***Soccer Post: Confederations Cup.***

[PosterFormerlyKnownAsRFAA]

Confederations Cup 2009

US v Italy - June 15 (Monday) 2:30 pm EST
US v Brazil - June 18 (Thursday) 10:00 am EST
US v Egypt - June 21 (Sunday) 2:30 pm EST

The rosters!

US:

1 Tim HOWARD
2 Jonathan BORNSTEIN
3 Carlos BOCANEGRA
4 Conor CASEY
5 Oguchi ONYEWU
6 Heath PEARCE
7 DaMarcus BEASLEY
8 Clint DEMPSEY
9 Charlie DAVIES
10 Landon DONOVAN
11 Marvell WYNNE
12 Michael BRADLEY
13 Ricardo CLARK
14 Danny CALIFF
15 Jay DeMERIT
16 Sacha KLJESTAN
17 Jozy ALTIDORE
18 Brad GUZAN
19 Freddy ADU
20 Francisco TORRES
21 Jonathan SPECTOR
22 Benny FEILHABER
23 Luis ROBLES

Italy:

1 Gianluigi BUFFON
2 Davide SANTON
3 Fabio GROSSO
4 Giorgio CHIELLINI
5 Fabio CANNAVARO
6 Nicola LEGROTTAGLIE
7 Simone PEPE
8 Gennaro GATTUSO
9 Luca TONI
10 Daniele DE ROSSI
11 Alberto GILARDINO
12 Morgan DE SANCTIS
13 Alessandro GAMBERINI
14 Marco AMELIA
15 Vincenzo IAQUINTA
16 Mauro CAMORANESI
17 Giuseppe ROSSI
18 Angelo PALOMBO
19 Gianluca ZAMBROTTA
20 Riccardo MONTOLIVO
21 Andrea PIRLO
22 Andrea DOSSENA
23 Fabio QUAGLIARELLA

Brazil

1 JULIO CESAR
2 MAICON
3 LUCIO
4 JUAN
5 FELIPE MELO
6 KLEBER
7 ELANO
8 GILBERTO SILVA
9 LUIS FABIANO
10 KAKA
11 ROBINHO
12 VICTOR
13 DANIEL ALVES
14 LUISAO
15 MIRANDA
16 ANDRE SANTOS
17 JOSUE
18 RAMIRES
19 JULIO BAPTISTA
20 KLEBERSON
21 ALEXANDRE PATO
22 NILMAR
23 GOMES

Egypt

1 Essam EL HADARY
2 Mahmoud FATHALLA
3 Ahmed AL MUHAMADI
4 Ahmed SAID
5 Ahmed KHAIRY
6 Hani SAID
7 AHMED FATHI
8 Hosni ABD RABBOU
9 Mohamed ZIDAN
10 AHMED EID
11 Mohamed SHAWKY
12 Mohamed HOMOS
13 Abdelaziz TAWFIK
14 Sayed MOAWAD
15 Ahmed FARAG
16 WAHID
17 AHMED HASSAN
18 Ahmed ABDELGHANY
19 Amr ZAKI
20 Wael GOMAA
21 RAOUF
22 Mohamed ABOUTRIKA
23 Mohamed SOBHI

All of the countries are bringing their A teams! Whether or not they all bring their "A" games is a different story. But we, along with the other teams, are taking this serious. This will be a big test and even four points will be a success, IMO.

 

[FQDawg]

will the U.S.'s games at the Confed Cup be on TV?

 

[MSUCostanza]

epic fail. I have a bad feeling that we are going to get stomped.

Is Totti hurt? Didn't see him on Italy's roster.

 

[eurotrash]

Damn Both Italy (wish Rossi had picked us) and Brazil (even with several two-named players) are loaded. A point if we're lucky but it could get embarrassing. Don't know shite about Egypt--lot's of Ahmeds and Mohameds. A point or three is not impossible against them. Howard's in trouble, though, if we have Wynn and Pearce on the wings. I'm not sure if Boca will be ready either. The optimist in me says we might get through on 4 points. But 1 seems more likely.

Confed. and Gold Cup then at Azteca--not a bad summer for watching the Nats.

 

[JohnDawg]

uglyku

edit: damn they might be brutal anyway.

