Top Stories

USA to play two friendlies in Europe during November fixture window

MNTHCS20111011015

Photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com

With the latest batch of international friendlies in the rear view mirror, the U.S. national team is looking forward to its next set of games, which will both take place in Europe.

The United States' next two friendlies will be played during the Nov. 11-15 FIFA international window, and according to U.S. Soccer, "the two matches will be played in Europe and will be announced in the near future."

Reports out of France earlier this week suggested that if Les Bleus qualified for the finals of Euro 2012 and didn't need that fixture window for a playoff that they would host the United States. That scenario played out for France after its draw with Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday.

When told that France won its Euro qualifying group prior to the USA-Ecuador friendly Tuesday night, U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati said, "Good to know. It will definitely shed some light for those of us that have the map right now, and we'll make that public in the next few days." 

There's been little speculation to date about the identity of the second opponent.

The November international window falls in the week between the MLS semifinals and MLS Cup final, meaning that Jurgen Klinsmann's roster from a domestic standpoint should be extremely contingent on which teams advance to the league's championship game.

For MLS teams that will have been eliminated, the friendlies provide an opportunity for U.S. players on those teams to extend their personal playing calendars a bit, something that has been a major talking point for Klinsmann in the recent weeks as he strives to get MLS to lengthen its season and cut back on the down time for MLS players.

—————-

What do you think about a potential USA-France meeting? Which nation in Europe would you like to see the United States face?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. my proposed line up when the whole team is healthy, tell me what u guys think
    ————————altidore
    ————dempsey
    ————————-donovan
    shea————————————adu
    —————–torres
    lijah—–bocanegra—onyewu——-chandler
    —————howard
    dempsey as a floater, donovan as an optional 3rd forward or center midfield when needed since he never gets tired and torres as an attacking midfield since with this lineup we’ll dominate possesion madly on almost any team and with dempsey as a natural goal scorer maybe we’ll score goals with him and altidore together

    Reply
  2. i think ur right..torres is for sure a key player in our team, as well as donovan because they have a vision and passing abilities, id like to c adu give it a go again, shea on the left and adu on the right they have talent to break the defense and make a run square, adu is not a club player he is and international player he plays great for the usa but just ok with club the coaches need to see beyond on how he performs with other clubs it might not be him it might be his teamates not opening up for a pass at his club level, good examples of grat players like him or vice versa. ronaldo, dos santos, barrera, neymar, all play good with national or club but not for both

    Reply
  3. i wish the play offs werent right now and jose torres wasnt injured..a full line up in my eyes would see ady for beasley donovan for williams torres for bradley, but god damn the mls play offs n our bad luck with injuries

    Reply
  4. Even though I’m an RSL fan, I’m not gaga over Beckerman’s play, but anyone who thinks he’s not an integral part of the team at this point isn’t paying attention. He’s played significant minutes in every game so far. JK likes him because he does the dirty work and regardless of what is said here, he’s a very accurate passer. He doesn’t need to create chances, that’s not his job, it’s to keep possession (or get it back) and get the ball quickly to the players whose job it is to create chances.

    Reply
  5. I say we should play against teams like Albania and Armenia; why? So we have at least a chance of winning. If we play teams like Germany, Netherlands, France, Sweeden we will get exploited. We are not ready for these teams yet, we need to be winning to build up cofidence and playing against Albania, Armenia can give us that confident.

    JK can you please keep Chandler at RB!!! Cherundolo should be the one playing LB why? Because Cherundolo isn’t expected to be in the 2014 World Cup team he would be 35 at that time he’s no Zanetti!

    Shea is a great prospect but I feel he’s not ready to be part of the A team. He needs to go to Europe to start producing, developing, and involving his game better.

    Why in the Hell is Beckerman starting over players like Bradley or Jones. Come on JK you’re better than that stop calling there old MLS players unless your name is Landon Donovan!

    Ream has a long way to go and should not even be near the nationsl team he needs a lot of work to do. Players like Gonzalez, John, Whitbread should be getting a call up for the CB position because they all deserve it.

    I’m tired of JK calling Buddle, he has done nothing for this National Team, if any forward should be called it should be Gomez. And can you please insert Bunbury in the games if you’re going to call him up I’m tired of just seeing Agudelo and Altidore, I understand we are limited with strikers but if you’re going to call both of them up then use them together.

    In my opinion Williams played pretty well for a new addition player for the US. He should be playing the CM of Full Back position instead of the wings.

    It would be great to finally see Fabian Johnson and I know people have said put him in LB however he seems to be an attacking player than a defense player.

    Once Holden returns from his injury hopefully he gets back into his form and starts playing for us and that will be such a great improvement and can be the reason of the us success.

    Reply
  6. we would flatly get our asses kicked if we play Germany….die unst ebin flogging…and by the way…Wales does not suck; our best players play for England! RAWR!!!

    Reply
  7. all these so called US national team fans on this blog crack me up! all of you soccer know it alls are all about the flavor of the month. all you talk about now is danny williams and fabian johnson. both are the hot new players now…similar to jermaine jones a couple of years ago and now i don’t hear anyone mentioning his name anywhere! slow down people, this process is building towards brazil 2014, and it moves slowly with lots of twists and turns! there is no quick fix and no savior in the way of one player for the US national team!

