Seeing Red Again

It's not exactly a high-water mark for U.S. Soccer when you have to admit that there are some games you almost have to expect to lose. On the other hand, such an admission might not be so obvious if the U.S. could just keep 11 men on the field for an entire match. When you consider that Italy scored all three goals after Ricardo Clark was ejected, and that Brazil was fighting off the first real pressure from the Americans when Kljestan got booted, things might not be as dire as a quick exit from a tournament where the deck was stacked against us from the outset might indicate.

What I find interesting, though, is that both U.S. red cards went to central midfielders who play in MLS. And if you've been watching MLS this year, there seem to be an awful lot of red cards -- 34 so far, by my count. I'm not sure how this compares to other years or other leagues, but again, it seems like a lot. Could it be that picking defensive and holding midfielders from the domestic league is a recipe for international disaster? And if so, why? Among other things, it makes that Michael Bradley-Maurice Edu pairing seem even more likely for next summer, unless Benny Feilhaber steps up in the next match or two.

As for the relative merits of the U.S. squad through two matches, they are, by definition, relative. For me, I'm okay with character-building losses and opportunities for the coaching staff to learn who can and can't contribute when playing a meaningless tournament against stellar opponents. On top of some of the emerging themes, we've learned that Jonathan Spector is good, but maybe not great, at the right back spot, and that Jay DeMerit is worthy of being third on the center back depth chart. We've learned that it's going to take more than a U.S. camp to get DaMarcus Beasley -- and maybe Jozy Altidore -- back on track after injuries and lack of playing time. We've learned that Clint Dempsey still needs to prove he can get the job done at this level. We can infer that Freddy Adu isn't in good enough form to get playing time.

This makes the immediate future really telling. Particularly, do Dempsey and Altidore take a seat against Egypt so we can see what somebody else -- Charlie Davies, Conor Casey, Freddy Adu -- can do from the starting whistle? Does Bradley give Beasley the Gold Cup to get back in form, or will he leave that up to Rangers in the fall? With offensive creativity at a premium, does the U.S. coach bring in someone like Stuart Holden for the Gold Cup to see if he can provide a spark for the attack?

With a qualifying spot in WC2010 still a really good bet, this is a great opportunity for this team to really figure out what its made of and, maybe more importantly, who it's made of. I'm hesitant to re-iterate anything Alexi Lalas says, but after the Brazil match, he rightly pointed out that it's all about next Summer. Nothing else -- not even a couple of bad (but not, you know, Andorra or New Zealand bad) results against major world powers -- matters.