The CSA has just announced that Korea has cancelled their two games against Canada (in June). Korea had to cancel because the AFC WWCQ tournament is now being played from June 10th-22nd. One can only assume the game against the US will also be cancelled (June 14th).
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! ARGH!!!! I have tix for that in my damn office!!! EDIT Maybe the USWNT can play Canada again. EDIT AGAIN Doesn't the team have a TV contract with ESPN? So even if South Korea can't play...the USSF is still responsible for putting a match in SLC regardless of the opponent? Possible replacements for South Korea: Canada, Mexico, CONCACAF/CONEMBOL team, etc.
i highly doubt that canada will play the US again...they owe us a favor not the other way around lol elaine
With 6 weeks lead time, do you think they could get Nigeria to make over? More seriously, Mexico will need a few tune-up games before their playoff with the 3rd place AFC team.
The official US soccer website now shows the game as US vs. TBD so presumably they intend to try to find an opponent so the fans in Utah will hopefully be treated to the first ever local appearance of the US women's (or men's) team.
boy, the US are getting favours thrown at them, while all our CWNT games are getting cancelled or moved. It would be nice if a team wasn't so afraid of SARS and came to Toronto to play.
U.S. Soccer will pull whatever strings it takes to not suffer the embarassment of having to cancel a TV date. This year, they got such bad TV dates that they know if they have to cancel one on short notice, their lot isn't likely to improve in future years - and I'm sure they have guarantees to their sponsors about the national TV deal. I doubt ESPN would've much cared if they pulled out this weekend because they could've just tossed more NFL-draft-related coverage on ESPN2 in that block. But they definitely could've used it against U.S. Soccer in renewal and negotiation talks. As far as the financial impact on U.S. Soccer of the three games so far that have needed new opponents after being announced - I bet they did pretty good financially on the Japan game (even with a ton of tickets returned) because that was clearly a cancellation where Japan probably had to pay a cancellation fee. The Nigeria game will probably be a battle over whether Nigeria owes a cancellation fee - they cancelled because the Nigerian Federation did not get their travel paperwork completed on time, though they had a couple months to get it handled. I expect U.S. Soccer never sees a penny of a cancellation fee and writes the amount off as bad debt. I doubt they offered refunds on those tickets - very few people would've bought tickets for that just to see Nigeria's women. The Korea game I wouldn't expect Korea to owe anything for it since it was simply a rescheduling of a AFC/FIFA tournament. If U.S. Soccer could legally invoke a cancellation clause, they should waive it as Korea really had no choice in the matter - the decision was made above their level. I just wonder what kind of compensation U.S. Soccer had to pay out to get Venezuela and Canada into market on less than a week's notice. Ireland will probably get a standard appearance fee since arrangements for the SLC game were completed well in advance, but I wouldn't doubt it if Canada and Venezuela made a pretty penny for coming to the rescue.
As much as I love a good clubbing...... couldn't they have gotten a "better" team. We need higher tier competion so close to the WWC. 2 against Brazil? Why not? Eh I guess they did the best they could right? Still... a phone call to Germany or Norway would have been nice.
Ireland has players that will threaten the US defense. Remember who scored first on April 26th. The USWNT cannot afford to overlook any opponent.