A fighting chance or out he goes

The last match of the Confederation Cup's first round is later today.

Prediction: the US will score first, and will defeat Egypt.

Whether they have the talent and more importantly, the will and desire, to try to overcome the goal deficit to have a chance to move on is another story entirely.

But this US squad is more talented than previous MNT squads. They can play against the top international sides. What they cannot do, yet, is win games against those sides.

That failure comes down to several things, not least of which is coaching. If the US does not beat Egypt, the USSF should seriously consider removing Bob Bradley. The losses against Brazil and Italy are nothing to be ashamed of - that sort of thing happens. What is inexcusable though, is that the losses were primarily due to mental lapses. The CounterAttack will not claim the US should have won either match, but both should have been more of a match.

After the Brazil match, Clint Dempsey said that he and the other players were "not nervous" against Brazil, a direct contradiction to Bradley's earlier assessment. The thing is, they certainly played that way. So either the MNT and their coach are out of synch, or they feel the need to speak against him. If it's the latter, it's not open revolt, by a long shot. But either way, there is clearly something missing between the coach and the squad.

It would be late to remove the coach at this point, 12 months before the World Cup. It would be worse, however, to stay the course because the Federation wants to hide its head in the sand under the auspices of "stability".

USSF did that once before, with Steve Sampson in 1998. The results: the worst showing in the tournament.

Very interesting that one match can have a huge implication, but that's where the MNT has progressed.

Welcome to the Big Times, boys. Let's see what happens.