Pre-match: USA vs. South Korea - February 1st, 2014 (Carson, CA)

No different compared to US with MLS/Liga MX players in the full national team. Think of it as K/J-league (only 1 guy plays in China & he happens to play for "Man City" of Asia) vs MLS/Liga MX (and few nordic league players).

 

It will be an official friendly, just not on an international date.

 

I was going off the starters for the last two World Cup Qualifiers against Uzbekistan (6 K-League, 1 China, 1 J-League, 3 Europe) and Iran (7 K-League, 1 China, 1 J-League, 2 Europe). Since Korea was still fighting for qualification, I assumed that was your strongest team.

 

But will it be an "A-level" full international, or whatever FIFA's labeling is -- since it is not in a FIFA international match period?

And does that matter, at all?

Regardless, it will be an interesting match. (But likely not as insightful for everyone involved, and the fans, as compared to any friendlies played in March and in late May to early June.)

 

It will count as a full international friendly (all the other camp cupcake matches did). There is a way to designate a B friendly a scrimmage (They used to do so in Europe) but I don't know how they go about doing that.

It doesn't matter what players you select.

And yes, it matters. To FIFA. Me? I'm eating chili and drinking beer watching US Soccer in winter.

 

While ROK will have their Asian based squad, bear in mind that there is no reason why LigaMX sides are forced to release US players on these non-FIFA dates. Historically these friendlies are only for MLS and Scandinavian players since those leagues are not playing right now. We have never convinced a LigaMX side to release a US player for the Jan/Feb Camp Cupcake matches.

 

I'm guessing they'll release the Mexican NT players, though.

 

Since then SK went through a coaching change and several of the European-based players regained their starting places. There was an (alleged) rift between Euro- and Korean-based players and the coach at the time was basically rented from a K-League club a la Herrera/Mexico.

 

Oh good, nothing like a good 'we will have more of a 'B' team than you' argument to kick things off for the next 9 weeks.

 

That's what we get when friendlies are arranged outside of FIFA's international match calendar and call-up date ranges.

(It's sooooo hard to be a soccer fan these days.)

 

It still irks me even today when I watch the highlights and see that bullshit penalty given against us. Thank God Friedel saved it.

 

Since this would likely be a Camp Strudel type friendly, this might be the best chance for Mike Magee to at least get a look, he at least deserves one IMO.

 

Yeap, teams do not have to release players in Liga MX, so if the USA wants to use any they would have to request them on a team by team basis.

Some teams may say ok, some/most teams will say no.

Yes, the Mexican NT makes tons of money for the Liga MX owners, so they always seem to release players for all the "Partidos Moleros".

But many coaches are not happy about it, just as Tuca.

 

The game's in my neck of the woods. Hopefully, I'll attend it live.

 

That's the ideal way to attend any match!

 

All the Latin American leagues do the same. The Brazilian league loves to use these opportunities to market their home grown talents.

 

Not exactly my neck of the woods (San Jose) but I've made a vow that if it's under 6 hours driving time, I'm going and that's that.

The Chile game was pretty darned fun last time at Carson. If memory serves, it's when Agudelo made his debut and was the best player on the pitch even though he was a late sub.

 

Also marks the only goal that Boon Boo Ree scored for the USA

 

I read that as a Korean name and was wondering why I didn't remember having a Korean-American on the team.

 

Ha. Too bad Alex Yi's career got cut short.

 

Cool. Are you buying tickets when they go on sale? I don't know anyone that would commit that much in advance. So if I go, I'll be getting tickets later.

 

I will probably buy when they go on sale Friday. StubHub sent me something for a pre-sale that started a couple of days ago but the seat selection was really poor and they didn't have anything but singles in the midfield section. The Chile game was pretty packed and I'm assuming the Korea game will be the same because of the local Korean population.

 

Ah. Yea, If I go, I'll be looking for the cheap seats on the end line. My guess is that those will sellout first. So the more and more I think about it, don't know if I'm going lol. I might have to wait til the next LA game when my circumstances have changed. But, we'll see. I haven't decided for sure yet, but I doubt I'll buy tix right when they go on sale. But I'll check things out in later January.

 

Now that we have the Camp Cupcake roster, we can start projecting the line-up for this one:

-----------Rimando----------
Evans--Gonzalez--Besler--Harrington
Zusi---Beckerman--Mix--Alexander
---------Donovan---EJ------------

 

GK: Sean Johnson
RB: DeAndre Yedlin
CB: Omar Gonzalez
CB: Matt Besler
LB: Chris Klute
DM: Kyle Beckerman
CM: Mix Diskerud
CAM: Luis Gil
LW: Landon Donovan
RW: Graham Zusi
CF: Eddie Johnson