[InstantDeath]

Originally Posted by Sowa

Clint Dempsey went down with a knee injury against Blackburn. That is a huge blow to the US.

They said today that his knee is not going to require surgery and that he will be 100% ready to go in June. This is great news for the US squad.

As far as my hopes and dreams regarding the cup – Im Irish and Ukrainian - neither of them qualified, and for obvious reasons I am rooting against France.

Id love to see the U.S. make a little run, and they should be able to get past group play. That said, if they place second, it looks likely they will get Germany in the round of 16 and that would be quite the task.

I don’t get why Holland is ranked 3rd in the world…..I think the Ivory Coast could really surprise people – they are stacked with ridiculous athletes.

Their group is just ridiculously tough though – Brazil, an underrated North Korean team, Portugal and Ivory Coast. That is rough.