Down a goal and missing captain Cesc Fabregas and its best defender William Gallas heading into the second leg of their Champions League match with Porto, the European obituary was already being written for Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal club.

Some 90 minutes later, many Gunners fans are now wondering if the club might end up winning a pair of trophies this season.

Behind a Niclas Bendtner hat trick Arsenal thumped Porto 5-0 at the Emirates Stadium, winning the two-legged match 6-2 on aggregate.

Meanwhile in Tuscany, Bayern Munich and Fiorentina played out to a riveting second half, with the home side lodging a 3-2 result leaving it even on aggregate at 4-4 after 180 minutes of back-and-forth soccer. The Germans advanced to the quarterfinals thanks to the away goals rule.

Arsenal didn’t waste long putting the Portuguese giants to the sword and getting the aggregate score level at 2-2.

Inside of ten minutes Andrey Arshavin made a nice forward run through the Porto defense, taking advantage of a missed header near midfield from defender Rolando. Th Russian’s shot was initially saved by Helton, but Bendtner was in the right spot to cash in the rebound.

At the 25 minute mark, the same combination hooked up again for Arsenal. This time Arshavin danced to the touchline on the left side of the box, sending a perfect low cross for an easy tap-in for the big Dane.

The rout was fully on in the 63rd minute through a soon-to-be classic goal from Samir Nasri. The young Frenchman snaked through three Porto defenders and finished the movement from a sheer angle, making it 3-0.

Three minutes later Emmanuel Eboue scored a rare goal as the Porto defense was once again caught out of position. And Bendtner completed his first Arsenal hat trick by converting a stoppage time penalty kick.

All-and-all, you probably couldn’t have asked for a better performance from Arsenal, especially with No. 4 sitting on the bench in street clothes.

Arsenal fans are now dreaming big. The Gunners are just two off the pace in the Premier League and show no signs of slowing down.

Perhaps this will be the season that Arsenal adds a major trophy to its resume for the first time since lifting the 2005 FA Cup. As long as the goals are flowing this easily, it’s hard to doubt Wenger’s team.

In Tuesday’s other Champions League game Bayern Munich staged a thrilling comeback to punch its ticket in the quarterfinals. The Bavarians brought a 2-1 lead to the windy Stadio Artemio Franchi, but the hosts weren’t very accomodating.

Fiorentina leveled the overall scored in the 27th minute when Juan Vargas collected a mishandled shot from Bayern keeper Hans-Jorg Butt and fired in from close range.

Bayern looked in deep trouble early in the second half when Stevan Jovetić scored the first of his two second-half goals. The 20-year-old, wild haired Montenegran forward ran onto a pass from Alberto Gilardino and ripped into the net in the 54th minute, making it 3-2 to the Viola on aggregate.

The Germans got back into the game through a perfectly placed shot off the right foot of captain Mark Van Bommell six minutes later. The Dutch midfielder found himself with some space at the top of the penalty area, took his time and chipped a low, bullet into the lower left corner past the out-stretched arms of Sebastian Frey.

Van Bommell’s goal sparked perhaps the wildest five minutes we’ll see in the Champions League this season.

Four minutes after his goal, Jovetic struck again, this time beating Butt with his left foot, nutmegging the keeper in the process.

Just when it looked like the sun had set for Bayern, another Dutchman came to the rescue — this time Arjen Robben. The merucial winger found an open channel in the middle of the field and ripped a bending shot with his left foot into the upper left corner — a surefire Goal of the Year contender — leveling the score 4-4 on aggregate.

Bayern held on for the final 25 minutes, ensuring Louis Van Gaal’s team reached the final eight of the competition, where it’ll need a much tighter defense if it hopes to hang with a team like, say, Arsenal should it be paired against them.

Considering that usually Champions League games — especially the second leg’s — are tactical defensive affairs, Tuesday’s 10-goal explosion was very welcome for neutral eyes. The goals by Nasri and Robben are of the kind you wait for all season, so to see them only a couple minutes apart almost spoils you as a fan.

