A Brief Hiatus

After last night's exciting win over Sweden, the team is breaking for a few days. The team will reconvene later this week, as preparations for the Feb. 11 showdown begin in earnest. Who are we playing again? For now we'll leave you with some highlights from last nights game...We'll be back in a few days!



Press Conference after last night's game:

Live Blog: USA vs. Sweden Pre-Game

5:25 PM - That's it for us here. Tune in to FSC or Galavision to catch the game as it gets underway in a few minutes...

5:20 PM - This is the first of a two game tour of California for Sweden. Their second game? Against Mexico in Oakland four days from now.

5:18 PM - That's it for the warmup, the teams are off the field as we're just a few minutes away from kickoff.

5:16 PM - wizardgirl asks if Jack Jewsbury will be involved tonight, but unfortunately the answer is no. He's one of four inactive players along with Holden, Pickens and Hesmer.

5:15 PM - The U.S. is finishing up their warmup with some shooting. The crowd behind the goal is enjoying it as they cheer each goal...Hopefully the guys save a few for during the game...

5:13 PM - One more score from today, as Carlos Bocanegra and Rennes beat St. Etienne 2-0 in the Coupe de France

5:11 PM - You may have read that Stuart Holden was a late scratch from the gameday roster. He suffered a mild hip flexor strain in training.

5:09 PM - Taking Care of Business is currently playing on the loundspeaker. A timeless classic.

5:05 PM - Some results from our U.S. internationals around the world include: Clint Dempsey and Fulham getting a 4-2 win over Kettering Town. Jay DeMerit scored the opening goal of Watford's 4-3 win over Crystal Palace. Both Watford and Fulham move on to the fifth round of the FA Cup...

5:03 PM - Those in attendance will include the Women's National Team, who is in camp at the HDC as well. Be sure to check out the WNT Blog for the happenings from their camp during January. They're preparing to go to Portugal for the Algarve Cup soon...

5:02 PM - 58 degrees out right now, with just a small chance of rain tonight. About 8,000 people are expected for tonight's game.

4:58 PM - By contrast, the U.S. starting eleven has 106 caps between them, with Brian Ching's 32 appearances leading the way.

4:55 PM - The Sweden starting lineup has 101 caps between them. If you take out captain Daniel Andersson's appearances, you're left with just 30 caps...

4:54 PM - And there's the U.S. team. As you noticed, the Starting XI for the U.S. has been posted...

4:51 PM - The Sweden team is out, and here's how they're starting: Dahlin; Johansson, Jonsson, Lindberg, von Schlebrügge; Dahl, Andersson (c), Holmén, Svensson; Dahlberg, Nannskog

4:50 PM - The goalkeepers are out for both teams. U.S. starter Troy Perkins is stretching in the 18-yard box, while his backup for tonight, Jon Busch, is warming up with a ball.

4:49 pm - Coming to you live from the HDC...we've settled in to our spot and hopefully the rain can hold off for a few hours!

Starting XI vs. Sweden

Here's how the U.S. will start tonight's game against Sweden:

----------------Perkins---------------

Wynne--Parkhurst--Califf (c) ---Bornstein

-----------Clark------Kljestan-----------

Thorrington--------------------Rogers

------------Davies--------Ching---------

• Danny Califf captains the side tonight, his second time wearing the captain's armband for the United States


• Robbie Rogers earns his first cap with the full team after appearing in all three matches in the 2008 Olympic Games


• Jonathan Bornstein gets his second start in the 'January game', his first in the memorable 3-1 win against Denmark on Jan. 20, 2007, in which he scored the game-winning goal in his debut for the full team

Roster Reduced to 18 for Game Day

U.S. head coach Bob Bradley has revealed the names of the 18 men who will dress for tonight's match against Sweden. Stuart Holden was scratched from consideration after he suffered a mild hip flexor strain during yesterday's training, and is being kept out as a precaution. The 18-man game day roster:

GOALKEEPERS (2): Jon Busch (Chicago Fire), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF)

DEFENDERS (6): Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland), Ugo Ihemelu (Colorado Rapids), Michael Parkhurst (FC Nordsjaelland), Chris Wingert (Real Salt Lake), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Brian Carroll (Columbus Crew), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), John Thorrington (Chicago Fire)

FORWARDS (4): Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Charlie Davies (Hammarby IF), Chris Rolfe (Chicago Fire)

Check back in at 4:30 p.m. PT to find out who has been selected for the starting XI against Sweden.

