at the San Siro and make a second half run at a table position that would return them to the Champions League next season. Milan came out strong this evening, with a convincing 5 - 2 win over Napoli. A game which included a goal from Alexandro Pato, the 18 year old Brazilian who made his competitive debut today.

The winter break clearly didn’t slow down Inter Milan, who survived a tough battle against Siena, a team that will spend the second half of the season fighting to avoid relegation, with a 3 - 2 victory, two of Inter’s goals coming off the foot of Ibrahimovic.

Inter’s victory keeps it well ahead of the pack with 46 points, but Roma’s 2-1 victory over Atalanta, a side that has given Roma trouble in the past, enabled them to secure second place and 36 points. Juventus on the other hand was lucky to walk away with one point after Saturday’s rain soddened 1-1 draw at Catania. Meanwhile both Udinese and Fiorentina won their matches this weekend, firmly holding onto fourth and fifth places, respectively.

The Eternal City’s other side came into this season with high hopes, but a string of injuries and some bad luck on the pitch has pushed Lazio into relegation territory. The second half of the season appeared promising when Lazio scored a goal in the 23rd minute of today’s match against Genoa. But the second half belonged to Genoa’s Marco Boriello who scored off a penalty kick in the 51st minute and then quickly scored a second goal in the 55th minute.

Saturday Morning Roundup

Serie A:

Good news for Roma fans, it appears that Alberto Aquilani is fit and ready to play after the winter break ends.
http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/7631518

Speaking of Roma, the Corriere dello Sport has reported that Roma and goalkeeper Alexander Doni will be entering a new contract that will result in a significant pay raise for Doni. Doni's current contract is set to expire in 2009.
http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=534889

Recent talk of Figo going to the MLS is premature, appears he wants to win Serie A and the Champions League with Inter.
http://goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=534865
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/01/03/scrap-that-mls-figo-doesnt-know-you/

This month, Serie A and Milan fans will get to see the much-hyped Alexandro Pato take the pitch against Napoli (Jan. 13). This past August, Milan paid a 22million Euro fee to Inter for the young Brazilian.
http://goal.com/en-us/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=534549

Siena has signed Richard Porta from River Plate, Uruguay. Meanwhile, Reggina has brought back Cristian Stuani who has been on loan at Danubio.
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/03012008/58/serie-siena-reggina-sign-strikers.html

A final Roma note, the team is going after Bari defender, Nicola Belmonte.
http://goal.com/en-us/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=535427

MLS:

It appears that the San Jose EarthQuakes will be bringing Moneyball to the MLS:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=495270&root=mls&cc=5901

-Can a stats oriented system produce a MLS Winner, I guess we'll find out.

Final Note:

Sunday night, my favorite television series returnst to HBO, for its final season: The Wire. If you haven't watched it, I highly recomend you do.