One-time Real Salt Lake striker Yura Movsisyan squashed any chance to suit up for the U.S. national team after he played for Armenia in a 1-0 loss to Ireland on Friday.

While Yura was born in Armenia, he had a green card that potentially made him eligible for U.S. citizenship.  The 23 year-old hit-man played in Armenia’s exhibition match against Iran last month.

Following the 2009 MLS Cup victory with Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake, Yura made his way overseas to join Randers.  Since making his move, Yura has netted nine goals in his first season with the Danish squad.

I am going to throw this out there… I am disappointed.  Putting Yura in a USA jersey a little earlier would have been a good idea to say the least.  The U.S. national team needs all of the help they can get, and adding 23 year-old Movsisyan’s speed and scoring ability to the line-up, would only mean good things.

Losing him to the likes of Armenia is disappointing.  Plain and simple, USA coach Bob Bradley should have locked him down in case USA needed him in Brazil for the next World Cup.

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Bad news for Tottenham fans.  Michael Dawson will miss the next six to eight weeks with ligament damage in his knee and ankle on international duty.

Following an awkward turn early in the second half of the 4-0 England win over Bulgaria, Dawson was stretchered off the pitch.

A statement on Tottenham’s website read: “Scans today (Saturday) have revealed that Michael Dawson has sprained his left medial knee ligament and one of his left ankle ligaments.

“The defender has been withdrawn from the England squad after suffering the injuries during last night’s 4-0 European Championship qualifying win against Bulgaria at Wembley and is expected to be out of action for six to eight weeks.”

This all means that Dawson will miss a minimum of three Champions League matches with Tottenham.  Now, despite the loss of Dawson, England will not be calling up another player to fill his shoes for their upcoming qualifier against Switzerland this Tuesday.

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Italian midfielder Andrea Pirlo blames a poor World Cup showing due to a lack of quality and stated that it’s time his nation ‘start playing football.’

The 31 year-old midfielder was sidelined due to injury for most of Italy’s horrific stint in South Africa this summer, making just one appearance in their final match of play, in which Slovakia beat the reigning champs 3-2.

Everyone was expecting more from Italy this summer.  The 2006 World Cup winners were plain embarrassing, and aside from France, can be labeled as the most disappointing country of the tournament.

“We need to start playing football,” he said. “We have to learn how to play with the ball on the ground and make quick exchanges of play.

“Italian football’s problem is that we all have less quality: the players, the fans and the stadiums.”

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Team USA will host Colombia on October 12th at the new PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania.

This match marks the first showdown between the Americans and Colombia since the 2007 Copa America game, where the U.S. lost by a score of 1-0.

When facing Colombia, the United States has a record of 3-9-3, with their most memorable win coming from the 1994 World Cup, a 2-1 victory that advances the Americans to the knockout stage.

USA national team coach Bob Bradley, who recently reached an agreement keeping him as boss for another four years, called the upcoming match “one of the important parts of developing the program.”

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USA fans, coach Bob Bradley is not going anywhere.

It was announced late today by U.S. Soccer that an agreement has been reached locking in coach Bob Bradley for four more years as the national team coach.  Prior to today, there was a lot of speculating going on pertaining to Bradley making a move to Europe for other coaching opportunities.

“Bob is honored to be the U.S. coach,” said Ron Waxman, Bradley’s agent. “It’s a job he enjoys very much, and he’s very happy.”

In four years as USA boss, Bradley is 38-20-8 including a big win over Spain in the Confederations Cup final.

While a number of nations returned from the World Cup to make quick coaching changes, Sunil Gulati was a bit slower on making the decision for which coach would take USA to World Cup 2014 in Brazil.

We’re not going to lie to you though… Like many of you, we too thought it was unlikely that we would see Bradley return as coach.  Even though the U.S. reached the second round of World Cup play this year, Gulati has made it clear that he feels the Americans were capable of much more.

Since South Africa, Bradley has been linked with jobs overseas with Premier League squads Aston Villa and Fulham.  Bradley likes a very tactical style of play, and is known for keeping an open mind when it comes to seeing different players’ talents.

Was Gulati’s decision to bring back Bob for another four years a wise move?  Only time will tell.

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England national team midfielder Frank Lampard will miss his country’s upcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers due to a hernia operation, with both Peter Crouch and Bobby Zamora listed as doubtful.

Well, that’s not all of the bad news of Capello & Co… Defender John Terry has also been ruled out of international action.

Lampard was replaced during the second half of play during Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Stoke, and is set to undergo surgery on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

Lampard is expected to be sidelined for two weeks so that Carlo Ancelotti can have him available for the Blues’ next Premier League match-up against West Ham.

Ancelotti said: “It is a very easy surgery but he has started to feel pain and he needs to have the operation.

“We have already spoken with the national team to explain the situation.”

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World Cup final referee Howard Webb has stated that he should have sent off Dutch midfielder Nigel De Jong during the final match after he karate-kicked Spain midfielder Xabi Alonso in the chest.

Now, while the game saw a whopping 14 yellow cards, they probably should have seen a red midway through the first half with De Jong being sent off.

On Wednesday, Webb said that “one of the things I would change is the color of the card for De Jong’s tackle. Having seen it again from my armchair several times in slow motion and from different angles I can see that it was a red card offense.”

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USA coach Bob Bradley is set to meet with U.S. soccer officials this week to discuss his future with the national team.

While the meeting’s purpose isn’t to make a final decision on where Bradley will end up, it will be to ‘simply discuss the future,’ an ESPN source said.

After being eliminated from the World Cup in the round of 16 in South Africa earlier this summer, president Sunil Gulati said that he felt the team was capable of further advancement.

Bradley’s contract will expire at the end of the year, but has been linked with a move to the Premier League’s Aston Villa.

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Everton 28 year-old midfielder Mikel Arteta has welcomed the thought of playing for England if ever offered the chance to do so.

While Arteta has never been able to suit up for his country’s national squad due to the abundance of talent in the Spain midfield, a possibility to do so for the English squad may potentially lie in his future since he has qualified for British citizenship during his five years at Everton.

Now, Capello is yet to offer a spot to Arteta, but rumor has it that the English coach is fond of the attacking mid.

“If one day the opportunity comes obviously I would have to consider it very seriously,” Arteta told BBC Sport.

“I don’t know what his [Capello's] thoughts are. I know some people have been talking about it, but I haven’t said anything yet because the offer is not there at the moment.”

Last week, England national team captain Steven Gerrard stated that he would ‘love’ to have Arteta’s name added to the roster.

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The U.S. national team is set to take on Poland in an exhibition match in Chicago’s Soldier Field on October 9th in their second international game since World Cup 2010.

Of their last 16 games, USA has won just seven.  However, the Americans have come away triumphant three times of their last four.

“We know this is an important opportunity for Poland as they prepare for the 2012 European Championship, so we expect a challenging game,” U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. “Chicago has a fantastic tradition of supporting soccer and the U.S. national team, and with the large Polish community in the area it should make for an exciting atmosphere.”

Now, while Poland has to qualify for their continental tourney, exhibitions against both Ukraine and Australia have been scheduled.

Come October, the United States is going to be looking for a different result than they got in their last friendly with Brazil, where they lost 2-0.  With Poland being a much weaker team than the Brazilians, a “W” on home turf just may be in order for the U.S.

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