As I watched Costa Rica and the USA walk out on the pitch last night, both hoping to continue their fine runs in World Cup qualifiers, I was firmly optimistic that the United States would dominate away from home. While the statistics were against them – USA have never won a game on the Saprissa artificial turf – I was confident that the team ranked 14th in the world would be able to overcome 41st placed Costa Rica.

I could not have been more wrong. From the outset the Costa Ricans dictated the run of play; it was attacking football at its finest. Men against boys may sound like a harsh analogy, that is until you realize that it took almost 80 minutes of play for the United States’ forwards to get their first shot on goal.

Granted, the forwards weren’t the only players to blame. Tim Howard was atrocious in goal; he never looked comfortable on the artificial surface and it showed when, after only 2 minutes, he and his defenders allowed Alvaro Saborio to dance around them before scoring a wonderful goal in the top left hand corner.

The crowd that turned up to Estadio Ricardo Saprissa last night were, for lack of a better word, insane. They absolutely lost it when the Costa Ricans hit the lead, and their intensity fired up the squad enough to score another goal 11 minutes later.

To be honest, the USA deflated after the initial goal and never seemed to recover. They played on the back foot for most of the game and truly seemed to be in agony when a third goal, a goal that really should have been covered by Everton stopper, Tim Howard, was blasted into the back of the net.

Not to take anything away from the Costa Ricans, they played wonderfully on their home ground, and I can now see why the USA have never left with a win there. The only real brain snap worthy of mention in the Costa Rican camp was Junior Diaz’s silly foul on 90 minutes that gave Landon Donovan a penalty goal.

I’ll be very interested to see how the United States bounce back after such a devastating loss. They relinquished their hold on the CONCACAF qualifying group to Costa Rica with their loss last night, but I’m sure will be keen to reclaim it with a win against Honduras at the weekend.

Be sure to keep your calendar marked for October 14 as well, when the USA take on Costa Rica at home, and on real grass.

What a crazy couple of days it’s been at the French Open! Not only was the reigning women’s singles champion, Ana Ivanovic, wiped off the court in straight sets by Victoria Azarenka, but four-time winner, Rafael Nadal, has also been eliminated from the tournament.

23rd seed Robin Soderling advanced to his first ever Grand Slam quarterfinal after defeating the world-number-one in only four sets. Nadal has never been beaten at Roland Garos, having won every French Open title since 2005. Rafa was graceful in defeat, however, acknowledging that his 31 straight wins at the tournament had to end some day.

The major upset would have been welcome news for Roger Federer, who has lost three times to Nadal in the final, and has never taken a French Open title. After his emotional loss at the Australian Open this year, Federer has never had a better chance of snatching up the clay Grand Slam.

I, for one, am glad to see Nadal exit the tournament. Don’t get me wrong, I love to watch the guy play, and he carries himself with an air of maturity beyond his years, but it will be nice to finally watch a grand final not predetermined by the Spaniard. He’s at the same level of dominance now as Federer was in 2006-07, and its good to see that even the greatest can fall sometimes. Men’s singles tournaments seem to have become quite formulaic in recent years, with Federer and Nadal alternating title victories. So its great to see someone like Soderling come along and defeat the Master of Clay, for tennis fans as well as Federer.

Oh, and congratulations to anyone who wagered on Soderling to win. Those odds must have been ridiculous!

Charles Barkley is a funny guy. It’s refreshing to have a prominent media personality that is so brutally honest with his opinions.

He’s not always right, but that’s a big reason I like the guy and listening to what he says. There’s too many ‘vanilla’ reporters and commentators in sports media. They just repeat what others are saying or talk about what they think other people want to hear.

Charles has had a colorful 12 months, being sued by the Wynn Casino and also being arrested for DUI.  He paid his debt to Wynn, after apparently ‘forgetting about it’. He also spent some time in jail for his DUI and completed an alcohol education course.

I like how instead of lying about it he came out and said that he has drunk and driven maybe 200 times. I don’t like that he did that – it’s just plain stupid. But I like his honesty and seeing him learn from his mistakes, telling us about it every step of the way. He admitted it was dumb and will never do it again.

And he’s also quit gambling for the moment. He hasn’t said he’s quitting forever. He’s just taking a break because he was losing. He misses betting on football games. Something I can understand. (only 3 months until NFL starts again!) It’s cool that he doesn’t bend to pressure to just say things to appease critics. A lot of people in his situation would come out and say gambling is bad etc etc But Charles doesn’t. He likes drinking, he likes gambling and dammit he’s going to continue to do both, albeit in a more responsible way.

Good on you Sir Charles. I’ll have a beer and  a bet with you any day.