Suffice to say, the final six Round of 16 pairings certainly have their work cut out for them, from an entertainment standpoint anyway.

Major League Soccer’s inability to strike a deal with its players’ union (mediated negotiations continue this week in Washington) might have a small silver lining – nobody’s paying attention to the fact that there’s an actual game tonight.

Why is that a good thing? Because that game is a CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal between Columbus and Mexican power Toluca (8PM ET, Fox Soccer Channel). It’s a match the short-handed Crew are unlikely to win, meaning MLS’s most embarrassing statistic – one that is far more damning to its credibility than a bit of labor strife – is about to get worse.

There remain so many positive indications that the league’s plan to grow slowly and steadily is working. Landon Donovan’s success at Everton, and the league’s firmly-established position in the national team player development pipeline spring to mind immediately. Not to mention a growing profile fueled by successful expansion and new stadiums. Meanwhile, domestic criticism normally centers on impossible and irrelevant comparisons to a skewed vision of Europe. It usually comes from people whose notion of the global game begins and ends with England’s big four and who think they’re experts because they get the Eurosport catalog.

Could an MLS team compete in England or Spain? People ask these questions as if they matter. It’s a fantasy. Clubs in those leagues are barely playing the same sport. The real question, the one the haters ignore and the one MLS sweeps under the rug, is “Why can’t MLS win in CONCACAF?”

The U.S. national team has established itself firmly as the king of the region. It expects to win every game against every continental opponent save those played at Estadio Azteca and Estadio Ricardo Saprissa, and it usually does. But on the club level, the record is abysmal. For some reason, when those same Mexicans, Costa Ricans (and Hondurans, Panamanians, etc.) trade their national colors for those of their club, they prove far more troublesome. MLS’s record against these teams in official competition is an embarrassment, and severely limits any claim the league or its supporters may make regarding global legitimacy.

MLS does not keep official statistics regarding its international performance. FanHouse does, however, and it’s not pretty.

MLS clubs have a 71-70-41 record against foreign clubs in official competition. The mark in CONCACAF Champions Cup/League play is 48-47-32. Considering MLS’s ambitions and organization, as well as the size/infrastructure of the opponents, this is almost shocking.

It gets worse when you exclude early CONCACAF tournaments that were played as single-elimination events in the U.S. titles won by D.C. United and Los Angeles occurred under those formats. From 2001, when CONCACAF created a balanced competition that forced teams to play on the road, MLS clubs are 36-42-24. Remember, for every game against a Mexican side, there’s one against a team from Jamaica or El Salvador. Fans in those countries know and love their football, but they cheer in stadiums that look like they’re going to fall over. These clubs have no business routinely besting established MLS teams. But they do.

MLS’s record against Mexican clubs in all competitions, including the three SuperLiga tournaments played entirely in the U.S., is 25-38-17. MLS is 26-18-17 against Central America.

On the road, those numbers plummet. MLS shares the national team’s futility in Mexico, it’s official 1-17-2 mark boosted by a Chivas de Guadalajara forfeit in the 2001 Copa Merconorte (the predecessor to the Copa Sudamericana). In Central America, MLS is 4-16-7.

The bottom line is even worse. Since 2001, not a single MLS team has reached the Champions Cup/League finals. The peformance since the competition was expanded two years ago has been awful. In the 2008-09 Champions League, MLS compiled a shocking 2-10-6 record. This year it is a less humiliating 7-9-8, but just one of its five entrants (Toronto FC claimed Canada’s spot) advanced to the quarterfinals. The fact that the league gets so many spots in the competition is, frankly, indefensible.

About five years ago, D.C. United veteran Jaime Moreno, a Bolivian, was asked why MLS teams had so much trouble in Latin America. He used the word “naive.” He said American players were “too nice.” He implied a lack of killer instinct, an absence of the desperation and hunger that drives the Latin player. Well, it appears the learning curve remains steep. There hasn’t been much progress.

