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U.S.-El Salvador friendly to be played in Tampa

USA Crest

By AVI CREDITOR

The U.S. men's national team will play CONCACAF foe El Salvador in Tampa, Fla., on Feb. 24 in a pre-World-Cup friendly (7pm, ESPN Classic/Telefutura), U.S. Soccer announced today.

“El Salvador proved to be a strong team in the final round of qualifying, and will pose a good test for this group,” U.S. head coach Bob Bradley said in a press release. “This game will be an important part of our preparations, providing us with one of the last opportunities to evaluate the players being considered for the World Cup roster. We are excited about the chance to return to Tampa, a community which has a long tradition of supporting soccer.”

Tampa, one of the 18 cities to make the final cut for the USA's bid to host either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup, last played host to a U.S. game in March, 2007, when the Americans beat Ecuador 3-1 at Raymond James Stadium.

In September, the last time the U.S. and El Salvador met, Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore scored to lift the Americans to a 2-1 victory in the final round of World Cup qualifying.

Tickets for next month's match go on sale to the public at on Jan. 21 at 10 a.m.

Comments

  1. Expect the B (Backups & Fring Players) & C (2014 WC Prospects) team to play against El Salvador. None of the A team will be released from their European Club teams in time to train for a Non-FIFA data.

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  2. It’s only one week before the Holland game which will have almost everyone in our A squad, so I think chances of seeing a mostly A team in Tampa are pretty good, and I’m really hoping Gooch will be that camp.

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  3. kfly,

    The other team has to agree to play us. Has it ever occurred to you that such short notice scheduling can be very difficult?

    Right now, everyone is scrambling to come up with opponents. Why don’t you offer your services as a booking agent since the USSF is so obviously asleep on the job?

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  4. I’m assuming just MLS based guys? Will Team Scandinavia (Goodson, Feilhaber, Tracy, Parkhurst) even be able to attend? When does their season start?

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  5. Good friendly. El Salvador got us on their quick counter attacks, combination plays and creativity, and you’d better believe that’s what Algeria and Slovenia will be boasting against us in the World Cup. We have to learn to cope with teams that are considerably more talented than us, but just like those teams, we have to learn to cope with teams that are less favored to us.

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  6. Can’t wait. Already thinking of the MacDinton’s Pub pre-party. Maybe we can turn it into a charity event like we did a couple of years ago.

    Bring it! Maybe Tiffany the pitch-invasion girl will make another appearance.

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  7. These are not FIFA dates, so it’s pretty tough to get any really good teams (3/3 against the Dutch is the only FIFA date before SA).

    Even if we got a big-name team, our best players and theirs wouldn’t be released by their clubs. These matches are just for the MLS and Scandinavian guys to make their claim.

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  8. Meh. Why, might I ask, are we scheduling so many teams that we’ve been playing in qualification? The likelihood that we’ll meet even one of them is not good.

    The Holland match is a spectacular, but I was hoping for some better friendlies. Remember what happened in ’06? We played Venezuela (worst in their continent), Morocco (I didn’t realize they played soccer there), and Latvia (Latvia?), and we were promptly destroyed by the Czechs in the first game of the tournament. We regrouped for a great effort against Italy, but Ghana wasn’t so pretty, regardless of the awful officiating.

    I attribute a portion of the blame to poor tuneup friendlies. We came in with an undeserved sense of accomplishment, and were greeted with a swift kick in the butts and a bad of assorted candies for participation.

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