Live Blog: USA vs. Argentina Pre-Game

7:20 p.m. - Ok that's it for this blog! Good luck to the teams and let's hope the U.S. can get a win!

7:18 p.m. - Less than a minute to go before the teams leave the field for one final speech in the locker room. That means its time for The Blog to go fulfill its other duty with U.S. Soccer - Bodyguard to Peter Nowak. Just kidding. We'll be walking Coach Nowak up to his customary position in the coaches' box. Up here he radios the bench with his thoughts on how he sees the game from up here....

7:17 p.m. - Wooo, Allee! That's the kind of comment that we'll always be happy to publish on the blog!

7:16 p.m. - Sun is out now, looks like the rain (knock on wood) is done. In the background of this stadium you can see the New Meadowlands being constructed...This is the U.S.' last game at Giants Stadium...

7:12 p.m. - To answer your question, Rene, Adu is not injured. He's out there on the field currently juggling with Mo Edu and Sacha Kljestan...

7:10 p.m. - Alright, Argentina is out on the field now. In case you didn't see it, they beat Mexico in their last game, 4-1... The fan's are chanting the name of Sergio "Kún" Agüero...

7:03 p.m. - The stadium is filling up quickly...Kasey Keller is going to be honored for his 100th cap during a pre-game ceremony on the field. That milestone was achieved in last year's Gold Cup semifinal against Canada...

7:01 p.m. - Thanks for the comment, Gabe. Still no sign of Argentina. Or their lineup...

6:56 p.m. - The U.S. team is out on the field now....The Blog's handheld camera is not conducive for player identification from 9 stories up...but take a shot anyways:


6:50 p.m. - Goalies are out now - Brad Guzan and Tim Howard are going through their pre-match routines. Howard used to play his club soccer here in this stadium with the Metrostars, while Guzan just played a game here on Thursday night... Meanwhile the U.S. fans have unfurled a massive "Don't Tread" banner...



6:48 p.m. - Its been drizzling a little leading up to the game, but the rain looks to have passed. The field is looking good too - the thick grass from yesterday has been trimmed and the pitch looks ready for a game... The temperature has cooled off a bit too (thankfully)

6:42 p.m. - Remember our futsal post yesterday? Well futsal lost to Guatemala yesterday, but rebounded in a big way today - beating Panama, 7-1. World Cup bound, baby! Well played Futsal tem.

6:40 p.m. - Giants Stadium has played host to some big soccer in its day. You'll remember last year the 5-4 MLS game between the Los Angeles Galaxy and New York Red Bulls. In 1994, the stadium played host to one of the World Cup semifinals too...



Goalies are getting ready to come on the field now...

6:35 p.m. -

Here's the USA's starters for the match against No. 1-ranked Argentina:

-----------------Howard---------------
Cherundolo, Califf, Onyewu, Pearce
Dempsey, Bradley, Mastroeni, Beasley
-----Johnson------Donovan (c)---------

Four changes to the team that lined up against Spain four days ago. Danny Califf slots into central defense replacing Carlos Bocanegra, while Pablo Mastroeni patrols the center of the park in place of Maurice Edu. DaMarcus Beasley gets his second start of the three-match set.

6:30 p.m. - 100 and counting...


6:25 p.m. - Argentina is out pacing around the field right now and the biggest cheer is reserved for, you guessed it, Leo Messi. The diminutive forward comes out and meets his teammates at midfield. The tiny band of traveling Argentina fans goes crazy.

6:21 p.m. - Alright we're setttled in here at the Press Box of Giants Stadium, a full nine stories from ground level - we've got a great view of the field here...People have started filing into the stadium and the drums are beating constantly. Fans are dancing in the stands - a real carnival atmosphere here right now...

Pre-Game Presser

Saturday afternoon we put Bob Bradley, Landon Donovan and Tim Howard on stage for the tradition pre-match press conference. They answered questions for nearly 40 minutes, and covered a wide range of topics. For a great game-day primer, listen in

Heating Up

After two matches in rainy and mild climes, the U.S. team arose to a blast furnace of heat this morning as temperatures had reached a humid 87 degrees by 9 a.m. The thermometer is expected to hit 94 degrees later this afternoon, and with a soft pitch at Giants Stadium and a game against Spain only four days behind them, fitness will definitely be a factor tonight.

Futsal Set for Semifinal

The U.S. National Futsal team is preparing to face Guatemala in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Championship, scheduled to kick off today at 4 p.m. in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Keith Tozer's team, the defending champions, defeated Costa Rica on Thursday, and comes into Saturday's game having gone 2-0-1 in the tournament thus far.

The top three finishers in the CONCACAF Championship earn places in the FIFA Futsal World Championships in the Fall, so the winner of this game books passage to the tournament in Brazil.

DaMarcus Beasley is a HUGE futsal fan, in case you were wondering - his brother Jamar is part of the team down in Guatemala.

"I've talked to him [Jamar] over e-mail a few times while he's been down there and it sounds like things are going pretty well for the team," said Beas over breakfast this morning. "Today's game will be tough - playing Guatemala in Guatemala - but hopefully they can get the job done and get to Brazil for the World Championships."

If you want to watch the game, you can! (Though it'll be on a slight delay) CONCACAF is doing a great job of putting the games on their website - you can watch the full Futsal games via their embedded YouTube player. Pretty awesome and something that you wouldn't normally see otherwise... Check out the games here.