So that is the dubious history Columbus faces this evening. The Crew went 2-2-2 in last fall’s group stage, a decent accomplishment considering they were winning the MLS Supporters Shield at the same time. A historic 1-0 triumph at Saprissa in September was the key to its advancement, and that game was not the only one that suggested MLS might be turning a very small corner. D.C. earned a 1-1 tie at Toluca in October – just the second time an MLS side earned a point on the field in Mexico.

Toluca, the Crew’s opponent tonight, is a consistent winner in a Mexican league that has as much parity as any major circuit around the world. The nine-time national champion has started the season a mediocre 2-2-5.

Of course, that puts them well-ahead of Columbus, which hasn’t played a competitive game in four months. Already down two strikes thanks to history and fitness, the Crew will have to face the Mexicans without their best offensive and defensive players and their captain. Playmaker Guillermo Barros Schelotto and captain Frankie Hejduk are suspended Tuesday night for yellow card accumulation. Central defender Chad Marshall is out with an injured hamstring.

Should Columbus fall, it will have a perfectly good explanation. It can’t be expected to beat a wealthy Mexican team in mid-season form without three of its most important players. And considering the fact that nearly all American soccer eyes are focused on the labor issues, the Crew likely will lose relatively anonymously.

Many of the league’s other defeats in international play come with similarly reasonable excuses. Each individual game can be explained. But they add up to a sorry total that leads to only one damaging conclusion – MLS is inferior. Until it can beat the teams in its own backyard, it has little ammunition to use against those who try to demean it. Perhaps the collective bargaining process will create the financial flexibility that might boost teams’ chances. Until then, the short-handed Crew will face the onslaught and try to avoid becoming yet another sad statistic.

Landon Donovan entered Everton’s game against Hull City Sunday at Goodison Park in the 69th minute to chants of, “U-S-A, U-S-A.”

Less than 13 minutes later the crowd was once again signing, this time “Sign him up. Sign him up.”

Chances are, barring a work stoppage before the start of the MLS season, Sunday was Donovan’s swan song at Goodison Park — at least for the time being. Donovan made sure his good bye — he apparently took a farewell lap afterward — was a memorable one, scoring once and assisting on Jack Rodwell’s late goal which gave Everton a rousing 5-1 victory.

Donovan, who last week fluffed a gimme chance on the goal line vs. Tottenham, certainly made that miss a thing of the past when he collected a ball unmarked on the right side of the penalty area and ripped a blistering shot into the far left netting, leaving Hull City keeper Boaz Myhill without a chance to even react, making the score 4-1.

He wasn’t done just yet.

Four minutes later, thanks to some shoddy marking from Hull, Donovan took another past on the right side of the box, this time feeding it across to Rodwell, who easily slotted it home to complete the 5-1 trouncing. Rodwell celebrated his goal by picking up Donovan and carrying him over the touchline.

No doubt every Everton supporter in the ground probably would have liked to have done the same thing, as the team has soared up the table — notching upsets over Chelsea and Manchester United — upon Donovan’s arrival in January.

Sadly, though, their hopes of extending Donovan’s stay in England beyond the 10-week agreement seems unlikely since Los Angeles Galaxy coach Bruce Arena shot-down the idea on Friday, though the door isn’t completely closed.

Donovan’s rampant performance in a little less than 20 minutes of action can probably be equated to a thoroughly disorganized Hull defense, which had earlier given up a pair of goals to Mikel Arteta. Still, the cool finish on his goal showed a player who’s playing with confidence. (Jozy Altidore came on as a sub for Hull, but didn’t do much in about 30 minutes of action.)

The way in which he took to the club and the club and its supporters to him is, frankly, amazing. Donovan looked like he’d been playing on Merseyside for 10 years, not 10 weeks. The outpouring of affection from the Everton faithful, too, is almost hard to believe since American has unofficially been a dirty word in English soccer circles for many years.

Considering how successful his short stint in the Premier League was, it really wouldn’t be shocking to see another club besides Everton come calling for Donovan’s services, especially if he has a strong World Cup. It might have only been 10 weeks, but Donovan now has a successful track record in Europe, or at least enough that a club can justify meeting what figures to be a lofty, league-record transfer fee from MLS.

