With 99 days left until the World Cup kicks off in South Africa coach Bob Bradley will be soon making a decision about who will be on the plane come June. The US fell 2-1 to the Netherlands  in Amsterdam on Wednesday in their last international friendly before Bradley makes his World Cup team selection. Defender Jonathan Borenstein was exposed early and often by winger Arjen Robben during the first half and pulled down midfielder Wesley Sneijder to give the Dutch a penalty kick and a 1-0 lead thanks to the conversion by Dirk Kuyt. Bradley can put Steve Cherundolo or Jonathan Spector at left back instead of Borenstein. Captain of the US team Carlos Bocanegra plays left back for his club team and didn’t a have a banner game in Amsterdam at center back on Wednesday. Should Oguchi Onyweu return to full fitness before the World Cup I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bocanegra at left back or even on the bench.

The Americans turned on the heat in the final twenty minutes of the game against the Dutch scoring in 88th minute on Bocanegra header, but were capable of playing a much better than they showed. With Clint Dempesy, Charlie Davies, Oguchi Onyweu, and Steve Cherundolo out for the game the U.S. learned a lot about their depth both good and bad. DeMarcus Beasley and Maurice Edu, both who play for Rangers FC in Scotland, looked promising in substitute roles for the US. Beasley delivered the set piece that set up the lone goal for the Yanks and was threatening down the left in final third of the game. His team mate Edu was a physical force in the midfield, helping the US get out of trouble on a number of occasions. On the downside, US star Landon Donovan lacked energy on the pitch at Amsterdam ArenA and midfielder Jose Francisco Torres’ touch looked off in his 45 minute shift.

The health of the current injured Americans and the US players form will play a huge part in the team Bradley puts on the field against England on June 12th, but Wednesday’s game definitely was a good chance for players to impress. Stuart Holden suffered a ankle injury in the first half on a vicious tackle by Nigel De Jong that warranted a red card, but the young American should be back playing for his club Bolton before the season ends in England. Some of the US players can already pack their bags for South Africa, but a significant portion of the 23 available World Cup roster parts still are unclear. The next few months will be interesting for American footballers playing at home and abroad with Bradley making his final decision sometime in May.

Texas’s guards Damion James and Avery Bradley were aided by the dominating play of center Dexter Pittman who had 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks in the Longhorns defeat of the Oklahoma State Cowboys.  Pittman is a 6 ft 10, 290 pound force in the paint and could be a real difference maker for the Longhorns in the NCAA Tournament. The Longhorns disappointed fans by losing to the Big 12 leading Kansas Jayhawks and the Missouri Tigers. However, Rick Barnes’ men have struck together back-to-back wins and are looking to make a late season run in conference play. If Pittman can avoid disappearing in games he will make the lives of James and Bradley much easier. The Longhorns are looking good for the Big Dance, but their play in the coming weeks should tell us more about their chances in March. Get your Texas basketball tickets right now and see how the Longhorns’ season concludes.

In his much anticipated public apology Tiger Woods did not rule out returning to the PGA Tour this year . The best golfer in the world apologized to his fans, family, and friends in a press conference in front of some 40 people. Woods has been in rehab for a sex addiction and will return to rehab after a week with his family. In a 15-minute speech, Woods cited that the status of his relationship with his wife will be determined by his actions. The PGA has sorely missed Woods as the game doesn’t receive the same amount of media attention without the game’s biggest star playing. The WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship kicks off this weekend with American Steve Stricker taking over Tiger Woods #1 PGA ranking. Regardless, what goes on this season in the PGA Tour, the big question on everyone’s lips will be when Tiger makes his return to professional golf.

Out of Clackamas, Oregon, Josh Hill has been making a lot of waves currently in the Supercross world. Racing for San Manuel L&M Yamaha, Hill has stepped into the role vacated by team leader James Stewart who is out injured. Although being only 19-years-old, Hill is in contention for the 2010 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series currently sitting in second place in the points standings. Hill’s three runner’s up finishes in a row has kept San Manuel in this year’s title hunt. Hill credits his grandfather (whom he calls “Pops”) for his success as professional Supercross rider as he never misses one of the Hill’s races. After a injury-plagued 2009, Hill is feeling healthy and is thriving driving the Yamaha YZ450F. Growing up in Oregon, Hill got his passion for motocross from his father and never looked back. Time will tell if the young pro can continue to surpass expectations this season, but the youngster has proven already that he will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

Shaquille O’Neal had the idea a few weeks ago of Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, and other top NBA stars to compete in the NBA All Star Game Dunk Contest to raise money for the earthquake-stricken country of Haiti. His Cleveland Cavilers team mate Lebron James quickly withdrew his name from the contest citing he has nothing to win by participating in the event. It would be great to see the best stars in the game compete in the dunk contest because people will actually know who the competitors are. One of the great moments in NBA history was Michael Jordan dunking from the free throw line. The poster of #23 in mid air was one of the most popular posters in the 1990’s. Jordan’s battles in the dunk contest with Dominick Wilkins were instant classics taking the slam dunk and turning it into an art form. The 1985 All Star Game had Michael Jordan, Dominick Wilkins, Clyde Drexler, and Julius Erving. Not taking anything away from Nate Robinson’s dunks in recent years, but the whole contest has a gimmicky aspect to it now. The NBA would benefit greatly if they could somehow convince its biggest stars to compete in the dunk contest.

