But Saturday's USA/Mexico matchup for the CONCACAF Gold Cup title, which I caught on over-the-air no-pay channel 15.1, the D.C. Univision affiliate, was entertaining from kickoff to the final whistle—six goals, none of them flukes or penalty kicks, the last of which was deserving of that fave utterance of English-speaking soccer d-bags everywhere: Brilliant!

The match had scads of local poignance, too. We got to see Freddy Adu on a big stage, and looking like he belonged.

To nutshell Adu's soccer career in his former hometown: He came in like Bryce Harper and went out like Tamir Goodman.

Adu was born in Ghana but grew up in Potomac, and was a known quantity on soccer fields in our area in grade school. At 12, he was recruited to play with the U.S. U-17 national team.

There was a even a birther movement of a sort surrounding Adu, as folks who couldn't believe he was so far ahead of all the homegrown kids in his age group hinted that his African birth certificate was forged.

He signed with Major League Soccer as a 13-year-old and was assigned to D.C. United, and was hailed as the youngest athlete to play for a professional American sports league "since 1877."

The hype leading up to his professional debut in 2004, United v. San Jose Earthquakes at RFK, was nauseating. And, as is so often the way with soccer, the reality didn't live up.

The game was televised live by ABC just because of the kid's presence. But to the dismay of a crowded stadium and the network television audience, United's head coach, Peter Nowak, kept Freddy on the bench when the game started. Adu's reputation and relationship with the coach never really recovered.

It ended with a whimper in 2006, when Adu was traded from United to Real Salt Lake for a reserve goalie named Jay Nolly.

Since then he's bounced from Euro club to Euro club. Unless you've also heard of Jay Nolly, you've only heard of one of Adu's post-MLS teams—Benfica, AS Monaco, Belenenses, Aris, Çaykur Rizespor. ("Caykur Rizespor" sounds painful, but treatable...)

But there was Adu on international TV Saturday night, with the U.S. team in the Gold Cup final. And starting! That move by U.S. head coach Bob Bradley was almost as shocking as Nowak's decision to keep Adu on the bench back against San Jose in 2004.

Though the match was played at the Rose Bowl, watching USA/Mexico from the Rose Bowl was like watching a Redskins/Steelers game at FedExField—you couldn't tell who was the home team. I was rooting mainly for Adu and a good game, and went away happy on both counts.

And while wearing his adopted country's colors, Adu played aggressively and set up both U.S. goals in the 4-2 loss to a Mexican team that you didn't have to be Andres Cantor to tell was a lot better than our squad.

I looked up Adu's bio this morning and saw that he's listed as having just turned 22 years old.

Really? 22? I feel like I've known of the guy for more than 22 years.

Hell, now I wanna see that birth certificate.

Don't throw your rabbit ears away just yet, soccer fans. At least not until the CONCACAF Gold Cup is over.

I watched last night's USA/Honduras match in glorious analog, complete with an old-school non-digital antenna hooked up and pointing skyward.

The match was broadcast live from RFK on WMDO-47, an over-the-air Spanish station that is part of the Miami-based Telefutura network, itself a subsidiary of everybody's favorite telenovela source, Univision.

If you've got the lowest tier cable TV, you wouldn't have been able to watch the game, since WMDO (like the Anglo Fox Soccer Channel, which is also showing some Gold Cup games) isn't in every package.

But if you've got no cable, like those of us now forced to live on a budget, you could cheer our boys on.

The supposed drop-dead date for analog TV in the U.S. was June 12, when the federally mandated switch to digital kicked in. Apparently something got lost in translation, because not only is WMDO still clogging up the airwaves with analog signals, but the station doesn't even offer viewers a digital option.

"There shouldn't be any analog stations out there anymore, except for maybe a high school or college station," says "Joanne" of the FCC's Digital TV Hotline out of Niagara Falls. "Everybody's supposed to be transitioned to digital by now. Our map of DC isn't showing any more analogs."

Well, then, City Desk readers, please promise not to spill the beans on WMDO to the Feds! Not for a few more weeks! Because I plan on adjusting the rabbit ears and trying not to poke myself in the eye all over again tomorrow night for the El Salvador/Jamaica game, and again July 23 when my Gold Cup TV schedule tells me WMDO will be broadcasting both Gold Cup semifinal matches.

It'll be just between us!

A source at the Sports and Entertainment Commission tells me that there's not any hint that next week's Gold Cup soccer match between the beautiful losers of the USA national team and the Honduran national team will be affected by what's gone on. It's on.

I've read there's been a coup down south.

Apparently newly ex-President Manuel Zelaya, who was just thrown out of the country by his military, can't go home. Coup leaders say that if he shows up in the capital city of Tegucigalpa he'll be arrested.

The U.S. is in Zelaya's corner in this one. So why not turn this game into something huge? Let the State Department invite the deposed guy to our Nation's Capital to watch his old soccer team play our boys. If Zelaya sucks up to the futbol fans back home, and the Hondurans manage to escape with a win, he could fly back with the team and take his job back.

Can't hurt. Tickets are available, so Zelaya won't be taking up a Barra Brava member's seat.

Think it's silly? Well, the Hondurans have already gone to war once over soccer.

Really.