    Reply
  8. Honestly, the only way I see them on the pitch at the same time is if one is a winger and the other is a wing back on the same side. So, Shea or Beasley as the LB and the other as the LW. It’s strange because Beasley disappointed me yesterday, when he looked so good against Honduras. I felt he decided to play LCM as opposed to LM/LW and that left a lot to be desired. His speed would have been very useful out wide, but he never went wide. I understand your idea for both on the pitch at the same time, but I don’t know how either would fare as the LB. Ultimately, I don’t expect to see the two of them on the pitch at the same time unless that’s what they do. It’s not to say Shea can’t ever be played on the right, but I would prefer a right footed player on the right, especially if it’s Donovan or Bedoya or someone along those lines. We’ll see though, I’m sure Klinsmann will try all kinds of things until he gets it right and all of our players are back. It just sucks that many of our best or hyped players keep getting hurt (Davies back in the day, Holden all the time, Lichaj right when he was coming into his own, Donovan for these friendlies, Fabian Johnson for these friendlies, etc.) because having them in the lineup together with some of our newer players could be the answer, but we never get to see it so we’re just trying to put a circle in the square slot and it’s not quite working. I actually feel bad for Klinsmann because I have a feeling when everyone is healthy, at least our very key players, this system will work very well, but for now, it looks promising, but we haven’t seen it in its purest form. We’ll be scoring a lot of goals very soon.

    Reply
  9. France, and how about Egypt, with Klinsi going mano a mano with Bob Bradley. Well, maybe Germany, but perhaps we should do that at the U-23 level.

    Reply
  10. “Also, Shea can’t play on the right, at least not yet. He’s far too good on the left to put him on the right.”

    That’s a fair point.

    My sentiments were Beasley’s superior crossing ability to Shea and Shea’s ruthless attacking prowess he’s shown lately and ability to cut in, playing one/two’s and shots on target.

    Basically utilizing Shea’s strengths of slashing on the right side.

    Either way, I’d like to see them both on the pitch at some point. Beasley has a ton of spring in his step suddenly.

    Reply
  11. Our lineup may be similar to this, but I’m not sure about the Beasley and Bradley inclusion. Also, Shea can’t play on the right, at least not yet. He’s far too good on the left to put him on the right. Fabian Johnson is mainly a CM, but can play on the left wing (another left foot if I’m not mistaken). A couple of times when Johnson and Williams played in tandem for Hoffenheim, Johnson was more of a CAM and Williams was the CDM behind him. I think that will end up happening for the friendlies. That leaves Shea on the left and I think Bedoya on the right. Altidore and Dempsey will continue their current roles up front. I don’t think Lichaj will be back for these friendlies so Chandler will stay on the left, Boca and Gooch in the middle, and Dolo on the right. Howard of course in goal.

    This is of course taking into account that the Galaxy will be in the thick of things in MLS so no Donovan or chance of Gonzalez. I hope Beckerman is no longer included, no matter if RSL is in the playoffs still or not (just my personal opinion). Adu, Feilhaber, Davies, George John, Zach Loyd, and Geoff Cameron are all still possible candidates to be included given how they’re respective MLS teams are doing and of course if Klinsmann see’s any potential in them.

    Reply
  12. I’m dreaming about the defensive speed and athleticism present with Lichaj on the left, Chandler on the right, and MB90 at DM.

    Forget trying to counter attack on us with that trio patrolling.

    The future is bright my friends.

    Reply
  13. Yes, he doesn’t seem quite ready. He has skills and tools, but he is not making quick decisions. He is taking several touches when one would do. Twice in two games, he had excellent looks and could have one-timed the shot but instead settled and allowed the keeper to get back into place.

    Reply
  14. Doesn’t have to be a team that has already qualified for the Euro’s.

    Could be a team that’s already missed the cut (Scotland, Wales, etc.) or maybe even an African team willing to play in Paris (Ivory Coast, Morocco, Ghaha). Not sure of those teams’ schedules for that break though.

    Reply
  15. Italy and Germany both have their two dates booked. Everybody else that has qualified has at least one open date.

    Denmark, Sweden or Russia would make for a good opponent IMO.

    Reply
  16. Lichaj coming back from injury will be an intriguing call for JK.

    I’d love to see a tandem of Lichaj at LB and Chandler at RB. Those two are likely our future at the respective positions.

    I’m not entirely sure how long Lichaj is still out, though.

    Reply
  17. for the second match, after taking into consideration the results yesterday, i think we should play Sweden, Denmark, Ukraine, Netherlands, England, Greece, Italy or Russia. I don’t want to play Spain again. And while I would love to play Germany, I don’t see that happening. I think it’s most likely that we’ll play Denmark, Ukraine, Greece or Sweden.

    Reply
  18. Albania isn’t a strong test at all. they suck.

    I’d like to see us play Germany because that would bring in so much attention and attraction for both nations. Or a technically gifted team like Serbia, or even Croatia.

    A great win for us could be against Romania, since they have respect from Europe’s top teams, and yet wouldn’t provide too tough a challenge for our young, experimental team

    Reply

Leave a Comment