Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Set Your TiVo
Bostrom Writes: Tomorrow's midday friendly with Poland should prove to be the most telling game yet in the runup to the World Cup. While it stands to reason that every game is more important than the previous, this game has a multitude of things going for it:
1) It's in Germany!
2) It's a combination of MLS and European players
3) It's against a highly regarded opponent who will play close to full strength as well
4) We're likely to have a pro-U.S. crowd due to the military personnel in the area
5) It's the only date that all players can be released from their teams worldwide before the WC roster must be named. Thus all 30 of the 32 WC teams are playing (many against each other) somewhere on the globe.
6) Kasey will be in the nets. Our quarterback is back! Sorry, Claudio.
So this game will be more about seeing how the team plays than who can play well enough to be named to the final squad. In the best case scenario, we see a good bit of chemistry on the field which will bode well for June.
