United States Squad Report: Team flies to Natal for final prep
Things are still relatively relaxed at the US camp, who were initially scheduled to play a closed door scrimmage yesterday against Belgium before it was cancelled last Tuesday likely to fears over transportation. They had another training session instead yesterday. You can watch an oddly calming training vid here.
Today the team will train once more at the FC Sao Paulo facility before flying to Natal in order to make final preparations for their opening match against Ghana this Monday.
The only news of note involves the health of the 24 year old full back Timmy Chandler, who did not complete full training sessions on Tuesday or Wednesday. He’s expected to return to training today and fly with the team.
Fixtures/Results
Group G — June 16 — Ghana vs United States
Group G — June 22 — United States vs Portugal
Group G — June 26 — United States vs Germany
Squad News/Rumors/Injury Report
DF Timmy Chandler still a concern ahead of this weekend’s stay in Natal.
Four Quick Notes
1. There was some news drama yesterday after ESPN’s Serge Ramos reported that FIFA had contacted the USSF over taking over the 2022 World Cup from Qatar, allegations which Sunil Gulati expressly denied. The original Tweet was deleted, so...that was fun while it lasted.
2. When Time Magazine writes about soccer, things gets a little silly. Why America “doesn’t like soccer,” and “what can be done about it,” which includes getting rid of the offside rule.
3. Part two of Landon Donovan’s self-effacing collaboration with the LA Galaxy, which obviously intimates he WON’T be watching the tournament, here: skip work and watch World Cup. Watch part one here.
4. Whatever happened to Freddy Adu? The international press asking the hard questions.