US to face Egypt in Cairo in Feb. 9 friendly date Bradley hails Pharaohs as key opponent in readying for Gold Cup The US national team will travel to Cairo to face African champions Egypt in a friendly on Feb. 9, the US Soccer Federation announced on Monday. The match against the No. 10-ranked Pharaohs marks the second game for the US in 2011 as they prepare for next summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup. The No. 24-ranked Americans also take on Chile at the Home Depot Center on Jan. 22. “Egypt is an extremely talented and competitive team,” US head coach Bob Bradley said in a statement. “Their performances in the Confederations Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations have demonstrated their ability to challenge the top teams in the world. To play against the champions of Africa in what will be a fantastic environment in Cairo is a great opportunity as we get ready for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.” The match will mark the third meeting between the two countries. The US won the first fixture 3-1 in South Korea in 1987, and prevailed 3-0 during the 2009 Confederations Cup. That victory helped the American squad advance to the semifinals of the tournament, where they shocked No. 1 Spain before falling to Brazil in the final. http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/us-face-egypt-cairo-feb-9-friendly-date
So there's some shit going down in Egypt and the friendly has been cancelled. Extensive news analysis by me there.
While obviously Egypt is the bigger story here, this will have some considerable impact on the USMNT. We'll be going into the match against Argentina basically flying blind as we haven't had the full squad together since October. That, of course, was before Teal Bunbury decided to be American and Juan Agudelo emerged as a guy worth a serious look on the full squad. Ideally, we'd be able to see how a midfield of Jones/Edu, Bradley and Holden works with Donovan and Dempsey on the wings and Altidore in the middle. Now we'll be waiting until March.
