Photo by Rick Osentoski/ISIphotos.com
With Thursday night's official announcement that the U.S. men's national team will be taking on Canada in a pre-World Cup qualifying friendly at BMO Field in Toronto on June 3, another piece to the team's 2012 puzzle is in place.
It is shaping up to be a year filled not just with World Cup qualifiers but with intriguing friendlies as well. Next up on the docket for the national team is a meeting with Italy in Genoa on Feb. 29, the first time the U.S. men and Italy will have faced off since the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.
While the U.S. Under-23s take center stage in March and early April for Olympic qualifying, things will pick up for the senior team starting in May. Rumors of a late-May friendly against Brazil in Washington, D.C., and another one on U.S. soil against Scotland have yet to be fully substantiated, but both matches appear to be in the works based on numerous reports from those two countries.
Those friendlies and the Canada match — the first USA-Canada bout on Canadian soil since 1997 — will lead into World Cup qualifying in June, when the United States kicks off its quest for Brazil 2014 with a home match against Antigua and Barbuda at a site to be determined and an away match at Guatemala.
What do you make of the upcoming months for the U.S. national team? Think the confirmed and rumored friendlies are against proper competition? Excited for the year ahead?
Share your thoughts below.
I get the advantage for playing close by but Canada is a third world soccer country (ranked near 100) unlike their women who can give ours a bit of a game.
id rather we get real challenges instead of a team that is as strong as Zambia, Trinidad and Iraq.
We should play top 30 teams since were about 31st.
Italy might be a bit too much for us but Id rather they meet them in friendlies and get better. You dont get better against weaker opposition. And the banana republic to the north with no soccer league of their own is just that.
Canucks might get mad but Im not lying.
That makes 5 games in 17 days across 3 countries.. Right after the european season ends.. I like it but could be some serious travel.
The boys need a frigging training camp in Colorado Springs or something leading up the the hexagon.
Does anyone know when the locations for the world cup qualifyers will be announced?
Has this been confirmed yet? I really want to plan a trip for this
Tack on to that a friendly vs Mexico in Mexico at the Estadio Azteca on August 15th and you make for one hell of a summer stretch!
Can’t wait for summertime.