Just when I was about to heap praise upon Jurgen Klinsmann he has to go and utter the most repulsive words I've ever heard from a U.S. national team coach.

The education of the U.S. national team under Jurgen Klinsmann moves to its toughest test with a match against the very best: five-time World Cup champion Brazil.

Though most teams will be busy with U.S. Open Cup games, league action slackens this weekend and next to accommodate a pair of FIFA international match days.

The Americans didn't thrash the Scots Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla., solely because of any one factor, yet by combining several powerful elements of their game - conditioning, aggression, determination, tactics -- they embarrassed a nation that prides itself on spirit above all else.

The signing of Marco Di Vaio as its first Designated Player adds another Italian element to the roster of expansion club Montreal, whose success in acquiring players with Serie A experience is unprecedented in MLS.

Never have so many Americans done so well for their clubs abroad. Three members of our 2011-12 Americans Abroad Best XI won league titles. Many played on title challengers or teams that competed in continental play. Several players enjoyed breakout seasons at new clubs. And in the case of Clint Dempsey at Fulham, he enjoyed the best season an American has ever had in the English Premier League. Here's our best XI:

One can hope that a vital aftermath of Alan Gordon's remarkable airborne volley in the Quakes-Crew game last weekend is some proper respect for the downtrodden big striker.

New York rolled to its fifth straight victory despite doing down a man for more than half an hour to move into third place and D.C. United took over the fifth spot by winning both of its games.

The European Champions League final was much more than a battle between teams from England and Germany.

Freddy Adu and Victor Palsson don't have much in common, other than their incredulous reactions to be dismissed with second cautions during the past two weekends of MLS play.

By all accounts, Bayern Munich is the favorite to win the UEFA Champions League final (TV: Fox Sports, Saturday, 2:45 pm ET, live).

After days of speculation, former USA defender Danny Califf moved from Philadelphia to Chivas USA in exchange for midfielder Michael Lahoud and allocation money, and Chivas USA also sent defender Heath Pearce to New York to acquire U.S. forward Juan Agudelo.

Jurgen Klinsmann weighs myriad factors as he ponders who to pick for a demanding run of five games in 17 days that include the first two 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

The on-again, off-again saga of Timmy Chandler continues. For the second year in a row, the German-born defender has turned down a call-up to the U.S. national team.

The top three places are still held by Western teams, but Eastern Conference foes New York and Chicago have moved into the top five as the season nears the one-third mark of the season.