Here, have a punch in the gut.

So much for the Confederations Cup.

Maybe I should apologize here - due to my school schedule, I've only been able to watch half of the first two games, losses to Italy (3-1) and Brazil (3-0). I can only assume that I'm the problem, since I could only watch the second half against Italy, where we gave up the 3 goals, and the first half against Brazil, where we gave up 2. My running tally is now 90 minutes, 5 goals against, 0 for. I couldn't be prouder.

Even worse, I just read a thoroughly depressing (and shockingly logical) article from Paul Oberjuerge about the current status of the team. Here it is. I've read and heard from a lot of overreacting loons about how it's the coaching, it's the formation, etc. etc., but his article actually makes sense, and I don't like it one bit.

Plus, it naturally explains why the whole Giuseppe Rossi situation is so frustrating. He would have instantly been the best player on our team and could have been the first true American star. If we're Brazil, he's not even a second thought. The problem is, we're not Brazil. Those of us who care (maybe too much) about this team are just dying for that one special player to lift them.

Naturally, I'm going to watch the Egypt game. I'm a fan. And I've never thought that Egypt would be an easy game - in fact, I thought that Egypt would get through to the semis from the beginning (I figured Italy could stumble).

(Quick aside here - why do we keep assuming that the African champions are pushovers? And why was Egypt beating Italy a 'shocker'?)

Obviously, I'm hoping that we show up for this game. Last time we thought, "Oh, we'll beat them, it's the other two we need to worry about," we got embarrassed by Ghana in the World Cup in a game we looked hopelessly lost in. The same knuckleheads who were predicting that we'd get through the group stage in 2006 in a similar fashion are the same ones who predicted it for this tournament (led by the wonder-analyst Alexi Lalas).

Either way, come Sunday, I'll be watching the game. By the way, I can only catch the second half of the Egypt game, so don't be shocked if it turns ugly in the final 90.