Congrats on being the one USA fan who didn't know that the schedule is already out. For DartNut's benefit: 09-Feb-2005 (Trinidad and Tobago) Trinidad and Tobago - USA 26-Mar-2005 (Mexico) Mexico - USA 30-Mar-2005 (USA) USA - Guatemala 04-Jun-2005 (USA) USA - Costa Rica 08-Jun-2005 PANAMA CITY (Panama) Panama - USA 17-Aug-2005 (USA) USA - Trinidad and Tobago 03-Sep-2005 (USA) USA - Mexico 07-Sep-2005 (Guatemala) Guatemala - USA 08-Oct-2005 (Costa Rica) Costa Rica - USA 12-Oct-2005 (USA) USA - Panama So the home date with Mexico is on Septeber 3.
Only if they can make a deal with their players. This is a team that may have trouble qualifying with their best players. If the so-called association now locks out the players over money and goes with second and third raters they will never qualify. This so-called association must think that the general public pays their hard earned wages to see them bicker with the players. These guys are nuts if they think that anyone will pay to see a-league players or under 17's disguised as the national team. Fans pay to see the best and so-called associations should work on promoting the game, not destroying it! Get them the hell out of there and appoint someone who works for the game and the players!
The "trouble qualifying with their best players" line may actually be on target, seeing that they have the hardest time finishing goals against even the most poor Concacaf teams. Can you clarify the rest of your post, saying that the fans pay to see this and don't pay to see that, and then some comment about promoting or destroying the game? One thing is that you think that the fault is automatically on the federation, not the players. Well, all negotiations are hard, give-and-take situations. (And why have we never heard of a "USMNTPA" before?) It's not like the NHL, where I'm certain that the league/ownership can't survive in its present form, so a radical restructuring is needed. There are points on both sides, here: the federation does have the financing of Nike, et all, so they do have some bucks to spread; but they do have to take the chance of paying the players now, hoping to qualify for WC2006 to get the big payout from Fifa.