About a year I posted a blog in regards to what I think is an ugly battle taking place. Still. And that is High School Soccer vs. Club Soccer.

Since then, this battle seems to have gotten uglier.

Seems that club coaches don't think too highly of high school coaches and vice versa. Who's in the right? Well, neither. Let's take a look at the battlefield.

First, it should be noted that when we speak of club coaches we are referring to those men and women who lead the more elite travel teams; that is, academy and high level players. And these coaches would prefer that their players not enter onto the high school pitch. Parents, who pay quite a lot for their son or daughter to compete on these academy or upper level teams, tend to lean more towards the club coach in these matters. And for a good reason. Many of these quality players are looking to play at the collegiate level and college coaches recruit from the college showcase tournaments moreso than from a high school tournament or match. So it is beneficial to the player to concentrate or give more effort at the club level than high school.

High school coaches need these quality players as well, obviously, because they make the high school program more successful.

It is going to get to the point where the academies and high level teams urge their players not to play high school soccer; perhaps, even to the point where they restrict their players from playing high school as part of their requirements to play.

Let's hope not.

Said it before and will say it again: there are no winners in this battle. Only losers. The Players, mostly. Coaches need to find a happy medium. Coaches need to work together. 

Then, and only then, will a winner emerge. Several winners, in fact. The biggest being teenage soccer players. 

Hats off to the Spaniards who certainly were the better team yesterday, besting Holland in the final. Now that the month-long extravaganza is over, following is one man's opinion on the best and the worst of the 2010 World Cup.

The Total Soccer Fitness & Training World Cup Bext XI:

Goalkeeper -- Iker Casillas, Spain.

Outside Backs -- Fabio Coentrao of Portugal and Giovanni van Bronckhorst of Holland.

Center Backs -- Carles Puyol of Spain and Diego Lugano of Uruguay.

Midfielders -- Wesley Sneijder of Holland, Mesut Ozil and Bastian Schweinsteiger of Germany, Xavi of Spain.

Forwards -- Diego Forlan of Uruguay and Miroslav Klose of Germany.

On our Bench -- Maarten Stekelenburg (GK) of Holland, Phillipp Lahm and Thomas Mueller of Germany, David Villa, Sergio Ramos and Andres Iniesta of Spain, Arjen Robben of Holland, Maicon of Brazil. 

Worst Coaching Job (heretofore to be known as the Raymond Domenech Award): Since France's skipper cannot win his own award, the trophy goes to Marcello Lippi of Italy. The defending champs were in the easiest group and couldn't get out of their own way. What a horrible job of 1) selecting the wrong players and 2) game coaching.

Best Coaching Job: Oscar Tabarez of Uruguay. His team got into the tourney courtesy of a qualification playoff win over Costa Rico. Came in with the rep of being a dirty, yellow-card happy squad. All his boys did was play the most entertaining soccer of all the squads, good enough for a fourth-place finish.

Worst Performance by a Super Star: Wayne Rooney in a rout. Rooney did nothing. Honorable Mention: Rooney's teammate Frank Lampard. (Note: This World Cup proved a doubt that when you talk English soccer you start and end with the classy Steven Gerrard).

Best Player: Diego Forlan! For once, the voters got it right. Forlan was simply outstanding throughout Uruguay's run to the semi-finals. 

Best Game: Germany vs. Uruguay in the Third-Place match on Saturday. 

Worst Game: Sunday's final between Spain and Holland. The Dutch were running around looking to foul someone and the Spaniards did what they do as well as anyone...Flop!  

Worst Performance by a Group: This one's a tie -- all the executives at FIFA (especially Sepp Blatter), the referees and anyone who owns a vuvuzela. 

Best Moment I: Siphiwe Tshabalala scoring the first goal of the tournament, sending the home crowd South Africans into a frenzy. 

Worst Moment I: Siphiwe Tshabalala scoring the first goal of the tournament, sending the home crowd South Africans into a frenzy. And thus beginning the relentless sound of those annoying vuvuzelas!

Best Moment II: Although it is in all honesty totally jingoistic, Landon Donovan scoring in extra time, to lift USA to the Group title! 

Worst Moment II: Although it is in all honesty totally jingoistic, Landon Donovan scoring in extra time to lift USA to the Group title and thus perhaps saving Bob Bradley's job as USA Coach. 

Best Performance by a Television Announcer: Roberto Martinez, the Wigan Athletic coach did a wonderful job of analyzing games. Would love to play for this guy. Consider me a Wigan fan.

Worst Performance by a Television Announcer: Consider this a note to the executives and decision makers at ESPN. Please keep Ruud Gullit and Steve McManaman off the announcer's list for World Cup 2014. 

Worst Prediction: Another tie -- 1) Me picking the Italians to defend their title. 2) Me telling USA Coach to start Jose Torres in central midfield. Oh well.

Best Prediction: Me telling USA Coach Bob Bradley not to start Ricardo Clark. He did. Clark stunk. USA got knocked out. 

Best Prediction II: Me telling you now that Germany will win World Cup 2014. 

OK, so the USA and my beloved Azzurri have disappointed me so. Still, I march on. After all, it's the World Cup and it comes around only every four years so why whine about the ridiculous (USA Coach Bob Bradley's tactics) and the pathetic (Italy's backwards, er...forwards).

