US mens's team plays Czech Republic in World Cup soccer tomorrow!

[brentspeak]

Go USA!

:patriot:

[brentspeak]

1. Show some national spirit, here!

[Scout1071]

2. I cannot wait.

I have my outfit all picked out.

[meow2u3]

3. USA--cancel the Czechs

This ain't hockey--we should void the Czechs.
:patriot:

[musiclawyer]

4. Praying for a tie

that might get us out of the group. Until the USA proves that it can win big games in Europe, I'm not too optimistic.

[ps1074]

5. Czech Republic is No2 behind Brasil in the world ranking

They are very dangerous, fast, could pass the ball well and score lots of goals. It will be very difficult for team USA to even get a draw. Anything is possible though. Team spirit could do wonders as we already saw this World Cup.

[Nailzberg]

6. I agree it'll be difficult for US to get a draw, but there is Keller.

The guy is definitely one of the finest keepers in the game, and has a good deal of international experience. Definitely the best keep Team USA has had for as long as I can remember.

He'll have his work cut out for him, but a guy like that gives you a chance.

But even if he holds the Czechs scoreless, I don't see the US getting opportunities on the other end.

[northzax]

9. and they're a little banged up with injuries

which might help. And remember, the world rankings are pretty much meaningless, after all the US is fifth. Sam's Army has three things going for it, I think: conditioning, teamwork and Keller. I think they hold the Czechs to one goal, the question is, can the offense penetrate a potentially chaotic Czech defense?

[ikri]

10. One question about the US team...

Why the hell has Freddy Adu not been picked as part of the squad for the tournament?

He's potentially the best player the US has ever produced and is rated as being such a great prospect that pretty much every top European team is more than willing to pay a fortune for him.

I've heard people say that aged 17 he's still to young to play at the very top level, but many of the world's great players have played at the World Cup at the same age, England have taken Theo Walcott as part of their squad & he's the same age.

So what gives?

[northzax]

11. he's simply not good enough, yet.

Remember, he doesn't even start regularly for his MLS squad. He's still too small and fragile to play 90 minutes in MLS, let alone at the World Cup. He's never played an international match for the US.

Walcott is a different player than Adu, first and foremost, he's a striker, not a middie (like Adu) strikers mature much faster (take Rooney, who all England is up in arms about, who's only 20) since they have one job, and one job only, to put the ball in the net. You can either do it, or you can't. Midfielders need the experience to manage the middle of the field, and that takes learning, and playing, over and over again.

[Kellanved]

14. The list is the most worthless ranking ever compiled

Really, just ignore it. The Fifa's metric is complete and utter BS.

[Kajsa]

7. What time?

Please, please not during work!

I'm on Pacific Daylight Savings Time.

Thanks!

:patriot:

[ikri]

8. You're the 2nd of tomorrow's games

Which kicks off at 9am your time (if I've done my calculations right)

Just in time for work :(

When this happened with England in 2002 when we were playing in Japan and had similar early kick offs, many employers either allowed staff extra time to see the game before coming into work or, in the case of my employer at the time, showed the game at work whilst people ate breakfast. For games that didn't involve England we had a TV set up to watch all the games live.

[Kajsa]

12. Thanks for the info.

I'll figure out something- don't have TIVO
so I'll probably go with taping it on the VCR.

[txwhitedove]

13. Yeah, soccer!

[rockymountaindem]

15. I'll be watching from Brno, Czech Republic.

And I'll be rooting for the USA, on the inside that is ;)