For now, at least, Donovan can bask in the fact that he proved the long list of doubters of his ability to succeed alongside the world’s best, very wrong.

Should he want to pursue it further, Donovan has clearly found a home in Europe at Everton, a place he could at least return to each winter while the MLS is on break. (Oddly enough there were rumors, stress rumors, Chelsea was interested in bringing in Donovan after the season as a replacement for Joe Cole.)

And finally, let’s be honest who ever would have thought we’d live in a world where Donovan might attract a bidding war from some of the world’s biggest club? Nobody could have seen this coming in January.

While Major League Soccer and the players’ union have promised to continue negotiating, the Los Angeles Galaxy said Friday that they’re not interested in entertaining Everton’s request to extend Landon Donovan’s loan. Both developments are good signs for those hoping MLS kicks off as scheduled later this month.

On the collective bargaining front, the league and players are heading to federal mediation. It sounds serious, but at least they continue to agree that disagreeing is preferable to canceling games. MLS has said all along that it has no interest in a lockout, but the players have been unwilling to make a similar pledge.

But preseason preparations continue nevertheless, and the league announced Friday afternoon that the two sides will head back to the negotiating table next week in Washington to try and hammer out an agreement. The season starts March 25.

George Cohen, named as the director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, will take part in the discussions. Even the government wants to see soccer this spring.

Coincidentally or not, within an hour of the labor announcement on Friday afternoon, Galaxy general manager and coach Bruce Arena told the league’s web site that the club is “not interested” in extending Donovan’s stay in Liverpool.
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Everton manager David Moyes was quoted as saying, “I am keen to keep Landon and it sounds initially in America that they might say yes. I think Landon is keen to stay also, so it looks as though all parties are keen

“But I have not got that confirmed yet. I can’t say exactly if that is going to happen. If we can make it happen, we will.”

Turns out Arena isn’t so “keen.”

“Landon will be back here March 15. We’re being consistent with everything we’ve said all along,” Arena said.

“Obviously the collective bargaining could change that. If we didn’t have a league going on, we would certainly entertain the idea of allowing Landon to stay there. If we have a league, Landon’s going to be playing for the Galaxy.”

And next week’s talks make that more likely.

Certainly Donovan’s performance at Everton has been promising, but it shouldn’t be surprising — at least, not to anyone who has watched him play for the past year with either the Galaxy or the U.S. national team. And, of course, he’s going to say all the right things when asked about his Premier League experience. Even if he wasn’t having a blast — which he obviously is — he’s too savvy to admit otherwise.

So good performance and good vibes, neither of which is unexpected, shouldn’t serve as a sign that this deal is going to become anything but what it was originally. L.A. was within a penalty kick of the title last year. The club is not going to give up its best player and shot at a championship unless the offer is too good to pass up. Only four teams in England have that kind of money, and Everton isn’t one of them.

Walking out of the Amsterdam ArenA Wednesday the U.S. National Team probably didn’t feel too good about itself after falling 2-1 to the Netherlands.

Yet that loss could be justified and chalked up to playing the No. 3 team in the world, which by the way didn’t lose a game in UEFA qualification for the upcoming World Cup.

That tact took a turn for the worse Thursday when news came out that midfielder Stuart Holden will be out at least six weeks due to a broken leg from a nasty tackle from Nigel de Jong in the first half.

Holden joins the lengthy list of U.S. internationals on the M.A.S.H. unit, with the World Cup in South Africa less than 100 days away.

Unlike the injuries suffered by would-be starters Clint Dempsey, Oguchi Onyewu and Charlie Davies, Holden’s broken leg came at the hands, err, feet of an opponent, thus turning the Manchester City midfielder de Jong into public enemy No. 1 for U.S. fans.

For his part, de Jong shrugged off the tackle, telling the Dutch soccer association:

“Such offences are part of football. I went for the ball and got the opponent at the end. I had no evil intent. If the ball is between me and the opponent, you have to go in full. If you do not then the opponent takes you. And if you’re scared in a game you get injured yourself.”

