The Red Bulls are in shambles and calls for Juan Carlos Osorio's head are nothing new. But patience is wearing thin with the team's supporters, one of whom penned this letter to Red Bulls general manager Erik Stover, calling for the removal of both Osorio and Red Bulls technical director Jeff Agoos.

We reprinted it here with his permission.

A goal by Kenny Cooper gave FC Dallas a 1-1 draw at Houston Dynamo and clinched El Capitan, the cannon awarded to the winner of the season series between the Texas rivals, for FCD (ASN, June 29, 2008). The game was Dallas’ second under coach Schellas Hyndman. The teams drew three times last season but FCD took the trophy by outscoring Houston in road goals.

This season, the battle for El Capitan was much more one-sided. Houston won the first meeting between the two sides on May 10 and clinched the cannon with a 3-1 win at Pizza Hut Park on June 16. The teams’ fortunes have been divergent elsewhere as well; Houston leads the Western Conference and Supporters’ Shield standings with 28 points from 15 games, while Dallas is second-to-last in the West with 14 points from the same number of matches.

Nate Jaqua and Fredy Montero combined on all three Sounders goals, with Jaqua scoring two, and Seattle had no problem seeing off the Colorado Rapids at Qwest Field on Sunday afternoon.

Full match report and Sounders player ratings.

The LA Galaxy got an early goal from an unlikely source (Todd Dunivant, left) and held on to hand the Houston Dynamo their first loss in 12 games at the Home Depot Center Sunday afternoon. For Los Angeles, the win halts a two game slide and puts the team at .500 with one game remaining before the return of a certain English midfielder.

ASN's Ivan Yeo reports from Los Angeles.

Real Salt Lake rolled to an impressive 3-0 victory over Toronto FC at Rio Tinto Stadium Saturday night. The victory should give the squad confidence over the next month as it will be short a glut of midfielders to international call-ups ahead of the Gold Cup competition.

Skip right to the photo gallery or the RSL player assessments.

Perhaps it just wasn’t meant to be. The U.S. Men’s National Team put on a brave showing and jumped out to a shocking 2-0 lead in the first half of the Confederations Cup final at Johannesburg Sunday. But a resurgent second half performance by Brazil, along with a refusal by USMNT head coach Bob Bradley to go to his bench until it was too late, doomed the Yanks, who lost 3-2.

The U.S. was holding on to a 2-1 lead midway through the second half when Brazilian coach Dunga brought on a pair of fresh players, Daniel Alves and Blumer Elano, in one swoop. The USMNT defense at that point looked stretched and at the breaking point; its players tired. The Brazilians, denied the apparent tying goal when the referee failed to see a ball had crossed the line moments earlier, had reestablished control of the match. With two more fresh players, surely the balance of power would tip in Brazil’s favor even more. It was, in short, a necessary time for Bradley to go to his bench.

Why he refused to do so remains an open question. Presumably, Bradley lacked confidence in players at his disposal (Sacha Kljestan, Luis Robles, Marvell Wynne, Heath Pearce, DaMarcus Beasley, Jonathan Bornstein, Conor Casey, Jose Francisco Torres and Freddy Adu, for the record). This is understandable on the one hand, as none of the aforementioned impressed much in recent national team play (then again, neither did most of the starters until the Egypt game). Perhaps Bradley was simply hoping to hold on and nurse whatever minutes he could from his starters. For whatever reason, his response did not come until the 74th minute–nine full minutes after Dunga’s move–and after Brazil had equalized. At that point it was too late. The U.S. was on the ropes and Lucio’s game-winner in the 83rd minute the logical conclusion.

On the bright side…

Still, despite this disappointment, nobody in the U.S. Men’s National Team camp has anything to apologize for. The U.S. run was nothing short of remarkable. The semifinal victory over Spain will go into the annals of great upsets in the history of U.S. team sports (though we agree with those who say it bears no comparison with certain events in Lake Placid, N.Y., circa 1980). After two subpar group stage matches against Italy and Brazil, the U.S. stepped up with some of its best soccer ever. Yes, even better than 2002. That gives U.S. soccer fans reason to be optimistic going into the final rounds of Hex qualifiers and ultimately, next year’s World Cup tournament itself. A lot can still happen between now and then, of course. And no matter its progress at the Confederations Cup, the U.S. still has no realistic chance of competing for the 2010 World Cup. Anybody who says otherwise, in the mainstream media or elsewhere, simply has no clue about the sport or its showpiece tournament. Fact.

Nevertheless, U.S. soccer fans have many reasons to feel gratified. Not only did their team exceed expectations, but their media even took (some) notice. Those are two major accomplishments that speak to the bright future of the sport in this country. We’ll take it.

Read more about the USMNT’s loss to Brazil here, including player ratings and the lessons it should take from the tournament.

ASN's ace photographers Mike Murphy and Nick Murphy were at DSGP Wednesday night gathering photographic evidence of the Rapids match with FC Dallas (read the match report here). Check out a gallery of some of their favorite shots on ASN's Rapids page.

A late goal by Omar Cummings brought the Colorado Rapids back from the brink of defeat to rescue a point from their encounter with FC Dallas Wednesday night--and with it, the team's unbeaten run, which is now at eight games and counting. Cummings has three goals in the Rapids last two games. Pat Shea reports from DSGP and provides player ratings for both FC Dallas and the home side.

The day after the U.S. Men’s National Team's historic upset of Spain in the Confederations Cup semifinals, head coach Bob Bradley announced the 23-player roster that will represent the U.S. at the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup July 3 to July 26, 2009.

Get the full story at ASN's USMNT page.

As the minutes counted down to the U.S. Men’s National Team’s shocking upset of Spain in Bloemfontein, South Africa yesterday, the speculation started: How big of an upset was this? Obviously, huge. CONCACAF clubs don’t just beat the reigning European champions (least of all fielding their ‘A’ lineups) in the knockout rounds of major tourneys. Throw in the fact that Spain had won a record-tying 15 straight matches in international competition, was unbeaten in 35 and had not been scored on in eight and it raised the stakes even more.

No surprise, then, that the BBC immediately called it “one of the biggest upsets in world football.”. But what about other great upsets in U.S. Men’s National Team history? How does yesterday’s triumph compare to those exploits? Grant Wahl, in his excellent postgame reaction piece, ranks the Spanish Shocker (a.k.a. The Beatdown in Bloemfontein) in the top five of all-time USMNT victories. His others:

• U.S. 2, Mexico 0, 2002 World Cup, second round.
• U.S. 1, England 0, 1950 World Cup, first round.
• U.S. 3, Portugal 2, 2002 World Cup, first round.
• U.S. 2, Colombia 1, 1994 World Cup, first round.

With apologies (and thanks) to Mr. Wahl, we will add one more to the list: the 1-0 defeat of Brazil at the 1998 Gold Cup. These six matches, then, form our choices in the poll of all-time U.S. Men’s National Team soccer upsets. Cast your vote and defend your choice in the comment fields below.