The United States is headed to the 2010 World Cup next year after clinching qualification with a 3-2 win over Honduras on Saturday October 11th.

Conor Casey scored his first two international goals in the second half, Landon Donovan added another and the United States clinched its sixth straight World Cup berth with a game to spare.

In one of the most thrilling end-to-end matches the U.S. has played in many years, the Americans needed a late penalty miss by the hosts to get the win.

Following a handball in the penalty area by U.S. defender Jonathan Spector, Carlos Pavon blazed his penalty over the crossbar in the 87th minute, then the striker again fired high with an open header from in the 89th.

The United States is top of the CONCACAF qualifying group and assured of one of the three automatic berths.

Mexico also clinched a World Cup berth on Saturday with a 4-1 victory over visiting El Salvador. Costa Rica moved into third after winning at home against Trinidad and Tobago.

Honduras, seeking its second World Cup appearance and first since 1982, and dropped into fourth. If the Catrachos are still in that spot after the final match at El Salvador on Wednesday, they would meet the No. 5 nation from South America in a playoff.

“You don’t want to go into the last game leaving anything to chance,” Donovan said.

“We’re very proud,” U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. “We understand the responsibility we have every time we step on the field for our fans, for our country.”

Honduras has been in turmoil since a June military coup, but the crowd was united behind its team.

“This isn’t an easy place to play,” Donovan said. “No one else has won here in qualifying and we just did.”

Torino midfielder Julio Cesar De Leon put Honduras ahead in the 47th minute when he curved a free kick over the wall and to the right of leaping U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard from just outside the penalty area.

That set off sustained boisterous cheering and jumping that made Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano shake, but the sellout crowd of about 40,000 was silenced when Casey equalized in the 55th.

Onyewu sent a long pass downfield, and Charlie Davies nodded it across the area to Casey, who outjumped a defender and outmuscled goalkeeper Noel Valladares for his first goal in 15 international appearances.

David Suazo nearly put Honduras ahead in the 65th, one minute after entering, but Howard made a leaping fingertip save. Casey then gave the U.S. the lead a minute later when he split two defenders, took a pass from Donovan and scored from 16 yards.

Donovan, who set an American record with his 10th assist of the year, extended his U.S. scoring record on a 21-yard free kick in the 71st minute.

De Leon added his second goal in the 78th minute and Maurcio Sabillion nearly tied it in the 82nd, putting a bicycle kick over the bar.

Honduras: Noel Valladares, Osman Chavez, Maynor Figueroa, Hendry Thomas (Ramon Nunez 74), Wilson Palacios, Carlos Pavon, Julio De Leon (Walter Martinez 79), Emilio Izaguirre, Carlos Costly, Mauricio Sabillon, Edgar Alvarez (David Suazo 63).

United States: Tim Howard, Jonathan Spector, Carlos Bocanegra, Michael Bradley, Jonathan Bornstein, Ricardo Clark, Oguchi Onyewu, Stuart Holden (Steve Cherundolo 90), Conor Casey (Benny Feilhaber 84), Charlie Davies, Landon Donovan.

For years, if you were to ask the average Joe on the street to name the best soccer player in the world, those who do not follow soccer closely would probably say something to the effect of, “David Beckham.  He’s the only one I know.”

Times have changed, and it appears there’s a challenger for the world’s most famous soccer playboy.

Cristiano Ronaldo is quickly becoming the new Hollywood-style soccer pro who is stirring up the buzz on and off the field.  The 23-year-old is the first since Beckham to draw the attention of the world outside of futbol with a tabloid and paparazzi following that is starting to rival that of the decade-older Beckham.  He nabbed yet another individual award when he comfortably won the iconic Ballon d’Or trophy Tuesday and his sponsorship deal with Nike is making headlines of its own.

Another sign of the attention he is receiving can be seen in the way that the two compare on Google Trends:

While Beckham still holds the edge on the number of total search results for his name with 18.4 million versus 16.2 million for Ronaldo, a Google search for news about each stacks up differently:

• Google News Results for “Cristiano Ronaldo” - 22,839
• Google News Results for “David Beckham” - 12,211

Both are talented players.  One is rising to prominence on the field while the other is in the twighlight of his career.  Regardless of how Ronaldo fairs in the future and what Beckham does next, the pictures below say a lot about both… they’re in the spotlight, and they know it.  Whether they are in their soccer apparel or not, the pictures will keep on coming.

On the field, their personalities are as bright as they are off the field.

While Ronaldo is in the tabloids regularly with new relationships, Beckham has maintained a long-term marriage.

Any time the shirts come off, the flashbulbs start popping.

Even though they both have Hollywood glamour surrounding them, it's their skills on the field that have propelled them to stardom.

Read more about soccer stars on this soccer blog.

In February, during Madonna’s charity auction in New York City, Salma Hayek had the winning bid for a one-hour soccer lesson from David Beckham.  In the nine months since then, she has been unable to collect her winnings and it doesn’t look like that will change any time soon. (more…)