Photo by ISIphotos.com
The United States Under-23 men's national team is going to get a proper tune-up for CONCACAF Olympic qualifying, as it will square off against Mexico's Under-23 side in a friendly at FC Dallas Stadium in Frisco, Texas, on Feb. 29.
The match will be a culmination of a 10-day training camp in Frisco. Kickoff is slated for 10 p.m.
"This game is very important for our players and comes at a critical time for us before the start of Olympic qualifying," U.S. U-23 coach Caleb Porter said in a release. "In this camp we expect to have the majority of the players who are in contention for final roster spots for qualifying. A match against Mexico will serve as a great measuring stick both individually and collectively as we put the finishing touches on our roster selection."
The match is the same day as the senior national team's friendly against Italy, meaning that some players who are part of both player pools will wind up missing out on the trip to Genoa to focus on the training camp and pre-qualifying friendly.
What do you think of this development?
Share your thoughts below.
that pretty much tells you how weak the opponent was.
excellent point.
For example Nurnberg will probably not release Chandler for Olympic qualifiers later so why call him in.
Will find out what players are not going to be released by clubs for Olympics (Caleb won’t bring in players who won’t be released later) and what players Klinsmann won’t release.
Mexico is probably the top team in this area, so they are a good pick by Caleb.
All I know is that I’ll be there 🙂
Anyone else see “Frisco” and immediately think it’s a bad idea?
I’m an FC Dallas fan and love Dallas, but FCD fans were outnumbered at home by FC Tauro fans last year. How are we going to show up on a Wednesday night to claim home field advantage over mexico?
Sweet! I’m there – go USA!!
+1 i hope that Shea, Agudelo, Hamid, etc go to the Olympic side instead of Italy. we have a lot of senior level players that can play in that game where the Olympic team needs to have top players in the mix ASAP.. plus its vs. Mexico!
that may be a problem. if anything, we may see a couple of late arrivals to the camp, like Morales, Boyd, Gyau even gatt. When the roster goes public I want to see if potts finally made a decision to commit us for the Olys.
Shea will be there!
Two USA matches in one day? If I can watch both, I’ll be ecstatic
Would clubs release players for a 10 day camp?
Was wondering the same thing…
they*
i live in plano to but unfortunately I’m away for the semester. Totally figures the would play here when I’m not home
The conflict didn’t cross my mind, but I agree.
Univision?
It will be interesting to see how Klinsmann and Porter share.
All of those networks are on lower satelite packages than NBCSports!
Yeah, let’s all meet at your house for lunch before the game… all 10,000 of us!
That’s great even though Gyau only got playing time because it was just the the German Cup tournament he still got playing time. And Jozy Altidore scoring 2 goals when he just entered in the 76th minute that is awesome! The way Altiodre, Dempsey, and Donovan are playing the USMNT can involve into a great team hopefully it works out for the best.
+1
haha. nice reply.
I disagree, I think Shea, Morales, Boyd will be with the U23 plus other euro U23 players.
The senior team will have jozy and chandler.
I just saw Morales play and the kid has a smooth game, it wouldn’t surprise me if he gets to play CB.
I doubt Ponce is going to play for the USA, he’s at Chivas so it doesn’t look likely..
Yes, and Jozy dropped a brace today as a second half sub for a dude that had a hat trick before being replaced. Relevance?
Excellent!
Of course that could mean we don’t have him for Olympic qualifying, right?
Gyau just entered the game for Hoffenheim (replacing Fabian Johnson)
Except the USMNT plays Italy the same day, so in all seriousnes the U-23’s will not see Jozy, Chandler, Shea, D. Williams, Morales, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Klinsmann calls up Boyd and Adu to the full squad as well for the Italy game.
I would think it highly unlikely we see Jozy with this group as opposed to facing the Italians. Shea however I definitely expect to be here, with Fabian Johnson manning his position on the left with the senior team.
Well considering that the USMNT plays Italy the same day you will not see Jozy, Shea, Chandler, Or Williams with the U-23 team for this game. Other players that may get called up by Klinsmann further hampering the U-23’s in this game i.e. Boyd, Gyau, and Adu. It will probably not be televised. But it’s a good tune-up game nonetheless.
Stretching his groin/hip flexor. Pretty obvious to me.
Ponce still has a chance to play for the US. He was left off last roster for the mexican friendly which had a lot u-23.
The US squad got ballers too!
9:00 CST/10:00 EST
The game will be televised on ESPN12, Al-Jazeera 2, and the Hungarian Cooking Network.
Check your local listings.
People who should be there: Jozy, Shea, Boyd, Chandler, and anyone else who might not be available later.
These are the players who can tip the scales, and they need to see time with the group to gel. Ten days and a FIFA fixture sound about right.
I didn’t know Giovanni was an U23 player.
very interesting…because is a FIFA date, we should get a better idea who will be available for that crucial semi-final game. I was just wonder the other day when we were going to see a close to full lineup, maybe this will be the date plus against Mexico, an excellent measuring stick for us.
They still have no defense though. The never do. And by saying that, I’m not suggesting we do have world class defenders but if they had a solid, consistently performing defense – man I would say they could be a top 10 team
is 10pm the right starting time?
nice! i live in plano right next door..anyone talking bout meetin up to go to the game and/or practices??
Have to admit Mexico has better prospects, Cubo Torres had 15 goals in his rookie season for Chivas, Marco Fabian had 20+ goals, Aquino is a monster at wing, Chaton Enriquez won the bronze ball at the U-20 world cup this past summer, alan pulido is a good striker, Ponce is a good left back, and lets not forget jonathan and Giovanni dos santos or potentially Carlos Vela.
What the heck is 11 doing in that picture?
ESPN 3 at least
I hope we destroy them
So if he thinks this will be the guys available for qualifying then we should probably assume we will see Brek Shea, Juan Agudelo, Teal Bunbury, Bill Hamid and Sean Johnson from the full national team. I doubt we will see Altidore or Chandler but maybe this will be an opportunity for Danny Williams and Alfred Morales? It is a FIFA date.
Hmm, will the amigo’s have meat before the game?
I hope so too, I love how we get every boring U-21 England game but have to hope and beg for US games to be televised.
hope it’s televised