Confederations Cup spot earns US soccer $1.4 million

FIFA has placed $17.6 million into the prize fund for next year's Confederations Cup in South Africa.

"The winners will receive $3.75 million and the runners-up $3.25 million, while the team finishing third will get $2.75 million with $2.25-million going to the fourth-placed country. The other participants will each receive $1.4 million."

The US joins South Africa, Brazil, Italy, Egypt and Iraq in the Confederations Cup. The winner of Euro 2008 and the Oceania Nations Cup will fill the final two spots.

So where will this money go? Hopefully it will be used to improve the youth system in the US. The better the facilities, coaches and training are for the younger players, the better the national team will be in the next decade.

As far as the Confederations Cup, this will be a test run for South Africa. With five World Cup venues being used, we should have a better understanding of just how many glitches we can expect during 2010. Also, since fewer fans travel for the Confederations Cup, this should give the locals a great chance to see some top quality soccer.

US men to face South Africa in Johannesburg

The US men will get a sneak peak at the 2010 World Cup on Saturday, November 17th, when they travel to Johannesburg to take on South Africa in the Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup.

This will mark the US men's third trip to Africa with the last game coming eight years to the day before this one. In that 1999 game, they lost 2-1 against Morocco. This will also be only the second time the US men play South Africa. Their last meeting was in June of 2000 when the US won 4-0.

A journey to South Africa will mean the men will play at least six matches outside the US this year.

South Africa might not be a powerhouse team but playing them in a match that is important to them in their home stadium is a good get. The one downside, the next day is MLS Cup so there are bound to be at least a few players that are not available for such a trip.

Hopefully the few days that the US men get to spend in South Africa will give them a taste for country ahead of the 2009 Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup.

The game will start at 10am Eastern Time but no television broadcast has been announced.

On a different note, I noticed when I was looking at the schedule of games for the team that they still list the 14 Oct match against Catalonia. Seeing as the Spanish Federation voted that game down, I'm wondering why it is still on the schedule. Did someone just fail to take it down or do they still hope to change the Spanish FA's mind?

Iraq to play USA - Future headline

Congratulations to Iraq for winning the Asian Cup but I'm going to guess that celebrating seems a little out of place. Still, this win earns Iraq a trip to the 2009 Confederations Cup along with Italy, South Africa, Brazil and the USA plus the champions of Europe, Africa and Oceania.

The tournament's opening round is divided into two groups of four with the top two advancing to the knockout stages. Since the two European teams and two African teams cannot be in the same group, that means there is a 1 in 3 chance of the US and Iraq ending up in the same group. Failing some huge change in the current state of life in Iraq, this might just prove to be the most political match since the Argentine-England meeting in the 1986 World Cup (their first meeting since the Falkland Islands war).

Iraq captain Younis Mahmoud let his feelings about the current situation in his country be known right after the match: "I want America to go out," he said. "Today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, but out. I wish the American people didn't invade Iraq and, hopefully, it will be over soon."

2007 Copa America - Brazil reins supreme

Argentina looked to be the stronger team during the whole tournament, but in the end, Brazil came out on top. It was an evenly played first half but thanks to an amazing goal by Julio Baptista and some Brazilian luck in the form of an own goal by Roberto Ayala, the Samba Kings went to the break feeling very good.

Argentina came out hunting for a goal in the second but Brazil still dominated. Even when Alfio Basile came on for Argentina in the 58th, they could not push hard enough. The men in yellow soon nailed the coffin closed thanks to Daniel Alves finishing a wonderful counter attack.

This defeat must sting the Argentineans hard as they brought everything they had to this Copa while Brazil was lacking a number of stars and didn't seem overly interested at the start of the group stage.

With the win, Brazil earns their eighth Copa America title and has now won four of the last five tournaments. Argentina still dwarfs Brazil in the total number of Copa titles (14), however, they have not won it all since 1995.

As champions of South America, Brazil will join South Africa, Italy and the USA along with the winners of the 2007 Asian Cup, 2008 African Nations Cup, 2008 Euro and 2008 OFC Nations Cup at the Confederations Cup in 2009 in South Africa.

Congrats to Brazil and to Robinho who won the golden boot with 6 goals.

Here is the final placement of the 12 participating teams.
1. Brazil
2. Argentina
3. Mexico
4. Uruguay
5. Paraguay
6. Venezuela
7. Peru
8. Chile
9. Columbia
10. Bolivia
11. Ecuador
12. USA