Soccer - World Cup post-mortem

The orgy is over and it is time to clean up the debris. Italy managed to overcome perhaps the worst match-fixing scandal in the history of the game to win their 4th World Cup. On the local front, Team USA showed they are not quite ready for the next step up the world soccer ladder. Head Coach Bruce Arena was able to take them to a certain place, but no further. The squad itself was manifestly unready for the level they encountered. Add in a couple of questionable team selections: defender Eddie Pope & midfielder Ben Olson (both are Arena favorites), and a pathetic display from forward Landon Donovan that validated the German soccer establishments' assessment of him. The display produced was not all that surprising.
What remains is what the Sunil Gulati et al will do about this. The obvious to hire Jurgen Klinsmann as the new US National Team coach and give him a free rein. The other neccessary steps requires the agreement of MLS: participation of the US National Team in Copa America & of MLS teams in Copa Libratadores. It does not take a brain surgeon to note that American players do not play enough "games that matter" outside of their domestic league schedule. This conclusion was the obvious one back after the disastrous World Cup '98 experience. It was not acted upon then & looks like it might not be be now. Until the American soccer powers-that-be realize what their Mexican counterparts have: World Cup qualifying does not properly prepare their team for the World Cup tournament, American soccer fans can look forward to more frustration.