One Week Until Kick-Off !!

So here we are. One week away. And even though Day 1 next Friday doesn’t offer the tastiest of match-ups (Germany/Costa Rica and Poland/Ecuador) I’m just damn thankful that it’ll finally be the real thing. These friendlies have been driving me nuts. Yesterday the “2nd-string Dutch Team” beat Mexico. What does this mean? That Mexico is terrible? That the Dutch will play their second-string squad against opponents they judge to be inferior? It means nothing. It means as much as a 1 – 0 victory for Team USA over Latvia in Hartford. Nothing. I’m ready for the real deal. Plus, the first two matches offer the opportunity to root, root, root for the hemisphere. Vamos Costa Rica y Ecuador.

So Rooney kicked the ball around a bit yesterday. That’s exciting. I can’t stand the kid but love to watch him play. It would be a shame if he were to miss out entirely. At this point it looks like he’ll see some action if England can advance. In the same category but perhaps better positioned in terms of recovery time is Argentina’s Messi. Last we saw him he was terrorizing Chelsea in the Stamford Bridge sandbox and making me laugh out loud with glee. I hope we can see him again soon. Speaking of seeing, check out the Links section where I’ve posted a connection to the entire TV schedule, in English y en Espanol. Here it is again: http://www.soccertv.com/wc-us.cfm Thanks have to go out to one of my favorite sites -- soccertv.com – for putting this together. To say I’ve relied heavily on that site over the years would be a ridiculous understatement.

I’ll be back next week with some predictions. Until then…onward!!