Few players will get off the hook after the USA conceded a 4-2 defeat to Belgium, albeit one of Europe's most talented teams. The errors that cost the four goals were both individual (turnovers, inattention, poor positioning, sloppy marking) as well as collective (lack of communication).

It would be easy to say that one team came to play and the other did not, but the USA's 4-2 loss to Belgium Wednesday night at Cleveland's FirstEnergy Stadium once again exposed all that is worrying about the U.S. national team on the eve of its busiest stretch of the year.

On so many levels and in so many ways, American soccer fans owe Sir Alex Ferguson a lot.

First-year coaches normally struggle in MLS, but such is not the case for Marco Schallibaum and Caleb Porter.

After the banners and flags and scarves have departed and the discarded wrappers and cups have been swept up, attention will shift from the scoreboard at Wembley Stadium and to another important set of numbers: the television ratings.

The multitude of player-acquisition methods available to MLS teams sometimes shrouds the fact that many are strengthened not by importing players but by grabbing them off opposing rosters.

So, we can finally toss this absurd notion of the Cosmos joining MLS out the window. Hooray!

There's not much ambiguity in Will Johnson's game: after he gets under your skin and into your head, Portland gets the ball into the net, one way or the other. So it came to pass again last Saturday in Vancouver. The Timbers came back twice against their Cascadia Cup rivals to earn a 2-2 tie. Johnson scored the first equalizer from the penalty spot, and set up the second with a high lob that Jose Valencia turned into his first MLS goal.

Two test cases of teams vying to tie their way into the playoffs are underway in MLS.

Selecting a roster for qualifying play often demands "either-or" decisions, yet the choices made by U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann also fall under the "What's he thinking?" category.

To ridicule Major League Soccer, an ESPN Radio pundit last year also took a swipe at David Beckham. Scott Van Pelt said on his daily program last year something along the lines that MLS needs publicity, so it should sign David Beckham. A disdainful remark, tossed out by a talk-show host ensconced in his own world, in many ways encapsulates the Beckham in America Era.

The final 10 minutes of another good road result for Colorado in Columbus last weekend also brought a personal milestone for Pablo Mastroeni.

The news that Landon Donovan won't be in Jurgen Klinsmann's squad of 23-25 players for the upcoming friendlies against Belgium and Germany and World Cup qualifiers against Jamaica, Panama and Honduras should come as no surprise.

The busiest week so far of the MLS schedule - 15 games -- knotted up the power rankings behind top dog FC Dallas, though FCD's 1-1 tie with Portland and 2-1 defeat of bottom-dweller D.C. United at home weren't terribly impressive.

The English FA Cup final is Saturday. Do you care?