Donnie Moore is a motivational speaker, and the Oakland Athletics’ team chaplain. He likes to inspire people, and has done just that for audiences ranging from the Yankees to, more recently, the U.S. men’s national soccer team, with a message that to achieve amazing things, above all else you have to believe in yourself. Oh, and he also likes to break stuff. [Dirty Tackle]

There wasn’t much to enjoy in last night’s 4-1 U.S. friendly loss to Brazil at FedEx Field… well, unless you were rooting for Brazil. Or if you were the guy above, who managed to find his way onto the pitch despite pretty clearly not being a player.

The entire nation part of the nation that cares about soccer is in shock tonight, as the United States Under-23 squad blew a lead in second-half stoppage time, resulting in a 3-3 tie with El Salvador. The U.S. will not have the chance to compete in the 2012 Olympics. Lame.

A win over Italy would be big for U.S. soccer… and as of right now, they’re pretty close to getting it. They’re up 1-0 on Italy, and if that score doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, consider this: that goal, scored by Clint Dempsey represents the Americans’ first non-PK score against Italy in two decades… and Dempsey’s just the fourth American ever to score against Italy. Watch him do it after the jump.

Jurgen Klinsmann debuted as head coach of the U.S. men’s soccer team last night, piloting the squad to a 1-1 friendly draw with Mexico. The U.S. started slow, but tied the score in the 73rd minute, making their new coach very, very happy in the process.

Last night, Jon Stewart joined the chorus of those praising the U.S. women’s soccer team for their World Cup performance. In particular, the former William & Mary soccer player singled out Abby Wambach’s extra-time goal against Brazil as one of the best he’s ever seen. He liked it so much, in fact, that he needed to see it re-created for himself…but the U.S. women themselves weren’t in much of a mood too appease him.

The U.S. women’s national soccer team couldn’t quite bring home the World Cup, but they were still in demand upon arriving home thanks to the interest they generated during the tournament. As a result, Abby Wambach and Hope Solo appeared on Late Show with David Letterman last night.

Did you watch the U.S. women’s crushing loss to Japan in the Women’s World Cup final yesterday (which, flipping it around, was also a remarkable, inspiring triumph for the Japanese side)? You were far from alone.

The numbers are in, and they’re impressive: the game oulled an 8.6 rating throughout the United States. Not only is that way more viewers than baseball’s All-Star game attracted, it’s more than, on average, tuned in to last year’s World Series.

Twice the United States scored relatively late in the action against Japan in the Women’s World Cup final, after long scoreless stretches. Twice Japan answered. And when it came down to penalty kicks, everything went awry at the worst possible time, and Japan is the champion.

Unbelievable. Just when it appeared safe to say the U.S. was going to win the women’s World Cup because of a late goal, Japan answered right back…twice.