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The USMNT Prepares For Difficult Confederations Cup
With only a few days remaining before the USMNT kick of their FIFA Confederations Cup, the team prepares for their World Champion foes, Italy.
Jun 13, 2009 6:51:13 PM
The U.S. Men’s National Team is set open it’s 2009 CONCACAF Confederations Cup account on Monday against the reigning World Cup champions Italy, and with little time left, the team is ready to go.
“Preparations have been going well,” said goalkeeper Tim Howard. “We've started to get more and more sleep, and training sessions have gotten increasingly harder. Friday's training session was very, very good. It was intense and I think we're moving in the right direction to be ready for Monday's game.”
Coming in as underdogs in the tournament, the U.S. Will need to play their best soccer if they want to advance through a group stage that features the likes of five-time World Cup Champions Brazil, African Nations Champions Egypt, and their first opponent, Italy.
Going into their first match, captain Carlos Bocanegra realizes the unfavorable position his team is in, but hopes they can play a competitive 90 minutes.
“Italy is going to be favored and we're a little bit of the underdog,” said Bocanegra of the opposition. “The pressure will be on them and we want to go out there and show that we can play with them and get a good result. We want to get through this group and compete with these good teams.”
The odds may not exactly be in their favor, but midfielder Michael Bradley is excited about being in the tournament and valuable experience the team will gain from the two-week-long trip.
“It's exciting. It's a big tournament,” said Bradley of what the tournament means to him. “We're in a difficult group and we get everything going with the first game against Italy, the World Champions. We're all looking forward to it and I know that we'll be ready to go.”
The U.S. play their first match on Monday against Italy, with their remaining two group stages matches coming on the 18th and 21st of June against Brazil and Egypt, respectively.
Shane Evans, Goal.com
“Preparations have been going well,” said goalkeeper Tim Howard. “We've started to get more and more sleep, and training sessions have gotten increasingly harder. Friday's training session was very, very good. It was intense and I think we're moving in the right direction to be ready for Monday's game.”
Coming in as underdogs in the tournament, the U.S. Will need to play their best soccer if they want to advance through a group stage that features the likes of five-time World Cup Champions Brazil, African Nations Champions Egypt, and their first opponent, Italy.
Going into their first match, captain Carlos Bocanegra realizes the unfavorable position his team is in, but hopes they can play a competitive 90 minutes.
“Italy is going to be favored and we're a little bit of the underdog,” said Bocanegra of the opposition. “The pressure will be on them and we want to go out there and show that we can play with them and get a good result. We want to get through this group and compete with these good teams.”
The odds may not exactly be in their favor, but midfielder Michael Bradley is excited about being in the tournament and valuable experience the team will gain from the two-week-long trip.
“It's exciting. It's a big tournament,” said Bradley of what the tournament means to him. “We're in a difficult group and we get everything going with the first game against Italy, the World Champions. We're all looking forward to it and I know that we'll be ready to go.”
The U.S. play their first match on Monday against Italy, with their remaining two group stages matches coming on the 18th and 21st of June against Brazil and Egypt, respectively.
Shane Evans, Goal.com
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