Manuel Posted September 20, 2007 Share Posted September 20, 2007 It looks like there is a tournament going on in South Africa. US men's team will play South Africa in Johannesburg September 20, 2007 CHICAGO (AP) -- The U.S. men's national team will make its first trip to South Africa for the Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup on Nov. 17. The match will precede by eight days the qualifying draw for the 2010 World Cup, which will be staged in South Africa. ADVERTISEMENT The Mandela Challenge Cup, an annual event typically hosted in South Africa, began in 1994 and has seen South Africa face Brazil, Argentina, the Netherlands and Nigeria. "It is a great honor to be invited to participate in the Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup," said U.S. coach Bob Bradley. "South Africa has always had a talented team, and the match represents an excellent opportunity for our players to travel and play in South Africa." It will be a rare trip to Africa for the Americans, who will be playing on the continent for just the third time. Their last visit came eight years to the day before the November match, a 2-1 loss to Morocco in Marrakech. The only other trip to Africa was also against Morocco in 1992, when the U.S. fell 3-1 in Casablanca. As the 2007 Gold Cup champions, the U.S. team will represent CONCACAF in the 2009 Confederations Cup to be held in South Africa one year before the World Cup. On June 3, 2000, the United States beat South Africa 4-0 in their only other meeting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyola Posted September 20, 2007 Author Share Posted September 20, 2007 From what I understand the Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup is always a one game affair. So the USA game will be the only one of the Cup... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianSoccerFan Posted September 20, 2007 Share Posted September 20, 2007 It's certainly a long trip but it's a lot easier with there being no time change from Europe. As long as it's not red eye flights I don't see a huge problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gkhs Posted September 20, 2007 Share Posted September 20, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca Although that is not going to be an issue for the MLS, Norwegian & Swedish-based players as I believe their seasons will be over by tha time. The likely Houston v Toronto MLS Final could really complicate things. In all honesty it would suck to have to cheer against DeRo and Houston in the MLS playoffs...but its pretty vital that he gets to South Africa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianSwede Posted September 20, 2007 Share Posted September 20, 2007 The way i take it is that there won't be a game unless you can find it on the FIFA website and as of yet its not there. Lets hope for the best. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 I wouldnt say that. In May the fifa site had us listed as playing Honduras on June 1st but we played Venezuela on June 2nd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 Yeah, the FIFA site only gets updates when the various federations decide to send them in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianSwede Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 In any case, it would seem that Canada would be playing in South Africa because they (South Africa) are playing the US on the 17th and it would be ludicrous to think that they would fly all the way to Canada. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefoot Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 perhaps its a bit difficult to arrange in terms of two friendlies in different countries...in africa...but there has to be another national side that would like to host us for a game...if not..then a mini camp down in SA would be nice as well...same as the concacaf world...3rd world internationals...shoddy stadiums...unorganized...we better be prepared for these things as we head into qualifiers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 quote:Originally posted by CanadianSwede The way i take it is that there won't be a game unless you can find it on the FIFA website and as of yet its not there. Lets hope for the best. Cheers Its there: http://www.fifa.com/associations/association=can/fixturesresults/gender=m/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jeffery S. Posted September 23, 2007 Share Posted September 23, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Sigma "FIFA's information does not stem solely from official information from the associations or confederations, but also from third parties (media, private individuals). FIFA can therefore not vouch for the accuracy of the data in every case (especially regarding friendly matches). However we make it our duty to constantly verify unofficial data." The FIFA site isn't always the best source. But FIFA will usually only put up a match when both sides' federations officially inform them of their plans to play a friendly. Meaning they never do so on press rumours, of if one side is interested, only on information directly from the two FAs involved. Which for me makes it more reliable than a lot of other sources, since if it is there it is because both teams have officially told FIFA they want to play on that particular day with that country hosting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianSwede Posted September 23, 2007 Share Posted September 23, 2007 Its good to see the same is posted. I really hope that it will be televised, this match is going to be an excellent opportunity for the national team. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianSwede Posted September 23, 2007 Share Posted September 23, 2007 *Its good to the see the game posted*.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted September 23, 2007 Share Posted September 23, 2007 Mods: can you take off the TBC in the thread title? