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    U.S. national team faces a critical year in 2009

    By Jeff Carlisle, ESPNsoccernet

    Tuesday, December 30, 2008

    Looking at the key story lines that will pop up in 2009 for the U.S. men's national team, I feel like I'm looking at one of those Babushka dolls -- you know, the ones that are nested inside one another. Certainly in the case of the national team, qualifying for the next World Cup in South Africa is the only thing that matters. But getting there will require several key items to fall into place, and as each of these issues are teased apart, I find there are subplots within subplots, each of which ...

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