Phew. I'm finally done playing Mario Kart. Sorry for the absence, but the game is THAT good. I hope you were able to catch the game Sunday in New York. We played pretty well and were very efficient again in front of goal. I'll be honest, the games on the road this year have been pretty fun, which usually isn't necessarily the case. Wins of 3-0 at New England, 2-0 at D.C. and 5-1 at New York - all of whom are very good teams - have apparently made some people skeptical... so skeptical that MLS sent out CDT to perform drug tests on us today. We're not taking drugs, though. Just a few injections a couple of times a week, but everyone said those weren't illegal.

The U.S. played England today at Wembley, which most of you know. The end result was 0-2, but overall it wasn't too bad. We had a team filled with players not playing in the MLS except for Ricardo Clark of Houston. England had most of their top players including John Terry, Beckham, Rooney, Lampard and Gerrard. Josh Wolff was back in the lineup for us after some time away and Brad Guzan of Chicago played the 2nd half in goal giving up one goal that he could do nothing about.

Matt Pickens is back in the states and enjoying some time off. He's entertaining a few options already, for the upcoming season. He spent the last few months playing and impressing in England, while playing for the reserve team of Queens Park Rangers in the Coca-Cola Championship (2nd division pro in England). He'll probably make it back up to Chicago at some point for some Chipotle and a country concert, among other things. He was also in consideration for one of the 3 goalie spots on the roster for the U.S. in today's game, but he opted not to go.

So, many people have been writing in to me asking if the win Sunday felt like revenge or had any special significance because of Juan Carlos's untimely departure last year. The answer is actually no, despite what most of you seem to think. The only reason that I felt so good afterwards was because we regained a tie for 1st place in the league, we scored 5 goals, and we beat an in-conference rival. Maybe things felt better for our coaching staff, because they were the ones going head to head against Juan and seemed to have a better day. But I cannot speak for them. We still have to face them 2 more times this season and possibly more depending on the playoffs, so we can save any celebrating until then. But you all can feel free to celebrate as often as you like, and I'd encourage it. Especially the great group of Fire fans who showed up at Giants Stadium and were given tickets high and far away from the field - we still heard you! Thanks.