Starts at 6:00 on ESPN2. This is the final match before the team leaves for Germany. Here's the starting XI, 4-4-2, diamond midfield: Keller Cherundolo Pope Conrad Lewis Beasley Mastroeni Donovan O'Brien Johnson McBride Interesting to see Beasley wide right, anyone else think Arena's considering going with Beasley wide right and Convey wide left?
Don't know anything about positions or the players other than Ching, Donovan, and Pope. But I'll still be watching.
US up 1-0 at half time off a McBride header (with a nasty looking lump on his head). We've pretty much dominated play so far and Johnson is having his best game since his injury. I wouldn't be surprised, but even then who else plays in the midfield? JOB and Reyna are locks if they're healthy so unless Donavon plays forward or we have 5 in the midfield I don't see both of them on the field at the same time.
I have a question: How the hell does it help the USA prepare for the World Cup competition playing powerhouse Latvia or the Moroccan 3rd unit? I guess no one else wanted to play us...
I think the whole point of the 3-game sendoff series was to get used to the scheduling of group play. You're right on the quality of opponents. It's hard to get top quality teams to travel to America from Europe/Africa/Asia when the World Cup is in Germany.
The competition isn't that important. These three games were about getting match ready and to see how different players performed with each other.
Ditto ! It is not like we have an easy draw in our opening group either. If we had Mexico's draw we could afford to try new combinations. But with the Czech republic and Italy in our group we have to be ready from the get go. DD
That's what I meant, we got a REALLY, REALLY tough draw. Oh well, you never know how things will work out, there's always a 'Cinderella' story in every World Cup.
True, but with the cup in Europe, I would guess it comes from over there. Hopefully the USA will do well, but I am guessing 3 and done....with a 1-1-1 record. DD
Why? The most important thing before going into a World Cup is being healthy and fit. That's exactly what these games allowed us to accomplish.
We'll be ready. We had to try new combinations considering that O'Brien hasn't really played with the National Team in four years, Reyna has been injury prone and and these 23 guys have never played together as a team. It's important to know which players link up well with one another and who is ready to step up in case one of your starters gets injured,
Exactly, every team going to the cup is playing warm up games for the same reasons, to get players fit and used to playing with one another. At some point most of the 23 players going will get some playing time, Arena needs to know who can do what and how players interact, and the players need to be familiar with their teammates. I would have preferred playing better opponents but the quality of the opponents isn't what's most important in this situation.
Does anybody know where I can look up to see the TV schelude for the World Cup? On ESPN It only shows the schelude match for the World Cup, and I know the games are going to be show on ESPN, ESPN2, ABC but are they going to be showing games on ABC most of the days? because at work we dont have cable
Actually, 3-game sendoff does not accurately simulate the group play. Almost all teams play every four-to-five days apart. besides, most teams are already in Europe (different countries). Mexico "play" Nederlands this Friday. http://www.univision.com/content/content.jhtml?chid=4&schid=328&secid=367&cid=783324 ALL LIVE. It will be 1-hour before on FRIDAY 9th. Your American TV Stations make me laugh... you see, that's why "Soccer" will never take off... they only will show games on weekends and that will really suck if you're a true fan and can't afford cable... LuckyAzn, Este is Eastern time, and the only time that Telefutura (you must have a Telefutura channel, but most markets do and it is 67 in Houston) shows a game, there's a concurrent game on Univision. Last world cup, there were about 6 games playing at the same time... it worked well, you could have picture-in-picture, and they updated you exclusive footage if a score happened in the concurrent game.
I disagree. Soccer's grown a tremendous amount in the four years since the last World Cup, where games were shown on ESPN. The people most likely to be converted to soccer fans during the World Cup are those that tune into to ESPN for their daily sports fix, find the World Cup is currently on, then decide to watch. That's how I got turned into a soccer fan 8 years ago, and it wouldn't have happened had the games been on "regular TV." American soccer is trying to bring in the normal American sports fan, and they have their best shot at doing that by broadcasting on ESPN.
LuckyAzn: Live TV on Univision REPLAY on Galavision and Telefutura NORMAL? WTF, am I deformed or some sh*T??!?!?! jk. I know you meant to type in "common" or "regular" instead of normal. What you mean is that now with so many people with cable vs. regular viewers, ESPN has a bigger chance to reaching those masses, plus those who will buy the products advertised with the games. I agree with that. What I mean is that when someone like LuckyAzn is at work, they won't get to see the Cup, and when most of us non-cable viewers are home on the weekends, we will get to see it, too. I wouldn't change my "GOOoOoooOooooooooOOoool" call for anything, including your boring "And a Score!" from American commentators. FUTBOL/SOCCER is passion. American TV doesn't hold a candle to it, whether in Cable or regular. ABC sucks, BTW.
not sure why people go on about tough draws, it is the world cup, there are very few easy games if any..... thats what makes it so good......