Here's the first half of our game against Costa Rica from Thursday:

Brackets Full

Euro 2008 kicks off today and guys have been frantically filling out their brackets before the Switzerland and Czech Republic get the tournament underway in less than three hours. A popular choice? Well, Germany is one, with the consensus being that they have a fairly easy draw. No way the Blog is going to reveal its choice though! One thing about the Euros: you never know...right, Greece?

The games today are on ESPN Classic, with Switzerland v Czech Republic starting at 11:30 a.m. ET. Portugal and Turkey face off in the afternoon game at 2:30 p.m. ET. You can also watch the games on ESPN360.com - perfect for those of us on the road all the time...

Roster Grows By Two

The U.S. roster for Argentina grew by two late last night when Bob Bradley summoned the FC Dallas duo of Kenny Cooper and Drew Moor following their 2-1 loss to New England in Foxborough. Cooper has two career appearances for the United States, becoming the 41st player in U.S. Soccer history to score in his first game when he netted the insurance goal in the 3-1 win against Denmark on Jan. 20, 2007, at The Home Depot Center. Moor has four appearances to his credit, the last coming in the USA's 2-2 draw against Mexico in Houston earlier this year. Both players report to New Jersey this morning in time for the afternoon session.l

Development Academy Education

The MNT had some careful observers at training today, as the squad was watched by 35 U.S. Soccer Development Academy coaches and scouts from the New York and New Jersey area, and even some from as far away as Hartford, Conn. Led by Development Academy scout Tony Lepore, the coaches observed the team’s light training session and discussed the importance of recovering from long trips (just ask Jay DeMerit). Bob Bradley met the group beforehand to discuss the team's training plans, while assistant coach Mike Sorber addressed the coaches after the session to talk about the methods and goals of each activity.

The coaches, who represented 10 Development Academy clubs, included longtime U.S. Soccer U-14 National Development Program head coach Manny Schellscheidt, U.S. U-15 BNT head coach Jim Barlow and current Met Oval coach and former MetroStars great Giovanni Savarese.

Those same coaches will also be in attendance at the U.S. MNT vs. Argentina match as part of the same coaching symposium. On Sunday, they will be advised by U.S. Soccer Development Academy director John Hackworth, who will be back from a scouting trip to the Barbados-Bermuda match. Hackworth will provide the lineup as well as a pre-match analysis ,giving the Development Academy coaches an outline of the USA's personnel and gameplan,

Bob Bradley Podcast from Training

The team trained today at Montclair St. University in New Jersey for just over an hour as guys worked out the kinks after a tough day of travel yesterday. After practice, Bob Bradley took some questions from the media gathered at the field. Listen to the full podcast here.

Here are some pictures from training today. The guys are playing handball, in case you were wondering what was going on...

In case you didn't see it...

Here are highlights of Argentina's 4-1 victory against Mexico this past Wednesday. The game was played in front of nearly 70,000 people in San Diego at Qualcomm Stadium.

Serious Frequent Flier Miles

U.S. MNT and Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan has logged some serious frequent flier miles over the past couple of weeks, appearing in both of the USA's games in Europe without missing a beat for his club team. Guzan went the full 90 for Chivas in a 1-2 road loss to Colorado on May 24, hopped a plane for London and played 45 minutes for the national team three days later. He then made the Transatlantic flight back to Los Angeles for Chivas USA's 2-0 win against Columbus on May 31, then boarded another plane bound for Santander where he met up with the group and played another 45 minutes against Spain on June 4. Hours after the Spain game, Guzan completed this leg of the journey of more than 20,000 miles when he arrived in New York at 2 p.m. on Thursday, June 5, and played 90 minutes against the Red Bulls that night. In what was surely a relief for the net minder, he gets to stay in New York for the USA's game against Argentina on Sunday before making his way back to Los Angeles on Monday ahead of his team's home game against Chicago on Thursday night.

If you're confused, just think how he feels ...

Not the only ones in action

Our opponent for the games that really matter beginning June 15 has been busy prepping as well. Barbados open a two-game set away to Bermuda today, with a second match scheduled against the island nation three days later. We'll keep an eye on the results and lineups for you ...

Back In Jersey

You'll be getting a first-person account of our travels from one our players shortly - here's a hint: it ain't pretty - but suffice to say we are finally ensconced back on the east coast of the United States. Which is actually more than we can say for Argentina, whose charter flight from San Diego following their 4-1 thrashing of Mexico made an overnight pitstop in Kansas City after the team decided to avoid threatening weather conditions and chill out in K.C. instead.

It's an overcast day here in New Jersey as the U.S. quickly changes gears in preparation for the match against Argentina. More than 67,000 tickets have already been sold for the Sunday showdown, and the U.S. hits the training field later this afternoon with a little more than 48 hours remaining before kickoff.

Stay tuned this afternoon when Bob Bradley will put out the roster for the USA's third match in 10 days, and the final tuneup before the start of qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Argentina Names Squad for Friendlies

After Spain and England selected squads last week, Argentina's Alfio Basile has named his team that will face the United States on June 8 at Giants Stadium. The roster is just about what'd you expect from the number one team in the world: star studded from top to bottom. Lionel Messi and Sergio "Kún" Agüero headline the names coming from Spain's La Liga, while a contingent of Argentines from Italian champions Inter - Esteban Cambiasso, Javier Zanetti, Julio Cruz and and Nicolás Burdisso - will also make the trip to North America. Its an all European roster for Basile, who has elected to leave Juan Román Riquelme at home with his club side Boca Juniors. There's no place for Manchester United's Carlos Tevez either.

See the full roster here. And read about Tevez's omission here.