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USMNT to face Czech Republic in September

Clint Dempsey

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

By DAN KARELL

The 2014 World Cup has yet to be played, but the U.S. Men’s National Team has already begun to line up opponents for after this summer’s showcase competition.T

The U.S. Men’s National Team will face the Czech Republic in a friendly match on Wednesday, Sept. 3 in Prague, U.S. Soccer announced on Monday evening. The time and venue of the match have yet to be determined.

“While we are focused on preparing for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, we must always look ahead and therefore we are thrilled to get this match against the Czech Republic,” U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann said in a statement. “Historically, they have a very good team, and they are going to be preparing for a huge challenge against the Netherlands in their opening game of qualifying for the European Championships, so we expect this to be a tough match and another good benchmark for our team.”

The match will be the first meeting between these two nations since May 25, 2010, in a pre-World Cup friendly match in East Hartford, Conn. The USMNT lost that game, 4-2, with goals scored by Maurice Edu and Herculez Gomez. It will also be the first game for the USMNT in the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic is currently ranked No. 30 in FIFA’s World Rankings. They did not qualify for the 2014 World Cup, finishing third in their World Cup qualifying group behind Denmark in second and Italy in first place. Their squad currently features Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech, Fenerbahce defender Michal Kadlac, and Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky.

The Czech’s are currently scheduled to face the Netherlands on September 9 and Czech Republic head coach Pavel Vrba said he was looking for a similar opponent for his team to face beforehand.

“The United States has regularly qualified for the World Cup from CONCACAF,” Vrba told the Czech Republic FA’s website. “Pro soccer there for the last twenty years has done perhaps more than in all of Europe. It’s interesting team for our fans, who will see where the U.S. team is headed. And for us, it will also be interesting confrontation. It’s an attacking opponent who wants to play forward. We expect them maybe to be a little similar to the style we will see with our next opponent, the Netherlands.

The 2006 World Cup was the only World Cup that the Czech Republic have qualified for since becoming an independent nation and having their membership accepted by FIFA in 1994. They have however qualified for every European Cup in that same time span, finishing as runners-up in 1996 and a semi-final place in 2004.

The Czech Republic play their home matches at a number of stadiums, but the most used is the nearly 20,000-seat Generali Arena in Prague.

After numerous complaints from club managers around the world, FIFA removed the August and February international friendly dates from the FIFA calendar. FIFA have designated September 1-9, Oct. 6-14, and Nov. 10-18 as dates for “official or friendly matches.”

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What do you think of this report? Do you like the USMNT’s chances? Think they can learn a few things in a road match against the Czech Republic?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Brno doesn’t really have a proper stadium for international football at the moment, and they haven’t hosted a national team game since the 1990’s (I think).

    Olomouc has a modern stadium that seats around 12,000. They hosted Canada back in November and will host Austria on June 3rd. It is a beautiful city, but for now they will only host friendly matches. Qualifiers will be played in Prague and Plzen.

    Other options in the Czech Republic are Uherske Hradiste and Jablonec. However, they usually only host games against ‘smaller’ nations.

    Either way, I am sure the American supporters will enjoy their time in Prague.

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  2. I love USA, but this friendly might mean, new coach or some kind of new blood 🙁
    If Chelsea don’t win EPL title or some crazy top World Cup coach, I see mou or some heavy coach after USA, but USA will keep kilnsi no matter what….I’m guessing

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  3. based on the way I carefully select words from JK’s last press conference I totally know what the line up will be for this game:

    Guzan
    Chandler Cameron Brooks FJ
    J.Green Jones Williams Shea
    Boyd AJ

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    • Whatever happened to the “O” in Czechoslovakia? If the “O’ went to the Czech side, I guarantee some trouble will flare up caused by the rebel O’s before this match.

      sorry for awful geography humor.

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      • I believe the letter o is a connector, much like the word and. It is, and always been two nations. The Czechs and the Slovaks

    • If Russian troops are in the Czech Republic in September of this year (which shouldn’t be any kind of realistic worry), then there will be much bigger worries than an international soccer friendly. As in, World War III type stuff. Most would consider the Czech Republic a part of Western/Central Europe; they are a member in both NATO and the EU. I mean, they are immediate neighbors of Germany and Austria; it is a pretty stable area of the continent.

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      • Yeah, not USSR…. Soviet Bloc = Eastern Bloc = Iron Curtain. Heck, insert Warsaw Pact country if you want to all geo-political!

    • The Czech Republic is an EU member and has strived to have closer relations with Western Europe and the U.S. since its creation following the Cold War. Culturally, it is probably closer to Germany, Austria, and other Central European nations than it is with Russia. The two situations could not be more different.