Even though it’s an easy to villiafy de Jong this morning, it’s extremely hard to believe that he had any intent in trying to hurt Holden. That said, Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir didn’t even show de Jong a card and barely disciplined him. You’d have to wonder if the players were reversed if a straight red would have quickly emerged from the pocket?

Holden’s injury is certainly a blow for the U.S. At first it look really bad, as Holden writhed on the ground and took a long time to limp over to the sideline. However as the ESPN broadcast when off the air, all indications were that Holden would probably be okay, with initial reports listing it as no more than a shin contusion.

Bolton manager Owen Coyle is optimistic that Holden should be back before the end of the Premier League season in May, also hinting that he’ll extend the contract of the former Houston Dynamo midfielder beyond this season. It’s a shame, too, since Holden had finally worked his way back to health and started to see action following his January transfer to England.

Of course, considering the spat of bad news for the USMNT, it’s hard for fans to find very much optimism this morning in terms of Holden, who’s also joined by Benny Feilhaber and Steve Cherundolo on the injury list.

Over the run of games in 2009 the U.S. appeared to have turned a corner, as it competed at a high level against some of the world’s best teams. While the U.S. first choice starting XI might be able to do this, depth remains a huge issue for Bob Bradley heading toward that June 12 showdown with England.

At this point all fans probably can do is keep their fingers crossed, hold their breath and simply hope the U.S. casualty list doesn’t grow in the next 98 days.

It might have been difficult for American fans to find many silver linings following the U.S. National Team’s 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Netherlands Wednesday in Amsterdam.

Across the rest of the 2010 World Cup Group C, it wasn’t exactly all peaches and cream either. The three opponents the U.S. will play in June saw their fortunes sway, too, on what was the final day clubs were duty-bound to release players for national team duties.

England, which the U.S. will play on June 12, heard cat calls as it walked off the Wembley Stadium field at halftime, as they trailed African champions Egypt 1-0 on a goal by Mohamed Zidan.

The Three Lions bounced back in the second half through the much-maligned striker Peter Crouch, who got them on the board in the 56th minute when he converted Garth Barry’s low cross. England went ahead 2-1 in the 75th when Shaun Wright-Phillips cashed in after a scramble inside the Egypt penalty area.

Crouch sealed it for England with his second goal of the game, this time in the 80th when he got onto a pass from Wright-Phillips.

Based on reports, and watching with one eye during the U.S./Netherlands game, it was an adequate performance by England — nothing that will set the already lofty expectations for the team even more unrealistically high.

Slovenia, which the U.S. plays on June 18, had no trouble brushing aside Qatar 4-1 in Maribor. It’s probably hard to gauge very much from this match, since Qatar is clearly a step below World Cup competition. One player to watch for Slovenia is 6-foot-4 FC Köln striker Milivoje Novakovic who scored in the first half.

Finally, Algeria’s poor run of formed continued today in Algiers. Off the heels of its 4-0 trouncing by rival Egypt in the African Cup of Nations semifinals, where it ended the match with eight men, Algeria was thumped 3-0 by fellow World Cup qualifier Serbia.

There will definitely be some major question marks hanging over the Algerians come June.

Across the globe, it wasn’t a great day for some of the World Cup qualifiers.

Greece lost 2-0 at home to Senegal, while Slovakia lost to Norway 1-0. Injury depleted Ghana lost 2-1 to Bosnia. Honduras went down 2-0 on the road at Turkey and Denmark lost 2-1 at Austria.

In games between dual qualifiers, Germany lost 1-0 to Argentina in Munich on a 45th minute goal from Gonzalo Higuain. Uruguay won 3-1 at Switzerland. Italy played Cameroon to a 0-0 draw and finally Spain dispatched France 2-0 in Paris on first-half goals from David Villa and Sergio Ramos.

During the run-up to the 2010 World Cup, the performances by the U.S. National Team, most of the time, lies in the eye of the beholder.

