2005 schedule [r]

So is this match with England that is rumoured supposed to be home or away? I'm supposed to go to England next summer, and that'd be an awesome game to get my first cap at. =D

 

You know, that would be the perfect friendly to introduce our USMNT team to FC Dallas' new stadium

 

Wouldn't those be the dates for the 4th place CONCACAF vs 5th place Asian home and home qualifier? So they would be "open" but only after we assured ourself a top three spot. (I'm guessing about those dates but it would make sense)

 

for anyone who cares, that sunday is the bye week between the nfc/afc championship games and the super bowl.

from nfl dot com
Conference Championships
Sunday, Jan. 23 (CBS and FOX)
AFC and NFC Championship Games

Super Bowl XXXIX
Sunday, Feb. 6 (FOX)
Alltel Stadium, Jacksonville, Fla.

 

I could see January 30th as a game against Sweden, most likely an all Swedish League team (with maybe a couple of Bundesliga players thrown in).

 

IMO US Soccer wouldn't play England away unless the FA paid them a lot to offset the ESPN airtime costs that couldn't be recouped through ticket sales.

 

Rumor has it it's supposed to be home in either Philly or NY/NJ (I would think it would be in NE, but I haven't heard that yet)...

England will play the US in one of those cities and another team will then play them in the other one...from what I heard...once again, JUST A RUMOR!

However, I don't think we'd travel away to play England...might be fun...but not likely...I go to England virtually every summer and I'd love to be there for this match...

 

In that case Giants Stadium wins because it's bigger and it's also about 20 miles from PepsiCo's world headquarters (Pepsi-Cola products sponsor both the US and England National Teams). And of course, Nike can have a field day marketing in NYC. You always want to kiss up to sponsors.

Having an MLS team also helps.

 

Several of the England players who have played in the CWS at Lincoln Field and Giants Stadium said they prefered the stadium in Philly, but the crowd in NY.

The second team that I heard was going to take part in the May England tour was Argentina.

 

alex fergueson likes the training facilities available at the linc, very upscale, cutting edge type...so england might want this aspect of it....

also, the pitch at the linc can be widened 5 meters on each side too...

 

NYC has a huge market which would help for promoting the match and Football plus, there is probably more English in NYC.

 

http://www.concacaf.com/view_article.asp?id=2823

Article states at the bottom that the Gold Cup will consist of 3 groups of 4 teams. It's about time they do this in my opinion. So you can add Match 3 to the Gold Cup section.

South Africa is one of the guest countries to play too.

 

That works. It assures even the group losers of getting at least three matches. More bang for the little guys travel buck, and with six more matches overall, good for GC revenues, too.

 

An public address announcement was made at one of the last Metros home games that the Gold Cup was going to take place in the summer of 2005. I jumped to the conclusion that Giants Stadium will be one of the venues. I am waiting anxiously for the official announcement.

 

Mexico is supposed to play Sweden in early january i beleive,

and a couple of weeks later they are rumored to play either Spain or England
in Guadalajara.

So I m thinking that the USA might be playing either England or Spain around the
same time...?

 

Mexico was supposed to play either Spain or England on Feb. 9, according to their federation. However, they can't play England on that day for two reasons: one, that's the first day of the Hex and, two: England is playing Holland on that day.

Maybe they meant another day, but they said they wanted to celebrate some anniversary for Guadalajara and that was feb 9 specifically.

It would make sense for a Euro team to play both the US and Mexico in one trip, though.

 

Sweden-Mexico is confirmed for January 26, in California, stadium and kickoff time to be determined. In the SFF press release (In Swedish, of course, but you can see it here: http://www.svenskfotboll.se/t2vm.asp?p=7177&x=1&a=138435), they also say that there is a game on January 30th, also in California, opponent and venue to be determined.

Seems to block in perfectly, if the hex begins on February 9.

 

Found this:

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news;_y...aA--?slug=ap-germany-ustrip&prov=ap&type=lgns

Not sure if we'd even heard about Germany visiting, at least I don't remember it, but its too bad it doesn't seem like it'll happen either way...

 

That story gives a lame excuse for not traveling out here. On FIFA.com, the fixtures list has Germany playing Japan in Yokohama, Korea in Busan and at Thailand somewhere (city not listed).

I've flown from LA to Tokyo and from SoCal to Frankfurt, never from Germany to Japan, but I think the Germany-to-Japan trip would be just as long as the first two, no?

I know the FIFA.com list isn't the most reliable source, but it's there nevertheless.

 

Germans can probably make more money off the Japanese than the US.

 

Well, then the story should say that.

"German officials decided against playing in North America after projecting minimum monetary gains. However, a three-match trip to East Asia would be much more profitable and therefore more enticing."

 

you aren't that naive are you?

 

Of course not. The story shouldn't try and give some clarification and cite a source or something instead of saying:

"Klinsmann is reluctant to take players on a distant trip during their last long break before preparations for the 2006 World Cup, which starts the following June 9."

Did he say he was reluctant? It's very unclear and very vague, and when I see that Germany has games scheduled for Asia, it makes me question the entire story.

 

The article says that they do not want to travel so close to World Cup preparations: "Klinsmann is reluctant to take players on a distant trip during their last long break before preparations for the 2006 World Cup, which starts the following June 9."

The trip to Asia is in December 2004. The trip to North America is December 2005.

Makes sense.