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      • Yes it is. One can drive from Germany, Austria into Czech with no restrictions, no entry stops, just like driving from Texas to Oklahoma.

        If you want to drive on the Autobahn (major high-ways) you have to stop and buy a windshield sticker though.

  4. Jürgen has a plan to play every European nation east of Germany before he leaves the US post.

    Seriously tho, should be a good matchup but you would think that during Euro qualifying we would get some friendlies vs African, Asian or South American teams…

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  5. I really hope JK FINALLY calls in REAL players ONLY IE time to dump the wannabe’s and fringe players and start the real 23 jelling? At least pick say 30 and start narrowing the field. The USA BIGGEST problem without doubt is the fact we have NOT yet started playing the final 15 let alone final 11 IE when did you see Jozy; Clint LD and whoever is in D all on the field at the same time?
    That is a HUGE mistake They are finally going to hit the field with 0 chemistry, I was a College coach and my team was not the greatest skilled players but heck we played week in week out so we all knew ea players strength and weakness and that’s why we almost won our division..against far better stronger skilled opponents ..

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  6. A first chance to start working in the next cycle of players. Going towards 2018, you build the team up the center through Guzan, Gonzalez, Besler and Bradley. Add in Johannsen and hopefully Agudelo continues to develop. Then, start rebuilding.

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      • Oops. That was an oversight, not an omission due to the recent allegations of Jozy being a bum. I think he’ll find his form again, just not at Sunderland.

  7. BTW i hope the game isn’t in Prague. That city is so “touristy”, it’s played out.

    Situate the game in Brno or something.

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    • I agree, Plzen would be fantastic. Viktoria Plzen has been in Champions league and Europa for the last couple of years. The Brewery is right beside Viktoria Plzens stadium, seats about 7,000. And the beer would be flowing:)

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      • Yes Plzen is a great city and loves their football. One of my favorite restaurants in the whole world is there, Mansfelda. Great eastern European food, and a lot of it. The beer is great too.

      • Plzen ‘found’ football again when their team started to win again a few years ago. Before, attendance at Plzen football games was poor, and their away support was horrible compared to now. Amazing what winning can do…..

  8. I was at the 2006 World Cup game in Germany. Tomas Rosicky and Jan Koller literally killed us. We were unlucky to play them first in the tournament. The Czechs got worse with each game.

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    • we have the worst memories when it comes against Eastern Europe nations. their players are all like 6’3 and 250 lbs of muscle.

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    • It was Koller that really was the difference, although Rosicky scored a goal, too. The US had played very well in qualifying, but I remember thinking they looked awed, even intimidated, when they came out for that game, even though they had a number of WC veterans on that squad. Koller was injured late in that game and missed the rest of the tournament and that’s why the Czechs, who were rated 3rd in the world at the time, failed to make it out of the group. The Czechs also had Pavel Nedved, who was considered to be about on a par with Zidane as a midfielder. BTW, I think it was because of Rosicky’s performance in that WC, especially in the US game, that got him a transfer to Arsenal.

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  9. why can’t we have a friendly in Japan or South Korea?

    or a friendly in Ghana or Kenya or Nigeria. I mean come on. DON’T say it’s security or any of that crap . Coincide the match with the State Department. Have John Kerry accompay the team and go on “bla bla bla about African stability and democratic governance”

    seriously I wanna see a game in Japan or S Korea in the next 4 years. We can get enough support from the troops there.

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    • Money. That’s why we don’t play in Africa. You rarely see the big teams head to sub-Saharan Africa because the hosts would take a financial beating on the match.

      Travel. That’s why we don’t play in East Asia. Sure the USSF could force clubs to release players for a midweek match in Seoul or Tokoyo, but it wouldn’t be good politics.

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    • I like the idea of Japan. That would be a good match. We played South Africa in SA at the end of 2010 I believe. I have heard they have tried to get Egypt and Iran scheduled for games there. Though I dont get why they would do that.

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    • This is…. freaking
      Awesome!
      I’d have thought it would be nearly impossible to find a gripe or reason to stoke emotion regarding a meaningless, post world cup friendly so far in the future. Foolishly, I have completely underestimated the capacity of online forums to spawn negative commentary. I’m pretty sure this is the definition of “dark energy” which miraculously produces something out of nothing. If we could only harness this power for good. LOL

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      • Not only that whoop, by the end of the day this went from an announcement about a future friendly way down the line and JK is already out the door, lineups are being posted, and somehow world politics found its way in….
        By tomorrow who knows… cats and dogs living together?

    • I believe it was before the 2006 World Cup, around November, 2005 or maybe later in 2006 that Japan came to the US and we beat Japan. The US played very well that game and the Japanese coach praised the US team saying they had passed and pressed them as well as anyone they played in the previous year.

      Reply

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