Wednesday against the Netherlands, in the last scheduled match before Bob Bradley must submit his final 23-man roster for the World Cup, the glass ended up being a lot more empty than full for the Yanks at the Amsterdam ArenA.

Outside of an inspired, frantic comeback in the final six or seven minutes, the U.S. was thoroughly dominated by the No. 3 team in the world during a 2-1 loss.

In the final audition for players to make their case for inclusion on the plane to South Africa, few Americans shined, as the Dutch kept and caressed the ball for most of the match like a 10-year-old girl with her favorite dolly.

It couldn’t have been a worse start for the U.S., either.

Just after the half hour mark, Stuart Holden limped off the field following a crunching ankle tackle from Dutch midfielder Nigel de Jong. Holden was taken to a nearby hospital for X-rays as a precaution. DaMarcus Beasley replaced Holden, and ended up perhaps logging the best performance by an American on the night.

Five minutes after the Holden injury, the Dutch broke the deadlock when Jonathan Bornstein unnecessarily pulled down Wesley Sneijder inside the box from behind for a penalty. Liverpool’s Dirk Kuyt converted from the spot, sending Tim Howard the wrong way to make it 1-0 in the 40th.

The U.S. was lucky to head into the break only down 1-0, since Bornstein appeared to handle the ball inside the box on a different play, but didn’t get whistled for it.

All match it appeared the Dutch game plan was to use wingers Arjen Robben, and later Eljero Elia, to attack Bornstein at left back.

The Dutch dominance continued into the second half, as they passed and prodded the U.S. defense, finally gaining a well-deserved 2-0 lead when Klass-Jan Huntelaar’s shot from outside the top of the penalty area took a deflection off Bornstein and into the net.

From there the Dutch seemed to take the foot off the gas a little bit, trying to score an incredible goal with all sort of back heels and tricks. Rafael Van der Vaart nearly made it 3-0 with a wickedly hit shot from outside the area that Howard dove to make an excellent save.

That save proved important since the U.S. did stage a late rally in the final five minutes and stoppage time.

Carlos Bocanegra pulled a goal back when his unmarked header from a free kick delivered by Beasley beat Dutch keeper Maarten Stekelenburg in the 89th minute.

The U.S. weren’t done. Alejandro Bedoya was tripped on the edge of the area, initially looking like it might be a penalty kick. Instead it was a free kick, which Beasley fired right into the gut of Stekelenburg. Jozy Altidore, too, had a chance to level the game, with a late rocket that forced the Ajax-keeper into a full stretch save. Clarence Goodson also had a chance from a late U.S. corner, but his overhead kick flew over the bar.

But the final 10 minutes did little to mask the rest of the match, where the U.S. were on the backfoot at almost all times.

All-time leading scorer Landon Donovan, fresh off his incredible spell at Everton, barely saw the ball either at left midfield and later at forward.

Altidore’s starting forward partner — Robbie Findley — also did little to distinguish himself. Jose Franciso Torres, another fringe U.S. roster player, didn’t do much aside from one nice long-range attempt until being subbed off after the half for Maurice Edu.

Overall, besides Michael Bradley, in spurts, few U.S. players could say they actually had what you’d called a “plus” game.

On the positive side, the U.S. did show its resilience and ability to compete until the final whistle, but that was little more than a consolation prize.

If anything, the match confirmed the precious state of the U.S. roster and how little depth it includes. The health of injured stars Clint Dempsey, Oguchi Onyewu and Charlie Davies was only confirmed by the 90 minutes in Amsterdam, since the U.S. forward line looked either invisible or unsure of itself.

As doomy and gloomy as Wednesday’s result ended up, if there’s another silver lining, it’s that a friendly in March doesn’t mean anything when the ball is kicked off June 12 in Rustenberg against England.

So much for the opportunity to field a full-strength side on Wednesday, the only FIFA match day available before U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley names his World Cup roster.

