Sunday, June 15, 2008

Foretelling the future?

Almost four years ago to the day, the U.S. kicked off World Cup qualifying by taking part in a Second Round series for the first time since before USA '94. Facing another small Caribbean island, the U.S. took on Grenada on June 13, 2004 in Columbus. DaMarcus Beasley recorded his first multiple-goal game for the full team and Greg Vanney added a third to give the hosts a comfortable 3-0 win.

Aside from the victory, is there something else to be gleaned from that match? Consider this: As we reported in Friday's game notes, there were eight players who started that game that would go on to line up against the Czech Republic in the first match of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The starting XI that day:

Kasey Keller; Steve Cherundolo, Eddie Pope, Carlos Bocanegra, Greg Vanney, Claudio Reyna (capt.), Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley; Brian McBride, Conor Casey

3 comments:

Historicus said...

I sure would like to see Demerit in the middle with Bocanegra.

It would also be great to see Adu, LD and Dempsey on the field at the same time. With today's game being against Barbados instead of Argentina, perhaps Bradley can afford to sit one of his defensive midfielders in place of some offense.

Amy said...

I think my record's clear, that I love the USMNT dearly. But is that really a good thing?

JumboBuc said...

There are only 10 names listed under "Starting XI"