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Ranked 4th in the latest (April 2006) FIFA World Football Ranking, USA Football Team is surely a dark horse in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, starting on June 09, 2006 in Munich, Germany. The team reached to quarterfinals in the 2002 World Cup by beating teams like Portugal and Mexico in group play and second round mathces, and lost narrowly (1-0) to Germany in the quarterfinal. USA hosted the 1994 World Cup and reached up to the second round stage. The current USA football team is one of the strongest and most difficult sides to beat, even by the world champions. A giant Nike billboard in New York City with a message " The World No Longer Wants to Play US " goes on to show the confidence and popularity of the US team among the people.
The USA World Cup 2006 squad is a good mix of old campaigners like Brian McBride and Claudio Reyna and promising young talents such as DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan, having enough power to beat the world's best teams. | Gone are the days when the US football team was considered a second-tier team, and today the United States have emerged as a force to be reckoned with, qualifying for the last five FIFA World Cup finals. The FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany will be the 8th world cup appearance for the US team, and coach Bruce Arena and captain Claudio Reyna have their squad ready to rumble. In the FIFA World Cup 2006, USA is placed in Group E, along with strong Italy, Ghana, and the Czech Republic. The US team will play its first match against Czech Republic at Gelsenkirchen on 12 June, 2006. With the good talent the current US squad has, it just might reach to quarters, semis, or even final and win the world cup.
The current US football team has world-class goalkeepers, and highly efficient defenders, midfielders and strikers. The key players to watch in the US team during 2006 World Cup, include the goalkeeper Kasey Keller, strikers Brian McBride and Brian Ching; excellent midfielders Landon Donovan and Claudio Reyna; and veteran defender Eddie Pope. McBride is the second all-time top scorer in the US scoring history, while Landon Donovan is among the fastest and strongest midfielder in the world. The chances of US in the 2006 World Cup heavily depend on these two world cup veterans. Among newcomers strikers Brian Ching and Eddie Johnson, and midfielder DaMarcus Beasley hold great promise for US team in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
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