There will be nearly as many notable names among the injured as there will be on the field when the U.S. plays the Netherlands at Amsterdam Arena (2:30 PM ET, ESPN2). So while we monitor the progress of Clint Dempsey, Oguchi Onyewu, Steve Cherundolo, Charlie Davies and Ricardo Clark (it’s probably safe to say at this point that the whole Jermaine Jones thing isn’t happening), we’ll get the chance to see how a side that will sort of resemble the one Bradley hopes to have in South Africa fares against the third-ranked Dutch.

Certainly a few players are who are locks (if healthy) to start against England on June 12 will be featured. Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Tim Howard and Jozy Altidore are slam dunks. Up-and-coming European-based players like Stuart Holden (above) and Maurice Edu (and perhaps even Eddie Johnson) also will have the chance to make their case on Wednesday. Edu hasn’t played for the national team in nearly a year.

The real intrigue will be in back, where a group that remains unsettled just a few months before the World Cup will have to contend with some genuine world-class attacking talent.

It’s humbling to consider what kind of talent the Netherlands, a country considerably smaller than West Virginia, continues to produce. The Dutch will be missing the injured Robin Van Persie but still can call upon the likes of Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Rafael van der Vaart, each of whom is 25-27 years old. At 29, you have Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt, who scores goals at an alarming pace for someone possessing no discernible skill with a soccer ball, and his Merseyside teammate Ryan Babel is just 23.

While this Oranje edition may not be as celebrated as its predecessors, it demonstrated its potential with victories over France and Italy at Euro 2008 and a perfect World Cup qualiifying campaign. There is no one on the Dutch side as dangerous as England’s Wayne Rooney, but as a group they present as stiff a defensive challenge as England will in three months.

Bob Bradley’s defensive corps comprises of Jonathan Bornstein, Carlos Bocanegra, Jay DeMerit, Clarence Goodson, Heath Pearce, Frank Simek and Jonathan Spector.

Pearce and Goodson did well against El Salvador last week and earned this trip to Amsterdam, but there really isn’t a player among this group that one can put on the field and forget about. All have question marks. DeMerit has been playing regularly for Watford for nearly three months after returning from an eye injury, but he hasn’t played for the U.S. since August. The slower Bocanegra will find a quick Dutch team that can attack from a variety of positions a challenge, and may play on the left if Bradley decides to give Goodson his shot in the middle. Spector is likely to start at right back.

If the back four can hold, with some assistance from Michael Bradley, Donovan likely will get at least a couple of opportunities to orchestrate the U.S. counterattack. That really is where he’s most dangerous, even though the idea of ceding too much possession isn’t attractive. The Americans will just have to take their chances when they come, and hopefully will learn from playing a team in the sort of game where just one mistake will be costly. Regardless of the result, it’s good preparation for the summer.

A few fun facts to whet the appetite, courtesy of U.S. Soccer:

— The U.S. is 0-3-0 against the Netherlands and has never scored a goal. The Dutch have managed five. The most recent matchup was a 1-0 loss in Amsterdam in February 2004. Robben got the goal.

— Ranked third in the world by FIFA, the Netherlands is the highest-ranked team the U.S. ever has played on the road. All previous meetings with a side ranked in the top three were at home or at neutral stadiums.

— Altidore and Babel each scored a goal when their respective Olympic teams tied, 2-2, at the Beijing games in 2008. Brad Guzan, Michael Bradley, Edu and Holden also played in that game.

— Bornstein, Pearce and Robbie Findley are the only players at Bradley’s disposal currently on MLS rosters.

The world’s most famous sports bra isn’t ready to retire just yet.

Brandi Chastain, whose spontaneous, shirtless, on-field celebration of a World Cup victory over China in 1999 brought unprecedented attention to her sport, was released recently by FC Gold Pride of the Women’s Professional Soccer League, leaving her without a team for the first time in her life.

“I was devastated when they told me. I’m mad now,” she told FanHouse Saturday. “They want to give the younger players the chance. I can understand the thinking, but I don’t like it. I’m still good enough to be out there, absolutely.”

Chastain, now 41, has been a women’s soccer pioneer, spending 12 years on the United States National Team, playing in three Olympic Games and three World Cup tournaments as one of America’s best athletes.

