Prelude to South Africa
Confederations Cup Tourney kicks off next week
By Nick Barbaro, 6:31AM, Fri. Jun. 12, 2009
The Confederations Cup, the eighth quadrennial World Cup prelude, starts in South Africa this week – with the U.S. drawn into a very tough group with Brazil, Italy, and Egypt.
ESPN and ESPN2 are showing most of the games, including U.S.-Italy, 1:30pm Monday, June 15, U.S.-Brazil, 9am Thursday, June 18, and U.S.-Egypt, 1:30pm Sunday, June 21.
In World Cup Qualifying this week, the U.S. men lost 3-1 at Costa Rica, then fell behind early at home against Honduras, before coming back for a 2-1 win, and once again making qualification look relatively safe.
Elsewhere, Mexico stumbled to their third loss in four games, and Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Holland all qualified for the finals in South Africa, as Saturday and Wednesday were the last major game days until September.
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