Hmm. USSF must decide what is most important. I think that what they will do with friendlies is schedule them against mostly South American teams - as strong South American teams as possible and perhaps CAF sides too, in preparation for the playing style of their Central American and Carribean counterparts. For some of the much much weaker teams, what I bet the US will emphasize the most is team chemistry. The skill level will be higher than the skill set of a Barbados (hopefully). Qualification for the World Cup of course is most important and I doubt that Bruce Arena and his staff will be complacent just because CONCACAF has an extra half-spot. Mixing in there will be USSF money makers, in which the USSF will probably try to schedule money against stronger teams from other confeds - preferably UEFA. Hence they would love for Ireland, England, etc. to come. However depending on how Euro 2004 goes, followed up with European qualifying this makes for some very difficult scheduling... unless done in Europe. This may happen - sort of like when they went to Russia, or when they played in Casablanca. I would imagine that in later rounds of qualifying, the USSF will try to get as many friendlies in Europe as possible before 2006 - assuming the US qualify, of course. The track record for success in Europe is poor to say the least. It will be interesting to see what Bruce Arena's preparation strategy will be for this year since he has a qualification behind him. There are those players that he knows very much about, yet there seem to be other players that may be coming through the ranks that will compete for top honors too.
According to ESPNs SportsWizard TV Listings: ESPN: 01-18-2004 3:30 pm ET to 5:30 pm ET USA Mens Soccer vrs Denmark. Home Depot Center, Carson, CA, USA. LB..
I like a friendly vs. Denmark... 12th ranked US vs. 14th ranked Danes. Denmark won their EURO 2004 Group, finished top of their group in Japorea (ahead of Uruguay, France, and Senegal, and are a good test for us. We should have a staunchly pro-US crowd at The Depot. I'm there. But, we really need games overseas against tough opponents (Copa America?---Oh, well). "Hear my plea,"- From my keyboard to Bruce's ears- "Tougher friendlies make easier competitions".
The Torneo is an annual event featuring club teams from the Carribean and Central America. It was going on last year around the same time as USA/Canada at Lockhart. The Torneo is sanctioned by US Soccer. That doesn't mean run by. It's an independent promoter's tourney. The USSF has jurisdiction of all FIFA events in the US, and they must "sanction" all events in the US, or the participants risk being branded outlaws by FIFA. In short, the US gets a check for a percentage of the gate, and the promoter gets to hold his tournament.
No it won't be interesting. Bruce will do what he did last time. He will not show his hand until Germany. Everything until then will be incredibly non-experimental, especially after what happened at RFK v. Honduras. And I will enjoy every minute of it. -bs
I thought I heard on the radio - NPR, I think, of all things - that we're supposed to play a friendly against Iraq, of all countries, pretty soon. found this, but it seems a bit outdated. . . http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/nea/iraq/text2003/0508soccer.htm
I think that Denmark will be a great game. If I remember correctly, they have a long winter break, so the best domestic based players should be available.
Anyone at MLS Cup today saw a lot of players there signing autographs and chatting with the fans. I had the pleasure of chatting with Eddie Pope and I asked him when he thought the next USMNT game would be. He said he believes the next game will be in January against Denmark. After that nice bit if confirmation from a player who is sure to be included in the squad, it goes without saying that I'm pretty stoked about this game!!! I'M CALLING OUT ALL USMNT FANS IN CALIFORNIA, YOU MUST GO TO THIS GAME AND ROCK THE HDC!!!
Wow this is awesome. Denmark just beat England. If the US beats Denmark, then technically we have beaten Inger-Land
Or Iceland.. Though I think the numbers of female supporters from Iceland at the HDC might be rather limited.
sasfasdfsdfsd I think we should play mexico in the Home Depot Center. The men's national team has never played in the HDC, and i think USA vs. Mexico would be a sell-out, and would be a great game. They wouldn't face mexico in the qualifiers would they?
Re: sasfasdfsdfsd Only if you want a home game for Mexico with virutally NO US fans getting tickets. The rumoured Denmark match is supposed to take place there. US-Mexico sold out the 60,000+ seat Reliant Stadium in Houston, I'm sure they could fill up less than 30,000 in Los Angeles. If we don't face Mexico in the qualifiers, then either they or us have done something terribly wrong.
Re: Re: Re: sasfasdfsdfsd I answered all of those questions seriously. No sarcasm or stupidity intended. I don't see how you could think I was trying to be stupid.
I have a feeling this will be a tough one to sellout. The ticket prices will be very high and Denmark will not draw with the "casual fan" as a Mexico or Brazil against the USA will, even Germany for that matter. The hardcore fans know what a challenging match and a good opponent Denmark will be but our numbers are limited. They better promote the hell out of it.
Are there many Danes in LA? I'd like to think we could at least outnumber them even if our numbers are small