The US has a friendly against Sweden this Saturday, the team will be made up of MLS players since European players are in season. Eddie Robinson, Ricardo Clark, and Brad Davis from the Dynamo are all in the camp and could play in this game. The game will be shown on Fox Soccer Channel at 7:30 PM CST.
Just set a reminder to watch tomorrow. Shame we couldn't get at least a few Euros in there since the game is in Sweeden. I did hear that they just scheduled a game with Poland in March as a Euro warmup for the Poles.
A game against Spain in June was also announced today, it should be a warmup for Spain's Euro campaign. I think both games should be in Europe and probably have our A team playing. It's possible a few Euro players will be brought in for the Mexico game, it's a FIFA date so they'll be available, it's just a question of if Bradley wants to bring them over.
Very well played game by the US. It's always great to see the local boys do well. Brad Davis had a very good game with the set pieces. I'm afraid he just doesn't have the pace to keep up on the international level. Eddie Robinson had a fantastic game. Got a goal in his first cap and played very well in the back. Ricardo Clark played 90 and did very well to cement his spot with the national team. Does anyone else think that we are seeing the future of US Soccer in Jozy Altidore? This kid is 18 years old and is already a very very good player. The Swedish defense was getting extremely frustrated trying to keep up with him and to get him off the ball. I know there were some prominent clubs that were after him. I can't blame the NYRB and MLS for wanting to keep him around.
Congrats to Donavan on becoming the leading goal scorer ... maybe? "Normally, Donovan's goal would make him the United States' leading goal scorer, with 35 in 97 games. Eric Wynalda, who played in three World Cups, scored 34 in 106 appearances between 1990 and 2000. But the Danish soccer federation recently protested to FIFA that Denmark's 3-1 loss to the United States on Jan. 20, 2007, in which Donovan scored, did not count as a full international. FIFA has yet to rule."
I read that last week. I think it was in the contract between USSF and the Danish federation that it would be counted as a full international. That, and the US has asked the Danes to change their classification. It will get certified and LD will get the record. If not, I'm fairly confident the US will have another pk in a future game for him to take.
Sometimes I take for granted how good Davis is on set pieces, I could see him being used a lot during qualifiers against CONCACAF opponents but probably won't make a WC squad. Clark always plays solid, we've got him, Bradley, Feilheiber, and Edu all fighting for the defensive mid spot. And they're all young so we should be set there for a while. I love Altidore up top, and I'm amazed that Twellman keeps getting chances with the national team. I guess it just shows how poor our forward depth is. Hopefully some combination of Altidore, Adu, Donovan, and Dempsey will start to shine in the next couple of years. As much as I like Ching and think he could do well at that level I don't think he'll be physically able to by time the next world cup comes around.
