The United States World Cup football squad concluded a 12-day training camp here on Sunday and prepared for three friendlies in the next week to serve as a tuneup for matches in Germany.
The Americans, who made an impressive quarterfinal run at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea, will face Italy, Ghana and the Czech Republic next month in opening-round play at the global football showdown.
The US team will play Morocco on Tuesday at Nashville, Tennessee, before facing Venezuela on Friday at Cleveland, Ohio, and concluding the tuneup matches against Latvia next Sunday at East Hartford, Connecticut.
”The opposition we’ll be facing will give us the right type of competition we need as we move forward with our preparations,” US manager Bruce Arena said.
Arena plans for all 23 players to see action during the week, helping to find combinations that work best among a squad comprised almost equally between European-based talent and players barely into the Major League Soccer season.
”We haven’t played together much as a group,” Arena said. ”This will help us move forward.”
The Americans have never beaten Morocco, losing their only meetings in 1992 and 1999. The US squad is 1-0 with a draw against Venezuela, winning 2-0 in 2003, and has never played Latvia. – Sapa-AFP