Twitter Me This

ussoccer.com's Twitter feed has just surpassed the 500 followers mark. Woo! For those of you that use twitter, http://twitter.com/ussoccer is a great way to keep up with all the news and links coming out of camp. For those of you that don't use twitter, well now you have an excuse to sign up!

Oh, and if you poke around there before the game tonight, you just might see the U.S. lineup before anybody else does...

http://twitter.com/ussoccer

Studio 90 News for Gameday

The latest from The Home Depot Center:

Podcast with Pontus

Friend of the of the MNT Blog, Pontus Kåmark is back in the States, and he'll be commentating on tomorrow's game between the U.S. and Sweden for TV4. We met Pontus before last year's game, and it turns out the former Sweden international has some interesting connections to the U.S. First, he played in the 1994 World Cup, which featured Sweden making a run all the way to the semifinals (they ended up finishing third). Second, he was a teammate of MNT goalkeeper Kasey Keller at Leicester City. The two were part of Martin O'Neill's famed squad that won the League Cup in 1999.

Pontus took time out of his busy beach schedule (just kidding, we caught up with him during Sweden's trainig) to talk to us about the opposition that the U.S. will be facing in tomorrow's game.

Listen to the full podcast with former Sweden international Pontus Kåmark here.

Bornstein Cleared pt. 2

As you read, Jonathan Bornstein has been cleared to play. Here's Jonathan himself updating you about his foot:

Sacha Returns

Sacha Kljestan has returned from a training spell at current Scottish Premier League champions Celtic and will be on the field tonight for the USA's final session prior to the match against Sweden.

"I had really good experience at Celtic, and now I'm excited to back and getting ready to play against Sweden," Kljestan told us. "The only future I'm focusing on right now is trying to put in a good performance tomorrow night."

National Team Reunion

A very interesting convergence of past and present took place in the gym yesterday at The Home Depot Center.

With both the national team and the Los Angeles Galaxy in training at the HDC, their schedules happened to coincide for the workout portion of the day. A glimpse down the row of treadmills and stationary bikes revealed current MNT assistant coach Mike Sorber running alongside former assistant Dave Sarachan (now associate head coach of the Galaxy), and on the bikes Bob Bradley, John Hackworth and Bruce Arena.

Eddie Lewis bridged the gap between club and country as he went through lifting exercises with L.A., next to 2002 World Cup defender Tony Sanneh and former U.S. international striker Jovan Kirovski.

That's a lot of experience in one place ...

Bornstein Cleared

Jonathan Bornstein has been cleared to train after an MRI revealed no structural damage to his foot. The defender's status for the Sweden match will be determined following today's training session in the stadium.

UNCAF Nations Cup Underway

Competition began tonight in the 2009 UNCAF Nations Cup, the championship of Central America. The tournament runs from Jan. 22-Feb. 1 in Tegucigalpa, with five spots in the Gold Cup up for grabs. Three of the USA's opponents in Final Round Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup - Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras - are all in action. In the opening night's actvities, El Salvador let a lead slip away in the final minutes to end in a 1-1 draw with Nicaragua, while hosts Honduras endured a tougher struggle than they expected but still managed a 2-1 win against Belize.

You can watch the entire tournament on Galavision, and follow the news at the official tournament website.

Photos from today's Nearly Raining Training

Here are some photos from today's training session at The Home Depot Center. The 80 degree weather subsided a today and we were subjected to the horror of 65 degrees and mildly overcast skies. OK, so we're a little spoiled... Head over to ussoccer.com to check out the full gallery.

The News from Carson

In case you haven't seen it yet, here's today's Studio 90 News update from today, Jan. 22. As previously mentioned, Jonathan Bornstein is going for an MRI on his bruised foot this afternoon, but you can see him and Kenny Cooper talking about their first caps (and first goals) in the video.

Bornstein Sidelined

U.S. defender Jonathan Bornstein skipped this morning's session after suffering a bruised foot Tuesday afternoon. He will undergo an MRI evaluation later today to determine the extent of the injury. Meantime, the team is gearing up for its final training session prior to Saturday's match. The group will be on the field inside The Home Depot Center tomorrow evening.

Frankie Coming to An Official U.S. Soccer Bar Near You

On Jan. 24, all of the Official U.S. Soccer Bars will be hosting viewing parties as the U.S. takes on Sweden at The Home Depot Center beginning at 5:30 p.m. PT. Get together with your friends and fellow fans to watch the U.S. MNT get 2009 off on the right foot. Now in in its second year, the Official U.S. Soccer Bar Program features bars spread across 16 states. For a full listing of the participating bars, head over to ussoccer.com.

