"the only way that will hapeen is if someone even more stupid than him gets into power, and lets face it, there is no one more stupid than President Bush." Don't count on it Steve -- wait until President Guliani is setting the agenda for the US. And thank you, Spaw, for offering such a coherent explanation for US foreign policy. Certainly, none of the other resons we've heard lately explains what the White House has been promoting.

But if this thread is really about football/soccer...I hope there is more to Ryan's seemingly horrible decision to oust his current goal keeper than what we're hearing as rumors and so-called explanations. Hope Solo should have been in there for the game, but I doubt if even that would have been enough. The US hasn't been playing the beautiful game at any point during this tournament, while Brazil has been doing to its opposition what the US women and the Brazilian men have been doing for years -- controlling the game with elegance and skill that is a joy to watch.

The red card against Boxx was undeserved, but even with the 11th player the US team didn't look like it could take the Brazilians (or Germany, for that matter).

The US dominated the sport for years, now other countries are catching up, which is a good thing. And if catching up means that countries like Brazil will begin taking pride in their women's teams, that's a great thing.

Maybe even eventually, it will mean that the powers that control this sport will begin trusting women to coach the teams on which women play (granted this has been the case with some teams in this Cup and with the US team when April H. coached in the past).