give bob his due

If you'd offered me a 2-3 defeat to Brazil in the final at the beginning of the tournament, I would've taken it and run.

Which isn't to say that he doesn't deserve what criticism he gets for starting Beasley in the first match against Brazil (when it was obvious to anyone who watched the past couple qualifiers that Beasley is way out of form and shape) and playing Sacha a bit much (and I say that as someone who is a big Sacha fan, when he is in form -- but its hard to imagine that Torres, who starts at holding midfield for Pachuca, would be a worse choice to replace Feilhaber than Sacha). I have no idea what Conor Casey is about, but its clearly not tackling, passing, dribbling, shooting, running, or challenging for the ball.

But 3-0 Egypt, 2-0 Spain, and 2-3 Brazil is a fantastic series of results that no national team would rightly be aggrieved with. What Brian Phillips said (in the first comment).