For the game against Sweden, three-time World Cup veteran defender Frankie Hejduk will be taking in the proceedings at Claddagh Irish Pub in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Frankie, who of course captained the hometown Columbus Crew to an MLS Cup triumph last year, will be doing an autograph session while hanging out and meeting fans from 7:30 to 8:30 at the bar. He'll also be sticking around for the game, which kicks off at 8:30 p.m. ET, so if you needed more incentive to watch a game with like-minded U.S. supporters, there it is: for the game against Sweden, you can kick it with Frankie over at Claddagh Irish Pub.

Photo Gallery

Snaps from Wednesday's training. Any favorites?

Troy Perkins - A Team Building Experience, Part 2

Troy Perkins left national team camp for four days last week to participate in a team building exercise with Valerenga in Norway. Valerenga's hosts for the 'retreat' - a unit of the Norwegian Special Forces. Here is Part 2 of Troy's experience.

Day Two

6:00

We awake to a bitter cold tent and the realization that we now have a 30-minute run

7:00

Breakfast consists of one loaf of bread and two pieces of cheese and ham per member of the team, as well as a pot of coffee.

9:00

Military leaders decide that we should move camp, so we now had to tear down the tents of metal poles and canvas. Then we carried everything to the fort by way of a three kilometer path the winds in and out of the bog and up and down the mountain. This was quite an experience, since the bog was frozen and the rocks were covered in ice, but my team fought hard. We went from being a half-course behind to passing the other team, setting our tent up first and winning the race.

11:45

We were all awarded lunch that day and what a feeling that was. There was fresh bread, soda, smoked salmon, soup, and coffee.

13:00

My team is led to the front door of the fortress where we were taken in one by one and told that to pass into the gates as a team we must each defeat a two-headed troll. As we were running down the dark and cold stone tunnels, we are asked if we want to box and wrestle the first head. So I chose to box first, and then wrestle second. At that point, they put the gloves and sparring helmet on you and throw you into one of the rooms where two world champion cage fighters are waiting to box and wrestle you. You had to go one round with each without being bloodied or injured. Obviously, they could have destroyed any of us, but they sized us up and measured their effort according to what we could handle.

18:00

We have dinner together and then meet outside to complete three puzzle tasks that involve team work and problem solving, and then we went back to the fort for a search and find drill that involved the same skills as the three previous tasks. This time it was a race, and you had to find your own way out of the fortress. For the entire day my team was the best, and we were awarded the privilege of sleeping in one of the warm barracks. We were left to decide whether or not the other groups should sleep in their tents or come in with us. Of course, we allowed them to come and sleep in the barracks because we know how cold we were the night before.

Day Three

6:00

Wake-up call.

6:15
One more 30-minute run. Afterwards, a light breakfast.

9:00

It is time for the last and final challenge of the trip. This was a biathlon event where each member of the team had to shoot five targets with 10 bullets. Each person had to do this twice in a row, but before any member could shoot, the entire team had to run around a 200 meter track, and for every target you missed the team had to complete that amount of penalty laps around a separate 75 meter track. All in all, my team finished second, running roughly about 4300 meters in the process. Our team didn’t shoot the best, but I finished strong going five for five.

So this could be the longest blog ever – and this is not even everything we did! These were the type of challenges that allow you to learn a little more about the guy standing next to you. There was pain and suffering, but this was only three days worth. The guys who are members of the elite forces have to partake in eight weeks of this stuff, and I now really have an immense amount of respect for them. The same goes for my teammates, who never quit and kept pushing to prove themselves: not just to the other guys, but to themselves as well.

Sweden - 367 Days Ago

Like this year, the United States opened up the 2008 campaign with a friendly against Sweden here at The Home Depot Center. The 2-0 victory became a part of several individual and team records set that year, beginning with official passing of the goalscoring torch as Landon Donovan climbed to the top spot of the USA's all-time goalscoring chart. Eddie Robinson snatched his own slice of history, becoming the 44th U.S. player to join the first goal - first cap club.

As you get primed up for Saturday, get a head start by watching all the highlights and pre-game hype from last year's showdown with Sweden here.

TT - Doubling Up

The impending release of the 2009 U.S. Soccer Media Guide got us digging through records, and guess what we discovered? Only once in the last 20 years has there been an occasion where in one game two players got both their first cap and their first goal.

Your turn!