Skeptics pointed to Landon Donovan’s unsuccessful stints in Germany when the all-time United States Men’s National Team leading scorer first went on loan to English Premier Club Everton from his MLS side Los Angeles Galaxy at the beginning of 2010. With the United States facing England in their opening game in this summer’s World Cup in South Africa, all eyes on both sides of the Atlantic were on Donovan when he made his English debut in the snow against Arsenal on January 9th.

The American’s impact was felt in just the 12th minute he sent in a wicked corner kick (making his Galaxy team mate David Beckham proud) finding the head of Leon Osman who stiffly knocked the ball into the Arsenal net. Donovan went on to continue to torment one of England’s best clubs down the right side of the field before being subbed out with 15 minutes left in the game. Everton gave up two cheap goals to Arsenal to tie the Gunners in the end, but anyone you watched the game knew that Donovan had shown he could play in England.

Donovan has started every game since and this past Wednesday against Sunderland, the 27-year-old scored his first goal in England.  Donovan ran onto a well-placed header from Australian Tim Cahill and expertly beat the keeper with a left footed strike. Scoring his first goal with Everton early on into his loan spell gives Donovan the confidence to elevate his play further. I’ve watched almost every game he’s played in the last year and half with the Galaxy, Bayern Munich, and the United States and I know that his game has a few more levels than what he’s shown so far with Everton.

Donovan has been feeling his way into the team playing smart football, but now that he’s getting comfortable in the system I expect him to start making more adventurous runs and being a bit more selfish with the ball. That being said Donovan is surrounded by great players in Tim Cahill, Steven Pienaar, Marouane Fellani, and Louis Saha where as in MLS or with the national team he has step up and be the main attacking player. In the coming weeks Donovan will grow  into his role and no one should be surprised if we see a few more goals in the not too distant future from the soccer star. Landon’s next chance to find the back of the net will be on Saturday as Everton travel to Wigan.

American tennis stars can’t seem to help themselves when it comes to cursing out umpires as Andy Roddick continued the trend during his victory over Thomaz Belluci in the second round of the Australian Open. The #6 ranked player in the world served a slew of profanities at umpire Fergus Murphy after a call was overturned costing Roddick a point. Roddick refused to shake Murphy’s hand after the match despite being the victor.

Roddick’s recent display of lack of restraint follows Serena Williams’ outrageous melt down at the U.S. Open that costed the female American tennis star $82,000. There’s nothing new about potty-mouthed tennis players from the United States as John McEnroe is one of the most celebrated American tennis players in history. McEnroe is still famous today for his tennis court temper tantrums that took place in the 1980’s. However, McEnroe’s outbursts were often called entertaining when Williams and Roddick’s were more of the embarrassing type.

Regardless of these incidents, tennis has the luxury of having a bevy of stars including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, the Williams sisters, and Dinara Safina (who will all be appearing in Miami at the Sony Ericsson Open) helping the sport reach a broader audience. Perhaps, as was the case with McEnroe, controversy will only bring more attention to the game of tennis.

With Gilbert Arenas out of the lineup, the Washington Wizards are going to keep struggling. This is a big problem for their team, because they don’t have much other real talent in their group. And it’s not only that, but many of their players have found themselves in front of prosecutors and grand juries lately, who are trying to figure out what this dispute entailed and so on. Yes, Arenas has been a big jokester for the NBA lately, but he’s also a very talented player. But at one point the team wasn’t able to run a regular practice anymore, because of suspensions and absences. The coach was displeased, but what can you do? This team probably wasn’t headed to the playoffs, but they need to have their full set of players to even have a shot at it! But with Arenas facing felony charges, that might not happen for awhile.

There was an attack in Angola as the Togo soccer team was on its way to the Africa Cup of Nations. The team was in their bus on the way to the tournament (similar to the Euro Cup) and it killed an assistant coach, a press officer and the bus driver. It’s not completely obvious what happened, but it appears that it has something to do with Angola’s separatist movements and the danger that it can create in certain areas. This raises the fears that some people are having in expectation of the South African World Cup coming up later this year. While the distance between the two places is large, this doesn’t change the perception that many people have about it. Hopefully the security situation in South Africa is better than it was in Angola in this attack. The team was on its way to Cabinda, in Angola, where their next match was to be played. The team returned home early for three days’ mourning.

This is a strange story going on in the NBA right now. Gilbert Arenas, resident goofball of the Washington Wizards, is in some deep water. There was an incident with a teammate which ultimately culminated in him bringing a gun (or several) to the stadium and possibly pointing them at the other player, or at least setting it on a chair as either a joke or a threat. It’s not clear what actually happened. The guy messed up. He has been suspended pending a criminal investigation (the guns weren’t registered for DC, where the stadium is). The real spark getting him suspended was his joking Tweets, interviews and an unfortunate finger-gun-pointing display. There is talk of a long-term suspension and possible criminal charges. It will be very interesting to watch this play out; especially with the possibility of a lifetime suspension (which is probably too harsh), everyone is extra wound up about this particular problem.