South Africa

Bob Bradley did not get a good night's rest. The coach of the U.S. national team and his players did not get back to their rural base until the wee hours of Sunday morning, but it wasn't the roosters or the dogs or even the cows that kept Bradley awake. Instead, unable to drop off, he played and replayed the 2-1 loss to Ghana that knocked the U.S. out of the World Cup. "I never sleep well after games," he said. "Wins, losses, it's never easy after a game. I usually watch the game over and over a few times."

Landon Donovan got the goal. Jozy Altidore got the cuts and bruises. On Thursday, the day after the most memorable victory in decades for U.S. soccer, both players were holding court near the American team's rural base in Irene. For obvious reasons, the larger media crowd was gathered around three-time World Cup veteran Donovan. The argument could easily be made, however, that Altidore was just as responsible for beating Algeria. Certainly, Algeria was responsible for beating him. As the main U.S. target man up front, Altidore was constantly hacked, kicked, tripped, shoved and generally roughed up during the 1-0 win — as much as anyone can rough up a player of his size and strength.

I know I speak for all of America's soccer moms when I say: It's about time. The United States beat Algeria, 1-0, in the final minutes of a soccer thriller Wednesday and, instead of another three-games-and-out, the U.S. advances to the final 16 of the World Cup competition in South Africa. Television carried the beer-swilling, cheering men in pubs all over the United States, but soccer moms simply uttered a "harumph" and muttered, "It certainly took long enough." In the past five World Cups, the United States has made it to the second round only twice.

TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS MLB Kansas City@Washington (T) MASN9 a.m. Kansas City@Washington MASN7 Florida@Orioles MASN27 Regional coverage MLB8 Cleveland@Philadelphia (T) CN810:30 Florida@Orioles (T) MASN11:30 C. base. W.S. Game 7: S. Carolina vs. Ariz. St. ESPN24:30 W.S. Game 8: Oklahoma vs. Clemson ESPN29 F. hockey 2009 champ.

Same song and dance George Diaz Orlando Sentinel I would take everyone to see "Les Misérables," because, after all, aren't the French a bunch of pathetic, miserable boors? I'm just a rubbernecker at this point, so I have no idea how an implosion of this magnitude can happen. But I suggest that the French soccer federation folks are walking around their offices as emperors with no clothes. They've hired a coach no one wants to play for and who will be fired as soon as France is eliminated from the World Cup — quite possibly today when the French face host nation South Africa.

Ryan Appell stood on an isolated stretch of highway on the outskirts of an old South African mining town dressed like Betsy Ross' worst nightmare. He wore a bandana and a scarf made from a U.S. flag, had a flag tied around his neck and carried another in his hands. "This," he says with a smile, "is me." Apparently, it's a lot of other Americans, too, because the U.S. soccer team's fan base, which once consisted primarily of friends and family members, has swelled into one of the largest contingents at this World Cup. According to FIFA, the world governing body for soccer, only South Africa bought more tickets to this World Cup than the U.S. And while some of the 136,500 tickets sold in the U.S -- more than the number sold in Germany, Italy, France, Mexico and Brazil combined -- were undoubtedly purchased by fans who came here to root for one of the 31 other teams in the tournament, Appell was hardly the only American fan who made the difficult trip halfway around the world.

PRETORIA, South Africa — Nine days into the first World Cup on African soil, the Lost Continent has become the Loss Continent. A record six African teams were invited to this year's tournament, and through 11 games, they've combined for just one win — and that victory, by Ghana, came on a penalty kick after a questionable hand-ball call. The latest loss came Saturday night when winless Cameroon, expected to breeze through group play, fell to Denmark 2-1, becoming the first team officially eliminated from contention for a spot in the second round.

There are five of them in all, five coaches from South America who have been at the World Cup for two weeks now and have yet to taste defeat. Nine games and no losses suggests that this might be the continent's turn to take home the trophy. But which coach will be carrying it? There is Diego Maradona, who, with his shiny gray suit, silver tie, diamond-stud earrings and pinky ring, not to mention his black beard with the white frosting, looks less like a former great athlete than like a used-car salesman from Buenos Aires.

JOHANNESBURG — There is an undertone of disquiet about the 2010 World Cup. It is difficult to pin down exactly, but the feeling is pervasive and clues to its identity seem to surface daily. It would be too much to blame it on the country's sad and complicated history, but the legacy of apartheid did come into play Wednesday. Readers in Johannesburg awoke to see the headline "History is on Bafana's side" emblazoned across the front page of the Star. The reference was host South Africa's game against Uruguay and also to June 16, 1976, when thousands of schoolchildren in Soweto staged a protest march.

It is torture to all ears George Diaz Orlando Sentinel I suppose there are a few other things in life that challenge our threshold for audial pain more than the buzzzzzz of the vuvuzelas during World Cup matches. A Jeff Van Gundy unfiltered mix tape. A musical tribute to the Baha Men, the visionary artists who gave us "Who Let The Dogs Out?" But who am I kidding? I would rather have Jack Bauer rip off all my fingernails than listen to the annoying drone of the vuvuzelas for an entire soccer match.