She was a founding member of both the now defunct Women’s United Soccer League and then the eight-team, WPSL that began last year when she played for FC Gold, which is based in Santa Clara, California. She lives there now with a daughter and husband, the soccer coach at Santa Clara University. She works as a volunteer assistant.

FC Gold opens training camp Monday for its spring season, but she was not invited, which could mean the end of her playing career.

“I might be done (playing). I hope not because I still love it, but if you’re playing a sport that’s paying you $10 million like some of the men are, it’s a lot easier to pack up and leave your family to go play somewhere else,” she said. “If you’re making minimum wage, it’s not so easy to do. But I’ll never say never. We’ll see what happens.”

For all her great moments in soccer, Chastain still will be best remembered for that World Cup performance at the Rose Bowl, where 90,000 people watched live, along with a national television audience.

Her game-winning penalty kick touched off the joyous, uninhibited jersey-waving celebration that captured the hearts of America. The photo of her on her knees in a sports bra graced the cover of Newsweek, Time and Sports Illustrated, bringing women’s soccer into mainstream USA for the first time.

“I get asked about the picture every day of my life. If not every day, then three times the next day,” Chastain said during a break during ESPN The Weekend at Walt Disney World. “It was a great moment in sports, and when people ask me, it gives me a chance to talk soccer.”

Like many of her peers, Chastain has been a tireless promoter of women’s soccer. Although the efforts have translated into unprecedented participation at the youth and college level, it has not translated yet into the professional ranks in this country.

The WPSL, going into its second season, is struggling to find acceptance and support. Without a national television contract, it remains an uphill battle.

“Any progress we make with soccer — and we are — is good progress,” Chastain said. “We have a Mount Everest in front of us, but people who are dedicated and passionate about the sport aren’t giving up. There are millions of young girls going to soccer fields around the country every day to play. When those girls become CEOs and decide where corporate money is going to be spent, things will change quickly.”

Chastain, while continuing to play, has worked as a broadcaster with ABC/ESPN in coverage of Major League Soccer, the men’s game. She appeared in an HBO documentary Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team, on which she played. She also wrote a book entitled It’s Not About the Bra, and posed nude with a strategically-placed soccer ball in a men’s magazine.

“So many good things have come to soccer because of that (picture). People who weren’t soccer people before, started watching us,” she said. “The lack of exposure frustrates me sometimes because I know there is great talent out there, great athletes playing the game. Maybe our sport isn’t bad enough, doesn’t have enough rough edges to appeal to everyone, but it will eventually.”

For now, Chastain will continue to fuel the interest in women’s soccer, even if she doesn’t play again at the highest level.

“I’ve played the game for 36 years, and never stopped loving it,” she said. “I’d still love to add a couple more years to that total.”

Maurice Edu had recently faded somewhat off the radar of the U.S. National Team. There’s a good reason for this, since he injured his knee last may while on club duty with Rangers in Scotland.

Still, Edu has slowly worked his way back towards 100 percent and was recently included in coach Bob Bradley’s lineup for Wednesday’s friendly against the Netherlands in Amsterdam.

Sunday Edu announced he’s full back, scoring the game-winner in the 93rd minute for Rangers in a 1-0 victory against their eternal Glasgow rivals, Celtic.

Edu, who’d come on in the first half as a substitute, actually had a nice long-range volley called back because of a hand ball on a teammate.

No matter, late in stoppage time Edu was in the right place at the right time to tap-in the game-winner after a lengthy scramble in front of the Celtic goal. Most importantly, it gave Rangers a 10-point cushion over Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premier League table.

As long as Edu remains healthy he’ll have a fighting chance to find a place in the U.S. starting XI in the World Cup. He’s certainly a candidate to play next to Michael Bradley in the center of the midfield, while he’s also shown he can play in the center of defense in a pinch. ‘

Of course that’s a story for the next couple months, for now Edu can revel in writing his name into the history pages of what’s considered the most contentious derby match in the world, which isn’t too shabby.