ories -- 22-2 in Edinburgh in 1995 and 41-0 in Aberdeen in 20

TORONTO -- When Michael Bradley stepped off the plane in Toronto after the United States heartbreaking loss to Belgium at the World Cup, he made his intentions immediately clear. "He came up to me and said, I want to train," said Toronto coach Ryan Nelsen. The 26-year-old midfielder is expected to play Saturday night when Toronto hosts D.C. United, returning to his Major League Soccer squad with mixed feelings about the Americans World Cup run -- sad that it ended when it did but proud of his teams performance. "Theres disappointment for sure because we felt like things had come together in a good way for us, and we felt like there was more there for us," Bradley said after Fridays practice at BMO Field. "Thats sports ... you realize in those moments again how fine the margin is between going home and going on. "I think for every guy on our team there is a huge sense of pride for the way we went about it when the spotlight came on the brightest. For every guy who was there, the commitment, the determination, the willingness to leave everything on the field in every moment was incredible." He rejoins a Toronto team that has been climbing the Eastern Conference standings. TFC is fourth (6-4-3), but with four games in hand over leaders Sporting Kansas City and D.C. United. Striker Jermain Defoe, who was left off Englands roster for the World Cup, said Bradley could easily have requested a week or two off to rest and decompress. "He decided to come in and he wanted to play. Thats brilliant. He had a fantastic World Cup and hes just ready to go," Defoe said. "Great character to say to the manager, Im up for selection, I want to play, I dont need to go away and have a rest." The Americans finished second in Group G, then dropped a 2-1 decision to Belgium in extra time in their dramatic round-of-16 game. "Its always a draining experience in the World Cup, especially when you get eliminated," Nelsen said. "Theres this incredible sense of finality to it, and it can have repercussions. Id be worried if it was any other player other than Michael." Bradley said the feedback from the Belgium game has been unanimous in that it was a great game to watch. "The drama at the end, all the emotion that went into it ... when youre little, those are the games you dream of playing in," Bradley said. "Unfortunately at the end somebody has to be on the losing side but when you get a taste of playing in those kinds of games, you want more." Bradley was overwhelmed by the support the team received in Brazil. Before their opening game against Ghana in the coastal town of Natal, the local paper reported 30,000 Americans had arrived in town. "Youre thinking, maybe well have a chance to have a home crowd," Bradley said. "We walked onto the field and the national anthem starts and the entire stadium was singing. Thats a special feeling, to be playing in a World Cup representing your country, thousands of miles away from home but having the entire stadium full of Americans. "The atmosphere, the people and the support pushed us on in such a big way." The success of the Americans, and the amount of attention paid to the team in North America, was seen as a big thumbs-up to MLS. Commissioner Don Garber posted on Twitter moments after the Americans elimination: "We proved to the world we are a soccer nation!" Six starters on the U.S. team, including star striker Clint Dempsey, play in the MLS, plus several other countries boast MLS players -- TFC keeper Julio Cesar is Brazils starting keeper, Australian international Tim Cahill plays for the New York Red Bulls, to name two. "Were all realistic, we all know the MLS is not THE best league in the world yet, but its on the right path, its growing, its continuing to improve, the quality gets better and better," Bradley said. "And when you get to the World Cup and see the number of players who come out of this league and have done well, and had a big impact on whats gone on there, you cant help but have respect for what goes on here on a weekly basis." The league recently attracted a couple more big stars. Spains all-time leading goalscorer David Villa is headed to New York City FC, while Kaka, a Brazilian and former star for Real Madrid and AC Milan, recently signed with Orlando. Theyre both expansion teams that will make their league debuts next season. Defoe called the recently Kaka news a "massive signing. Such a massive name." "Someone who has achieved so much in the game, great footballer, still has a lot to offer," he said. "The names just keep coming and coming and its only going to help the league. And obviously for me, I sit back and think Im so glad that Ive come over here, and just to be a part of it all is really good." Bradley, who tried to make time to watch Torontos games online when he was in Brazil, is excited to rejoin a team that looks poised for its first playoff appearance in franchise history. Toronto marked the end of the MLS break for the World Cup by tying the Red Bulls 2-2 on the road on Wednesday night, dictating much of the play before relinquishing the lead when the Red Bulls scored in the third minute of injury time. "Credit to all the players, and obviously the manager and staff ... were just improving each day, taking small steps but really improving as a team," Defoe said. Defoe scored the lone goal of the game when TFC beat D.C. United 1-0 in their second game of the season. "Weve played them already this season but we know theyve improved since then and we feel weve improved also," said captain Steven Caldwell. "So it should be a really good game, hopefully an attacking game. We feel for us weve really improved in that area, were looking very dangerous when we go forward, we just have to make sure weve got that nice balance and were tight at the back." Toronto plays its next three games at home. After Saturday, they host Houston on July 12, then the Vancouver Whitecaps on July 16. Joe Haden Steelers Jersey . -- Deshorn Brown scored twice, the first coming 13 seconds into the game, and the Colorado Rapids beat the undermanned Seattle Sounders 5-1 Saturday night. Terrell Edmunds Steelers Jersey . LOUIS -- Julius Randle had 19 points and 15 rebounds, Aaron Harrison finished with 18 points and No. http://www.steelersrookiestore.com/Steelers-Sean-Davis-Jersey/ . The Detroit Tigers closer blew a three-run lead in the ninth inning Wednesday night against the Dodgers. Chukwuma Okorafor Steelers Jersey . Cabrera