(Photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images)
Downtrodden and now, uncertain about his future, U.S. Men's National Team coach Bob Bradley addressed the slew of reporters after his team was thrashed by Brazil.
"Tentative start, goal on the set piece. Just an awfully difficult way to start versus Brazil," said the oft-questioned Bradley, whose squad has received six goals and has seen a player be sent off in either match of just two games in the Confederations Cup.
Against Italy, in their first match, the Americans were haunted by the ghosts of another questionable call against the defending world champions, but also failed spectacularly to offer any real semblance of football against the Italians, who cruised to a 3-1 victory.
The Confederations Cup was created by FIFA as both a warm-up for the World Cup and as an attractive, high level tourney in itself, displaying every continent's crowned champion, as well as the defending World Cup champs and the hosts.
Today, in South Africa, the United States has proven themselves worthy ambassadors of their North American confederation.
That's no compliment.
Sam's Army presides today over a weak pack of countries offer them no real, consistent challenge and provides American supporters with a mirage regarding their team's true level of play.
After a strong tenure by Bruce Arena that saw the United States challenge Mexico's historical dominance of the continent, Bob Bradley seemed to keep Arena's legacy going, by defeating Mexico in a contested Gold Cup final in 2007.
The United States (ranked 14th in the world), has seen what seemed like a relatively easy World Cup qualification road have some serious bumps, including a 2-2 draw by the skin of their teeth in El Salvador (ranked 100th), a 3-1 thrashing on the road in Costa Rica (ranked 41st) and the team came from behind to defeat Honduras (ranked 35th)—at home.
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