The eight quarter-finalists are deserving of their spots and here's something to think about: we could have an entire South America semi-final (we won't, but more on that in a few seconds).

Here are my selections for the remainder of the World Cup (I have to do this because stupid Italy couldn't get out of the first round and the way their forwards played, they would have been knocked out of the US Cup by the Red Bulls).

Anyway, here goes:

Friday, July 2: Uruguay coasts past Ghana, 3-0. Holland finally puts it all together and upends Brazil, 2-1.

Saturday, July 3: Germany is playing good soccer, with Podolski and Klose playing like forwards should play, you know, making runs, scoring goals, something the Italian forwards have no idea how to do. Ah, but they come up against a tough Argentina, being led by the great Maradona, who, this humble writer has to admit while eating some humble pie, is doing a great job. But it ends here. Germany 3, Argentina 1.  In the second game of the day, the incredibly talented Spain takes on the attack-minded Paraguay. The temptation is there to pick the upset but, no dice. Spain 2, Paraguay 0.

So that sets up the semi-finals: Uruguay v Holland, Spain v Germany. Holland squeaks by, 2-1. Spain and Germany play a classic match. Goes into overtime at nil-nil. Remarkably, David Villa scores early in the opening 15 minutes. Miroslav Klose equals late in the second OT. To PKs they go. Spain connects on all 5 attempts. Germany is equal to the task. On and on it goes until...

Iker Casillas makes a save. Spain wins. On to the final vs. Holland. There is joy in Spain.

Until July 11 when Holland, after all these years, takes home the World Cup trophy. Holland 3, Spain 1. 

Shame on Coach Bob Bradley. The loss to Ghana today is squarely on his shoulders not those boys out on the pitch. 

I knew from when I first saw the starting lineup which had Ricardo Clark and Robbie Findley instead of Benny Feilhaber and Maurice Edu that our chances were slim.

I still can't figure out what Bradley sees in either player and I have said this so many times in this space only always to be proven correct. So what does the airhead Bradley do. Thirty minutes into the first hald he takes out an absolutely overmatched Clark and inserts Edu. And then at halftime, out comes Findley and in goes Feilhaber who right off the starting whistle makes a difference in the flow of play for the USA.

It's squarely on Bradley shoulders when late in the second half and throughout the two overtime periods that the USA began playing Route 1 soccer. He should have been at the top of the technical area screaming at his midfielders and defenders and (sometimes, not all the time) his Goalkeeper, to maintain possession. Keep the ball on the floor. But no. 50-50 balls were the call. 

This is a sad day for soccer in the USA. It is not, as the announcers on ABC-TV claimed, a proud day. Who the heck is proud in losing? The soccer hating media will now have a field day and we Americans who love this game have no defense. We cannot defend what has taken place. Had we been beaten by Brazil or SPain or Argentina, then maybe we could have had some solace in a loss. But -- and no offense to any Ghana fans reading this -- losing to Ghana...well, it just should not have been.

It's too late now to do anything but the right thing at this point is for the USSF to hand Bradley his walking papers. It's what all countries do when their teams fail in the World Cup and the USA failed in the World Cup. They did not get beat by a more talented squad. They got beat by a team that got lucky when lucky was the call. Good for them. Enjoy the celebration as it will probably be short lived. Uruguay is playing the best soccer in the Cup. They actually have players who can finish. Players who -- as Tommy Smythe would say -- can put the onions in the bag.

Geez. First I lose my beloved Italians. Now my USA is out. Who the heck can I root for now? My Portuguese wife suggested a team. I can do that.

But I think I'll go with the Netherlands. After all, I took their historic style as the name of my company.

Go Dutch! 

Well now, how 'bout those Yanks! Landon Donovan's goal in stoppage time will go down as one of -- if not THE -- greatest goal in US soccer history. Props to the boys for continuing to press forward against a weaker but stubborn Algeria. Bring on Ghana!

But first, some questions (and, of course, the obligatory answers from your humble author here):

Question #1) Will Coach Bob Bradley finally figure out that his best lineup has Clint Dempsey up top with Jozy Altidore? 

Answer: Probably not. The incredibly stubborn coach will no doubt put Michael Findley or Herculez Gomez with Altidore. Keep Demspey at midfield (instead of Benny Feilhaber). And don't be surprised to see either (or both) Ricardo Clark and Oguchi Onyewu on the pitch vs. Ghana.

Question #2) Will Bradley get Edson Buddle more playing time?

Answer: Probably not. Alas. Methinks Bradley may have cooled off the once-hot Buddle. Hard to grade Buddle vs. Algeria but he deserved more playing time in the first round. Findley is just not up to this level of competition.

Question #3) What is the most useless job in soccer?

Answer: Forward on the Greek national team.

Question #4: Where have all the goalkeepers gone?

Answer: Well, some reside in the USA. And some in Italy. One or two in Spain. None in England. Or Mexico. Or Africa.

Question #5: Have you ever seen this many empty seats for a World Cup Game?

Answer: No.

Question #6: Will all the Landon Donovan haters now realize how ridiculous they are?

Answer: I hope so because he has proved beyond all doubts that when his team needed him most he came through. With so many of his mates missing wide open chances in front of the goal, Donovan made good on his chance. Good for him. And here's one for those anti-Donovan fans: Landon Donovan is the best American soccer player. Ever!