Arena quotes on the Gold Cup

[Guest Ed]

From the San Francisco Chronicle, where Jeff Agoos was counting his blessings at not being called up:

U.S. coach Bruce Arena, whose team will open Saturday in Foxboro, Mass., against El Salvador, then play Martinique on Monday, is not at all happy about the relatively minuscule roster size.

"Eighteen (players) is not enough," Arena told the Boston Globe. "Temperatures will be in the 90s, there is travel, and if we get out of Foxboro successfully, we go to Miami, where the heat and humidity are more difficult. And in Mexico City, there is the altitude, smog and heat.

"These are conditions that shouldn't be tolerated. The technical side of the game is not being considered. The tournament setup is made by people who don't know about soccer. It's not any different than other sports where they try to maximize gate revenues."

The situation is complicated for Arena by the fact one of his key players, midfielder DaMarcus Beasley, hurt a shoulder in last week's tuneup win over Paraguay, and forward Josh Wolff is out with a torn meniscus, further reducing Arena's flexibility.

To Agoos, who has frequently been an international globe-trotter with the U. S. team, "It's really more of a scheduling issue than anything. To play three games in eight days, you need almost two different lineups. In a couple of previous Gold Cups, we had 22-man rosters, so we could do that."

There's no such luxury this time.

Free the banana cream 3!

[beachesl]

He speaketh the truth. US Soccer is to blame more than anyone, though.

[Crazy_Yank]

The marketing arm of the Gold Cup is in no way, shape, of form affliated with the USSF. They are a private company hired by concacaf (Warner) to run this tournament. They just happen to be an American company.

"Try not, do. Do or do not. There is no try" - Yoda