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Report: USA to play Egypt

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The U.S. national team might be heading to the Middle East in February. A report from Egypt suggests that both the USSF and Egypt's FA are in the final stages of negogiations to play a friendly in Cairo on February 9, the first FIFA friendly date of next year.

The game would be a rematch of the 2009 Confederations Cup group match that the U.S. won 3-0 that secured passage through to the semifinal matchup against Spain. Egypt needed to avoid a loss by two goals or less to advance, and failed to secure the result.

It would be the second friendly scheduled for 2011, with the U.S. men's team set to play Chile in 2010.

What do you think of the news? Excited at the prospect of playing Egypt? Think the friendly will happen?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I could take a little bit more of the Turkey’s, Brazil, and Czech Republic and less of the South Africa’s and Honduras’s. Though now that I typed the quality ones, you’re right. Man got us more good than bad thats for sure. Sometimes I wish he would bring in more of the serious guys then constantly churning out a bunch of guys who “might” get there some day. There, I got to applaud and detract from Bradley. Neutrality.

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  2. Yeah most likely a A team friendly. I want to see Daniel Williams get called up in a sub appearance and I would like to see how Lichaj plays at left back or call up Castillo.

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  3. Why would the USMNT play at Red Bull Arena when they could get double or triple the number of fans (and thus revenue) simply by playing a few miles over at the Meadowlands?

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  4. Agree with many of the commenters above: sub-Saharan African team, please. (Not South Africa.) Specifically, one of the following:

    Ivory Coast

    Ghana

    Cameroon

    Nigeria

    We have proven, in the last two World Cups, that we need experience playing a team like these.

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  5. +1, agree completely. I’d still like to see us play a Sub-Saharan African team in Europe with our A-team, but Cairo is a short hop for our Euro-based players and Egypt is a quality team. Good test for our guys.

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  6. that’s what she said! lol sorry I had to.

    anyways, i like this friendly, much better than facing a conceded team like Trinidad and tobago or a euro team we always face like Poland or sweden

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  7. I’d love for us to get a friendly with Ghana sometime in 2011 or 2012 or 2013. Seriously that is a rivalry we should be starting up. Sure we have our arch-rivals =Mexico but Ghana knocked us out of 2 WC’s. That is a rivalry blooming. I bet the Ghanaians wouldn’t mind. what do you guys think?

    and before someone says. Ghana is 1 of the most democratic nations in Africa and has 1 of the best economies and has low corruption compared to the rest of the continent and i believe a few thousand Americans stay there. Wouldn’t hurt to have a friendly there or in DC, home to many Ghanaians.

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  8. American citizens rarely have problems in Egypt, particularly a major city like Cairo. Our cruise ships dock there all the time.

    The only security that will be needed is to make sure Sam’s Army doesn’t go crazy on that wicked Egyptian whiskey.

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  9. Just so you know, “Arab” and “Middle East” are not reliant upon one another. It just so happens that Egypt is both Arab and located in what IR types refer to as MENA (Middle East and North Africa).

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  10. Egypt is a good team. But of all the African teams, I’d rather see Ivory Coast, Ghana, or Cameroon. The fact that we are playing Chile, Egypt, and Argentina next year is a huge step up from friendlies in the past. The time of playing weak European countries and any Caribbean nation are past us. I would rather lose consistently to really good nations than stomp all over weak nations.

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  11. There is a difference between playing South Africa and playing Egypt.

    Differences include:
    1. The climate
    2. The quality of the team (Egypt are the reigning Champions of Africa)
    3. The atmosphere in the stadium

    We need all the experience we can get leading up to the Gold Cup and eventually to the World Cup. If we were going to Estonia, it wouldn’t automatically make it better just because we are in Europe. You have to take all factors into account.

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  12. I crossed from Israel to Egypt and back through Eilat in 2008 and had no issues either way. The food in Egypt on the other hand interrogated the s**t right out of me.

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  13. Can one get into Egypt if there is an Israeli stamp on the passport? This used to be a problem as little as a few years ago, I think.

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  14. The Middle East isn’t really in the “middle” of anything but Egypt is in fact thought to be “Middle East” as are all Arab and Semetic lands.

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  15. Sam’s Army may want to hire security. The general anti-US sentiment combined with passionate yet ill-disciplined fans (remember the Algeria game?) has to potential to result in an unpleasant atmosphere, especially if we win.

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  16. The U.S. is “known for their strong

    collective performances. They do not

    rely on a particular start,”

    …hey we’re known for something!!! (I assume the writer meant ‘star’?)

    Of course, the next sentance compares us to South Africa…

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  17. This is a solid matchup in a difficult environment. I don’t think anyone can knock the friendly schedule we’ve had since Bradley took over. Keep it up!

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  18. His shift keys are not broken because he typed ( and ).

    Annoyances are relative — I was pointing out the mistake in the post and then SP sort of got carried away. You’re taking it to another level.

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  19. I know Egypt is considered an Arab country, but it is located in North Africa, not the middel east…just saying these repeated trips to Africa are beginning to get old.

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  20. We are playing Egypt, not egypt. Sentences and proper nouns begin with capital letters, not lowercase letters.

    See how annoying that is?

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  21. “You mean the U.S. is playing Chile in 2011. In fact, it will be on Janaury 22nd.”

    It will actually be in January, not Janaury. see how annoying that is?

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  22. a step in the right direction, i think it’s become apparent that the usmnt needs to test themselves against quality african opposition more often (although egypt plays slightly differently). hopefully we can get at least one friendly in against ivory coast/ghana/cameroon/nigeria before 2014.

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  23. “It would be the second friendly scheduled for 2011, with the U.S. men’s team set to play Chile in 2010.”

    You mean the U.S. is playing Chile in 2011. In fact, it will be on Janaury 22nd.

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