Friday, July 3, 2009

Gold Cup Preview


Soccer America's Ridge Mahoney previews the Gold Cup.

On the face of it, the task for the U.S. national team is simple: Start off defense of your Gold Cup title with a Fourth of July match in Seattle against one of the smallest nations in Concacaf. Except that things work differently in Concacaf, and though the days of guest competitors from other confederations and the wrong national anthems being played are things of the past, hopefully, just a few days before the tournament began came news of a curious development.

The USA meets Grenada Saturday (9 p.m. ET, Fox Soccer Channel, TeleFutura) at Qwest Field with a greatly revamped roster from the squad that finished second in the Confederations Cup, though seven of those players have been added to the 23-man roster submitted last week, as per an announcement that following discussions between Concacaf and U.S. Soccer, Concacaf decided that any nation competing in a Gold Cup played right after a Confederations Cup would be permitted to select game-day rosters of 18 from 30 players, not the standard 23.

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