 

[PosterFormerlyKnownAsRFAA]

06/15/2009
2:30 PM ET U.S. Men vs. Italy Loftus Versfeld; Tshwane/Pretoria, South Africa Live on ESPN, ESPN360.com and Telefutura
Available
06/18/2009
10:00 AM ET U.S. Men vs. Brazil Loftus Versfeld; Tshwane/Pretoria, South Africa Live on ESPN2, ESPN360.com and Telefutura
Available
06/21/2009
2:30 PM ET U.S. Men vs. Egypt Royal Bafokeng Stadium; Rustenberg, South Africa Live on ESPN2, ESPN360.com and Telefutura

 

[PosterFormerlyKnownAsRFAA]

It would be great to beat them. However, I think it would be a big enough feat to tie both of them, and it might get us through IF we beat Egypt.

I don't want to bring World Cup 2006 into this, so I skip it and go back to World Cup 2002. If we put in the same effort against these teams as we put in against Germany that year, then I'll be more than pleased! This is the effort and intensity I hope to see from the US every game. Even though we lost, most people will tell you that we played better this game than any other game that year!

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hXQvQLUj6No&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="never" width="425" height="344" ></embed>

 

[MSUCostanza]

That 2006 was the anomaly, but watching our qualifying this year, I'm not sure we haven't regressed since 2002. We were a blind ref away from perhaps the semifinals of the flipping World Cup in 2002. (What??? It still sounds bizarre to say that.) Then 2006 we crashed and burned. And now we are struggling to beat Honduras at home.

Oh, and I remembered after I posted that Totti retired from international duties after 2006. He's one of my favorites in Serie A.

 

[patdog]

This will be a big test and even four points will be a success, IMO.

Four points would be more than a success, it would be a near miracle. I'll be real satisfied if we can beat Egypt and play Brazil and Italy close. I'm not optimistic though. This could get real ugly.

 

[PosterFormerlyKnownAsRFAA]

FWIW

 

[gtowndawg]

if we'd actually scored the old German coach. Surely he would have helped.

 

[gtowndawg]

that hand ball still pisses me off.

 

[Liverdawg]

It's not necessarily the results that have been disheartening, its the flat style of play. We have no answers on the back line, and no strategy to score. Our offensive strategy is to counter-attack, but this doesn't work with an abysmal defense.

 

[PosterFormerlyKnownAsRFAA]

.

 

[patdog]

It's not like Bayern sucked this year. He went 16-7-6 in the Bundesliga and made it out of group play and into the 2nd round of eliminations in the Champions League (losing to eventual champions Barcelona). I'd take that every day. I'm still pissed that we didn't hire him because we insisted on sending our B team to the Copa America instead of the A team like he wanted to. US Soccer was more concerned with propping up MLS than in being competitive in international competitions. MLS is important (although it's arguably not even the best league in our own country right now), but international competition is much, much more important.

 

[PosterFormerlyKnownAsRFAA]

1 Group A June 14 South Africa vs. Iraq 9:55 a.m. ESPN2, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV Johannesburg
2 Group A June 14 New Zealand vs. Spain 2:25 p.m. ESPN2, ESPN360.com Rustenburg
3 Group B June 15 Brazil vs. Egypt 9:55 a.m. ESPN2, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV Bloemfontein
4 Group B June 15 USA vs. Italy 2:25 p.m. ESPN, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV Pretoria
5 Group A June 17 Spain vs. Iraq 9:55 a.m. ESPN2, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV Bloemfontein
6 Group A June 17 South Africa vs. New Zealand 2:25 p.m. ESPN2, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV Rustenburg
7 Group B June 18 USA vs. Brazil 9:55 a.m. ESPN2, ESPN360.com Pretoria
8 Group B June 18 Egypt vs. Italy 2:25 p.m. ESPN2, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV Johannesburg
9 Group A June 20 Spain vs. South Africa 2:25 p.m. ESPN2, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV Bloemfontein
10 Group A June 20 Iraq vs. New Zealand 2:25 p.m. ESPN360.com (1 a.m., June 21 ESPN2) Johannesburg
11 Group B June 21 Egypt vs. USA 2:25 p.m. ESPN2, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV Rustenburg
12 Group B June 21 Italy vs. Brazil 2:25 p.m. ESPN, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV Pretoria
13 Semifinals June 24 1st Group A vs. 2nd Group B 2:25 p.m. ESPN, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV Bloemfontein
14 Semifinals June 25 1st Group B vs. 2nd Group A 2:25 p.m. ESPN, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV Johannesburg
15 Third Place June 28 Runner-up 13 vs. Runner-up 14 8:55 a.m. ESPN2, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV Rustenburg
16 Final June 28 Winner 13 vs. Winner 14 2:25 p.m. ESPN2, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV Johannesburg