Soccer Soccer 2

For the second straight match in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the U.S. national team is breathing a major sigh of relief. Trailing by a goal at the half, the U.S. rallied for a 2-1 win over Panama Saturday night in Philadelphia in extra time to advance to the semifinals.

A week after needing a stoppage-time cracker from Stuart Holden to salvage a 2-2 draw with Haiti, again the U.S. left it to be decided late. Saturday night Kenny Cooper was the hero, placing a 104th-minute penalty kick just inside the left post and past diving Panama keeper Jamie Penedo.

The other day, driving to a Fourth of July barbecue, I saw a pair of young kids riding their bikes. Obviously that's not all that unusual, except these two weren't wearing jerseys for LeBron James or Eli Manning. Rather, one was in a Liverpool FC top, the other a Los Angeles Galaxy shirt with the No. 23 and the name of a certain famous English midfielder printed across the back.

I wasn't sure whether I should shake my head or smile.

Ah, David Beckham. Two words that can elicit reactions from people everywhere from Athens to Zanzibar and, yes, America too -- or at least on Madison Avenue. Beckham, the man with the misreported $250 million salary -- is back in America with the Los Angeles Galaxy this month after his much ballyhooed loan stint at AC Milan.

Circle September 20 on your calendars. That's the day Manchester City comes to Old Trafford in the 2009-10 Premier League season and it'll be bringing a familiar face along -- Carlos Tevez.

Monday afternoon suddenly cash-flush City continued it's summer spending spree by inking the Argentina striker to a five-year deal, shortly after he couldn't agree to a permanent deal with the three-time defending Premier League champions.

With two wins already in the books during the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup, for all intents and purposes there wasn't a whole lot riding for the U.S. in their final Group B match Saturday night in Foxborough, Mass., against Haiti.

For about 92 minutes, though, it looked like the U.S. might have some major egg on its face. But with about a minute left, Stuart Holden cracked a wonder strike from outside the penalty area into the upper right corner of the net to save the U.S. some major embarrassment and salvage a 2-2 draw, winning the Group in the process. It was his second goal in as many games during the tournament, which are also his only two full senior level international appearances.

The trickle down effect of the U.S. national team's run to last month's Confederations Cup final is coming into fruition this week. First we saw defender Oguchi Onyewu ink a deal with AC Milan and now it appears that young forward Charlie Davies is on to bigger and better things with a possible move to Sochaux of France's Ligue 1, as reported by the French sports daily L'Equipe.

Probably more than any other player on the American roster, Davies broke out during the two weeks in South Africa thanks to his blinding speed. The New Hampshire native has carried that form into July's CONCACAF Gold Cup, scoring a goal and pacing the attack in Saturday's 4-0 stomping of Grenada as well as playing off a perfect lay off to Santino Quaranta for the U.S.'s first goal in a 2-0 win over Honduras Wednesday night.

File this one away under something that nobody, I mean nobody, saw coming. Michael Owen was at Manchester United's training ground for medical tests and could sign with the Premier League champions before Friday is over.

It's not too often that a transfer is actually shocking, but if this one goes down it's a Grade A stunner. After losing Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez it's hard to fathom that Sir Alex Ferguson is chasing down a player who could barely stay on the field during his star-crossed tenure at Newcastle United. In fact, I read somewhere that Ronaldo and Tevez scored more goals the last two seasons than Owen made appearances.

When the U.S. Soccer Federation announced the roster for the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup in the midst of the U.S.'s surprising run to the Confederations Cup final, the general consensus was that the lineup was thoroughly a "B" team. After all, the supposed "A" team had done enough work in upsetting then-FIFA No. 1 Spain, and giving newly minted top dog Brazil a run for its money, before losing 3-2 last week.

On Wednesday, CONCACAF said it would allow the U.S. to add seven players to the already 23-man roster for the Gold Cup due to playing in back-to-back competitions barely separated by a week and, more importantly, over 10,000 miles. Thursday the USSF announced those seven players -- all members of the Confederations Cup roster -- upgrading the roster to a solid "B+."

Wednesday superstar Cristiano Ronaldo officially completed his world-record transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid. Perhaps the pressure is already getting to the Portuguese winger, as England's Sun newspaper alleges he got in a bit of a dust up with a 17-year-old female fan following him in Lisbon on Sunday by kicking in a window of a car she was sitting on.

Of course, usually anything that comes from the always reputable Sun (sarcasm alert) ought to be taken with a slight grain of salt. The paper also said Ronaldo apologized for the alleged incident, citing the fact his mother was with him when it occurred.

This summer, as the European transfer season began at 12:01 AM ET on July 1, one thing is absolutely clear -- all roads lead to Real Madrid.

Fresh off the heels of completing the mega-money swoops for Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, the Spanish giants appear to have added another high profile attacking talent in Lyon's French international Karim Benzema. Reports coming out Wednesday put the sides very close on a deal in the range of €35 million ($50 U.S.) that could be finalized before the day is over. (Update -- it appears the deal is complete.)

The work, apparently, is never over for the U.S. National Team. Fresh off takings its bows after a stunning 2-0 upset over No. 1-ranked Spain at the Confederations Cup Wednesday, the U.S. was back to work Thursday.

In this case, it was naming a 23-man roster for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which begins on July 4 in Seattle with a match against Grenada. Of note, only six players on the Gold Cup roster have over 10 caps. On top of that, just Michael Parkhurst and Brian Ching were on the 2007 competition roster, which the U.S. won, punching their ticket to the 2009 Confederations Cup in the process.