US 0, Canada 0: What did we learn?

The January US National Team training camp is always a bit of an interesting thing to behold for US fans. Yes, the big names plying their trade abroad aren't anywhere to be found, but we can at least begin to get an idea of how some of the good MLS players on the national team fringes in attendance may figure into the scheme of things once World Cup qualifying or other competitions roll around. 

This year's January gathering culminated in last night's friendly with a young Canadian side, but unfortunately for both us and Jürgen Klinsmann, the game was nothing short of a dour affair, with Canada largely packing it in defensively, the US scarcely able to string more than two passes together, and accordingly chances being very few and very far between. A better game would have surely given us and Klinsmann a bit more to digest and analyze, but nevertheless, we can at least attempt to discern who helped and who harmed their chances to be around for the pivotal start to the final round of World Cup qualifying at Honduras in one week's time.

This is why we love the cups

With the heightened attention and prestige that the Premier League has garnered in recent years, there has been an ever-growing and ever-present conversation taking place that would suggest that the luster once bestowed upon the FA Cup is a thing of the past. While the League Cup has always taken a bit of a backseat in being regarded as England's less prestigious cup competition, it would have once been unthinkable to think of the FA Cup as anything less than one of the crown jewels for English teams to claim.

As seen by Manchester United's decision to forfeit their place in the FA Cup in 1999 in order to play in that season's Club World Cup and other cases of the big teams either fielding weakened teams with an eye on European competition or hardly being bothered to play at all, there was at least some credence to be lent to the argument presented by those who saw a diminishing place for the FA Cup in the modern game. Yet, despite this, this past weekend in the FA Cup, nothing short of riveting and enthralling, suggested that rumors of the FA Cup's demise are a bit premature.

Toronto FC hires Ryan Nelsen to be their head coach...eventually.

It was somewhat curious to see the MLS rumor mill at work in the last couple of days as Ryan Nelsen's name was being floated around in connection with the top job at Toronto FC, a club desperately in need of an infusion of inspiration. While the concern about Nelsen's imminent appointment was always going to be one of his lack of prior experience in management or coaching in any capacity, the hire of Nelsen, at least in and of itself, had a bit of promise attached to it in advance of Toronto's Tuesday unveiling of the man tabbed to be the next man to try his hand at steering Toronto into the promised land of the MLS postseason that they have yet to participate in during their time in the league. After all, Nelsen drew widespread acclaim during his extended time with DC United and Blackburn and short tours of duty with Tottenham and QPR for being a rather cerebral player who had a knack of reading the game so expertly from his spot at the heart of a defense. Surely such a soccer mind would translate well into management to some degree.

Moreover, MLS fans have seen a couple of the league's alumni, Ben Olsen and Jason Kreis, adapt well to management in MLS, with the former breathing life into the club he served so admirably as a player and the latter doing his part to transform Real Salt Lake from a bottom feeder to an MLS Cup champion in 2009 and a bona fide championship contender in the years since. Of course, the common thread between both Olsen and Kreis is that both had hung up their playing boots before shifting their focus to the managerial hotseat; Nelsen will not be joining them in this retirement just yet, we learned Tuesday. This disclosure is where the intrigue about Nelsen's appointment took a turn towards the bizarre.