MNT 2006 schedule

Well it looks to be fairly concrete.
May 23rd in Nashville vs. Morocco
May 26th in Cleveland vs. ?
May 28th in Hartford vs. Lativa
http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news;_y...lYwN0aA--?slug=ap-latvia-us&prov=ap&type=lgns

 

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=361157&cc=5901

AP now reporting on Latvia.

 

FIFA now reporting on Latvia (well, claiming it to be a friendly at least):

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/team/overview.html?team=usa

 

New MLS franchise.

http://logansrevenge.blogspot.com/

"It does appear that Cleveland will be joining Toronto as the two cities that expand into MLS for the 2007 season."

 

http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_280807.html


Send-Off Series for U.S. MNT to Include Stops in Nashville, Cleveland and East Hartford


CHICAGO (March 13, 2006) – The U.S. Men’s National Team’s three-game Send-Off Series prior to the 2006 FIFA World Cup will begin at The Coliseum in Nashville, Tenn., on May 23, before continuing to Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 26, presented by Budweiser and concluding at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn., on May 28.

The three U.S. opponents will be Morocco, Venezuela and Latvia, respectively, with all three matches kicking off at 7 p.m. ET live on ESPN2 and ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker. Telemundo will be broadcasting all three matches on tape delay.

 

Very poor choice of opponents in my opinion.

 

TOTALLY agree!!

 

that's a big assumption, discussed in other threads. Possible we couldn't get the three we wanted because of a number of factors and had to settle for these 3. i would like to think we chose morocco and the others were settled for.

 

I suppose the thinking was that if we can't play fellow World Cup qualifying countries, we can play countries that played against World Cup qualifying countries?? I can't believe that all 28 finalists whom we're not facing in group play were busy all three dates. Add Jamaica to these three, and we are going into the World Cup facing 4 non-qualifying sides. What are their incentives to win these matches? How does this prepare us for Czech, Italy, and Ghana.

I would welcome an explanation of how ignorant I am of the factors that actually make these the perfect opponents.

 

no one is claiming these are perfect opponents. There is nothing wrong with fans wanting the USMNT to face tough/popular opposition, but I think it is incorrect to assume/hope/believe that the US can line-up ideal opponents for every friendly.

yes, the April and May schedule certainly isn't to everyone's liking, but how has the March USMNT schedule looked to you?

I really like the June schedule, FWIW.

 

Like kylesoccer said, it's possible that we couldn't, for whatever reason, get "tougher" competition than Latvia, Venezuela or Morocco (actually, a pretty solid choice, in hindsight)!!

It's also possible that a lot of Euros, African & Asian clubs are simply not willing to travel across the Atlantic just a few weeks before the WC.

I just think that the USSF could've made certain teams, "an offer they couldn't refuse" & had them come to the US.

Regardless, I'm SURE that Bruce will have the boys ready for Germany come June, in spite of "questionable" opposition!!

 

how many is too many?

 

Please try to distinguish "choice" from availability...

Also, the rankings are 37, 67, and 69. Not all too bad for teams that didn't make the World Cup. Czech's opponents are 25, 35, and 51. It's pretty much an issue of "the closer you are to Germany, the easier it'll be to schedule a scrimmage. I'm still hoping for Mexico to pop up on the schedule, but as each day passes, the hopes get closer to that of JOB.

 

I know there's been a lot of talk about the idea of the US scheduling too many friendlies, but I'm more concerned about the lack of activity between April 11th and May 23rd. Seems like a long time just before the World Cup without any scheduled friendlies. I would have liked to see at least one more friendly near the end of April, especially if we're just getting O'Brien and Reyna back from injuries (i'm assuming they'll both have to be available for the Jamaica game if they are going to be on Bruce's roster that needs to be announced on May 15th).

 

www.futbolmundial.com shows that Mexico will play USA on 5/12/2006 here at home, but I have not been able to otherwise confirm.
By the way, how about scheduling friendlies with quality opponents such as Spain, Holland, France?

 

they won't be available for Jamaica.

Everyone will be playing club games in that time frame. No need to burn everyone out.

 

To all you folks asking why we did not schedule Brazil, Holland, England, etc before the WC...I will ask why didn't you marry Heidi Klum or Angelina Jolie?
USSF could have been begging those folks to play and for many reasons (some probably good, others silly) they said no. It takes two.
We play who we play and it really won't matter in the end.

 

You make a good point about choice but follow it up with a poor conclusion: "it really won't matter in the end." Using your marriage analogy, if the woman you love declines your proposal and you end up with your 2nd, 3rd, or 4th choice, wouldn't it matter?

 

if they can cook and clean I'm happy.

 

Carrying the marriage analogy further, is Latvia the mail-order bride of soccer opponents?

 

we're only dating Morocco, Venezuela, and Latvia -- you know, playing the field. I don't want to marry them.

although, imho, US Soccer shouldn't feel too jealous that they couldn't get any better dates on their May schedule.

now, i think it would be a good time to end this weird analogy.

 

There are rumors of a friendly at Tunisia on June 2.

 

Are they supposed to play a similiar style to Ghana?

 

It would seem to me that Morocco and Tunisia would have similar styles to each other and not Ghana, but then again I'm no expert on African footy.