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianSwede Posted September 24, 2007 Share Posted September 24, 2007 Do you think that Canada realistically has a good chance of winning or coming out of this game with a draw? It will be interesting to see how the game goes. The Bafana Bafana as i recall are a quick team like many other African teams. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N-A Posted September 24, 2007 Share Posted September 24, 2007 If the team has enough time to train up to the match I think it should be an interesting match up. Here are the South Africa Matches for 2007 24/3/2007 Chad 0:3 (0:2) South Africa 28/3/2007 South Africa 0:1 (0:0) Bolivia 26/5/2007 Malawi 0:0 4:5 PSO South Africa 27/5/2007 South Africa 2:0 (1:0) Mauritius 2/6/2007 South Africa 4:0 (3:0) Chad 17/6/2007 Congo 1:1 (0:0) South Africa 22/8/2007 Scotland 1:0 (0:0) South Africa 09/9/2007 South Africa 1:3 (0:3) Zambia 12/9/2007 South Africa 0:0 Uruguay Nothing to special there. They have played South American teams and Scotland this year. So hopefully Canada can get a result here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 any chance this game will be televised? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane Rollins1555362254 Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 quote:Originally posted by leafdolfan any chance this game will be televised? Little, I suspect. Even less if you mean "televised live." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toronto Ruffrider Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 This is where Sportsnet has to step in. You can't brag about being the official network of the Canadian national team when you only sporadically broadcast national team games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toronto Ruffrider Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 FWIW, South Africa is only ranked 73rd in the world by FIFA. I know that the FIFA rankings are suspect at times, but I think we've got a good chance of getting a result from this match. All in all, I would be content with a draw, as long as our boys play a good game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 I have it in mind that South Africa is really struggling, but they out-played Scotland for the majority of that 1-0 loss. That was on the road the Scots are in good form. Playing them away will be a very good test. It's also an interesting change of pace from our normal friendlies and I think is better prep for CONCACAF than a lot of European opposition might be as far as style and tactics. I'm excited for this one. cheers, matthew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodfern2007 Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Toronto Ruffrider This is where Sportsnet has to step in. You can't brag about being the official network of the Canadian national team when you only sporadically broadcast national team games. I think Sportsnet has rights to broadcast games that are played in Canada only, not outside. Since soccer games involving Canada generally do not attract high ratings, there is no justification for them to spend extra wads of cash to broadcast those games. Anyway, when all is said and done, Canada still won't qualify for 2010. Nor possibly 2014. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soju Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Um, why won't we qualify? Because all the teams we were much better than in Gold Cup will suddenly morph into merciless scoring machines and our star players will drop off the map or did I miss a memo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhat Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Soju Um, why won't we qualify? Because all the teams we were much better than in Gold Cup will suddenly morph into merciless scoring machines and our star players will drop off the map or did I miss a memo? Yep, some people have these special crystal balls that could tell what's going to happen in 2010 or 2014 or 2018. Maybe these people have the balls to tell that to Julian De Guzman, Paul Stalteri, or Atiba Hutchinson, that all their efforts for the country are a waste of time. Yep, everyone's entitled to their own opinion ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toronto Ruffrider Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 quote:Originally posted by Soju Um, why won't we qualify? Because all the teams we were much better than in Gold Cup will suddenly morph into merciless scoring machines and our star players will drop off the map or did I miss a memo? I've noticed this phenomenon before. In 2000, Canada performed unbelievably well at the Gold Cup, only to struggle against below average competition in WCQ. The difference in competition between the two sets of matches IMO is that most countries put a lot more preparation into WCQ than the Gold Cup. Rather than calling up only a few star players, most CONCACAF nations will call up their best team possible for qualifying. These teams will also prepare more for qualifying, playing more friendlies and holding more camps. When WCQ does start, countries such as Guatemala, Honduras or T&T are at the absolute peak of their level of play. In contrast, the CSA does little to prepare Canada for WCQ. Rather than playing a bunch of matches before qualifying, the CMNT is lucky just to get in the odd match beforehand. This lack of preparation shows right from the get-go, as Canada struggles to find its timing, resulting in sloppy defensive errors and easily-blown scoring opportunities. The bad officiating and rampant cheating in our region don't help at all, but even without these problems we would have struggled in past qualifying campaigns. Unfortunately, the our nation's potential for qualifying for the next World Cup depends on how the CSA handles the team. Our backward national soccer organisation has to do a better job treating our players, and that means that it should schedule more games and more camps for our MNT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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