is hitting .218 with three homers and 16 RBI in 80 games this season. The Padres recalled second baseman Brooks Conrad from Triple-A El Paso to replace Cabrera on the roster. Joe Haden Jersey .C. - Steve Clifford isnt exactly singing his teams praises after the Bobcats won for the sixth time in seven games. TORONTO -- Canada may have been within a couple of points of knocking off a Tier 1 rugby team Saturday, but there was no celebrating in the Canadian locker-room after the game. A controversial penalty in the dying minutes made sure of that. The Canadians dropped a 19-17 decision to Scotland in an international Test match at BMO Field -- a country that sits a full eight positions higher than them on the world rankings. But Canada was in position to win with five minutes to go when the referee reversed his decision on a call, after originally awarding Canada a penalty kick. "Im gutted actually for the guys, they really put it all in," said Canadian coach Kieran Crowley. "Positives are . . . we ran a Tier 1 country to two points, thats a pretty good effort." On the controversial play in the 75th minute, Canadian flanker Jebb Sinclair had the ball, his forearm made contact with Ruaridh Jackson, and the Scottish player was knocked out cold. The referee initially awarded a penalty kick to Canada, but reversed the call after reviewing video. "I dont know what you mean to do with your elbow in that situation when a guy gets his head on the wrong side," Crowley said "He refereed it how he saw it, and I thought it was the wrong decision. But thats the way he sees it." Jeff Hassler scored Canadas lone try while James Pritchard booted for 12 Canadian points. Grant Gilchrist scored the single try for Scotland, while Greig Laidlaw kicked four penalties and a conversion. Hassler scored in the 23rd minute, after Ciaran Hearn broke through the Scottish midfield and sprinted 30 metres down the sideline in front of a red-and-clad crowd of 18,788 fans -- plus the odd Scottish fan dressed in a kilt -- at BMO Field. "Its always good to get one on the board early in front of the home fans, it was a bit of a spark for us, just good team play and a good finish," Hassler said. The Canadians were looking to bounce back from a 34-25 loss to Japan in a Pacific Nations Cup game a week earlier in Burnaby, B.C. -- an ugly affair that saw the Canadians give up 25 unanswered points in the second half. While it was expected the No. 16-ranked Canadians would be in for a much tougher afternoon against the eighth-ranked Scots, they made Scotland work for the win -- the first Scottish victory on Canadian soil. "Its pretty gutting," Hassler said of the close loss. "Its not the first time weve been in that position and its something that we as a Canadian team need to improve on and start knocking off some of these teams in the last couple of minutes of the game. Locker-room is pretty disappointed, but we know were right there." Gilchrist scored in the 27th minute, muscling his way across the try line after some strong work from the Scottish forwards. Scotland took a 13-8 lead into the dressing room at halftime. Pritchard booted four penalty kicks, plus a conversion. He had a chance to give Canada the lead with 15 minutes to play, but his kick banged off the post. He made good on his next attempt to put the Canadians up 17-16. But Laidlaw booted his fourth of the day to put the Scots back on top with eigght minutes to play.dddddddddddd Stuart Hogg also had a penalty kick for the Scots, who were coming off a 24-6 victory over the United States a week earlier in Houston. "Not happy at all with the outcome," said Canadian captain Tyler Ardron. "Im sure that call (on Sinclair) is whats going to be talked a lot about this week, but in all honesty I dont think it should have come down to that. I think we should have closed it out before that and its shouldnt have made a difference." Despite the close loss, Ardron said this game didnt sit with him any better than last weeks defeat at the hands of Japan. "Its the same feeling, I think we should have won both those games, but its not good enough to sit back and say we should have won those games," he said. "We have to win them. If we want to get to where we feel we should be, thats got to be our attitude." Scotlands coach Vern Cotter admitted the call on Sinclair that reduced Canada to 14 men "changed momentum" of the game. "(The Canadians) were attacking at that stage," said Cotter, after his second game with Scotland. "Always in these games, little things make the difference. A little thing turned out to be a big thing and had a reasonably big consequence on the result." Cotter praised the Canadian side that is "developing rapidly." He added the Canadians clearly came out at the opening whistle bent on making up for last weekends disappointing result against Japan. "They were very angry, you could see in the first couple of rucks, there was a couple of exchanges, they obviously wanted to impose physically," Cotter said. "I think thats part of their team psyche, they enjoy that type of thing. "I think they played particularly well. . . theyre doing some good things." The BMO Field crowd was positive on the afternoon -- another strong rugby turnout at the lakeside venue that Canadian players have dubbed their unofficial home. Some 22,566 fans squeezed into BMO Field to watch the Maori All Blacks beat the Canadians 40-15 there last November -- a North American record crowd for the sport. Canadas loss to Ireland a few months earlier drew 20,396 fans to the stadium that is normally home to Major League Soccers Toronto FC. "It felt awesome," said Ardron, who grew up in Lakefield, Ont., just north of Peterborough. "Its so hard to comment on how good it felt now after such a devastating loss, a close game like that. But having the support behind us the whole game felt great." The game was Scotlands first victory over Canada on Canadian soil. Canada had beaten Scotland twice at home -- 24-19 in 1991 in Saint John, N.B., and 26-23 in Vancouver in 2002. Theyve met two times in Scotland, both Scottish victories -- 22-2 in Edinburgh in 1995 and 41-0 in Aberdeen in 2008. The game was halted for about 10 minutes midway through the first half while medical staff attended to Scotlands Alasdair Strokosch. Strokosch was eventually wheeled off the pitch on a stretcher. The Canadians face the United States next Saturday in a Pacific Nations Cup game in Sacramento, Calif. 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