USA to play South Africa
The U.S. national team is on the verge of announcing a friendly against 2010 World Cup host South Africa, set for Nov. 17th in South Africa.
A venue has yet to be chosen but the match is being dubbed the Mandela Challenge Cup. The date is an international fixture date but it is also taking place a day before MLS Cup, which means players taking part in MLS Cup would be unlikely to be called in.
The United States has not played South Africa since defeating the Bafana Bafana 4-0 in Washington D.C. on June 3, 2000. The match will also be the United States' first on the African continent since a 2-1 loss to Morocco on Nov. 17th 1999 (date sound familiar?).
USSF president Sunil Gulati would not confirm the report when contacted on Monday but on Sunday in Chicago he did drop a hint, stating that the US federation was looking to play in a lot of different continents.
The match will provide some invaluable experience for the U.S. team, which will play in the 2009 Confederation's Cup in South Africa and will be hoping to play in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
What do you think of this friendly? Share your thoughts below.
Sound great. I don't know a lot about South Africa Soccer but any game outside the US is good for our development. Added bonus of getting a feel for the environment ahead of the 2 tournaments we will be playing in there.
Posted by: adamw | September 10, 2007 at 03:55 PM
2 Thoughts
1)Thought the South African Federation already confirmed it.
2) Why the hell do they have to "Dub" these games anything. Its idiotic. Mandella Challenge Cup? I wasn't going to watch, but now that its the Mandella Challenge cup I definitely will!
Posted by: Dannyc58 | September 10, 2007 at 04:02 PM
Great. This will be the senior team debut for Jozy Altidore. Can't wait.
Posted by: MetroFlip73 | September 10, 2007 at 04:12 PM
If Feilhaber plays, it will be his 4th continent he played on this year
Posted by: Lawrence | September 10, 2007 at 04:17 PM
I'm sorry. That date doesn't sound familiar. :\
Posted by: Ceez | September 10, 2007 at 04:18 PM
Great news, USSF has really been stepping up their scheduling IMO.
Posted by: Trex | September 10, 2007 at 04:21 PM
Ceez, just pointing out that the Morocco game was the same date (Nov. 17th) as this South Africa game. Nothing more.
Posted by: Ives | September 10, 2007 at 04:23 PM
And I'm not sure if the SAF has confirmed it but the USSF has not confirmed or announced it yet. They will soon though.
Posted by: Ives | September 10, 2007 at 04:24 PM
>it is also taking place a day before MLS Cup, which means players taking part in MLS Cup would be unlikely to be called in.
Means Landon will be available.
(Snickers from a Quakes fan)
Posted by: Tony M | September 10, 2007 at 04:27 PM
Oh haha. Thanks Ives. I was Googling Nov 17, US Soccer, South Africa, etc. I even looked up those combinations on Wikipedia. Figured it was the day Nelson Mandela was arrested, made president, or something historic. Lol. Thanks for the clarification.
Posted by: Ceez | September 10, 2007 at 04:28 PM
What players might I recognize for South Africa other than Benny McCarthy?
Posted by: Justin | September 10, 2007 at 04:28 PM
Has the Catalonia game been canceled for sure? They've still got it listed as being upcoming on the USSF site.
Posted by: Kelly | September 10, 2007 at 04:28 PM
Old news.
Posted by: scaryice | September 10, 2007 at 05:09 PM
OK, so I was on vacation last week and actually missed the US-Brazil game. My DVR ran out of recording space! So I can't even watch that. Anyone know if I can watch the full game online somewhere?
HELP!
Much appreciated.
Posted by: Dominghosa | September 10, 2007 at 07:05 PM
South Africa is called the Bafana Bafana? That's funny and awesome at the same time. Makes me want to cheer for them. Why don't we have a cool nickname like that?
My suggestion: Gulati Gulati.
Posted by: Fireball | September 10, 2007 at 07:58 PM
Jozy won't be able to play in the South Africa fixture. Hopefully he'll be one of the players playing the next day in the MLS Cup.
Posted by: Wayne | September 10, 2007 at 09:02 PM
After the way the Red Bulls looked last night, that is not likely.
Posted by: toucan | September 10, 2007 at 09:20 PM
I wonder if Joseph Ngwenya will play. There's a good possibility he might be needed in MLS cup.
Posted by: Amit | September 10, 2007 at 09:21 PM
Amit-
Ngwenya is from Zimbabwe, not South Africa.
Posted by: Tom B. | September 10, 2007 at 09:27 PM
I've known about this game for literally 4-6 weeks. Why did it take the USMNT so long to make it official on this side of the world?
Posted by: ct | September 10, 2007 at 10:22 PM
FIFA already has this game listed on it's website for Nov. 17th.
Posted by: Eugene | September 11, 2007 at 12:45 AM
Awesome. African teams have a good style and play at a high tempo, but don't have the technical ability of SA and European teams. This should be a very even test for the Yanks. Can't wait!
Posted by: Steve W | September 11, 2007 at 03:53 AM
I hope the US could double the friendly with another one in Africa (a "revenge" with Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon with Eto'o) would be great.
Posted by: Franco S | September 11, 2007 at 06:08 AM
I like this one. We all like criticize US Soccer for alot of things, but one thing they have learned is that they can't expect to get better by scheduling friendlies against inferior competition and expect to get better. Unfortunately, we're not in the most competitive confederation, which means the only time we play really good teams is during the World Cup (and the 1 or 2 games against Mexico every year), if we want to make it to the next level, we have to keep playing teams like Brazil, and going to tough places to play like Sweden, Switzerland, and South Africa.
Posted by: Felix | September 11, 2007 at 07:50 AM
South Africa is a very inconsistent squad - beat Mexico in the Gold Cup in 2005 (at the Home Depot Center) but has the tendency to lose to African minnows on its home turf.
Posted by: nick | September 11, 2007 at 08:29 AM