TV Schedule

Here's the TV schedule for the U.S. first-round games:

U.S. v. Czech Republic, June 12, 11:55 a.m. ET, ESPN2 and Univision
U.S. v. Italy, June 17, 2:30 p.m. ET, ABC and Univision
U.S. v. Ghana, June 22, 9:55 a.m. ET, ESPN and Univision

We sense a spike in soccer fans calling in "sick" on these days...

Here's the rest of the World Cup television schedule.

We're Ready! Is the U.S. national team?

It is now a mere 10 days until we fly over the pond to Amsterdam, and we have everything we need, except the things we'll inevitably forget to bring. The rehab of Randy's injured foot progresses well and he looks to be fit for the World Cup should Bruce Arena need to call on him. (With Frankie Hejduk and Cory Gibbs falling to knee injuries, you never know...)

So we're ready - but is the U.S.? Their unimaginative display in the 1-0 loss to Morocco last Tuesday was not encouraging. They were sharper against Venezuela, especially Bobby Convey, but it was Venezuela after all. Tonight they face Latvia in a match (according to Steven Goff's article in the Washington Post today) Arena said was more for marketing purposes than anything and one he'd rather not play. And Claudio Reyna and John O'Brien are, as usual, not fit. Let's hope their health improves by June 12.

To prepare fans for the World Cup, National Geographic has a great collection of articles in this month's issue, adapted from The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup. Nick Hornby contributes an entertaining feature on England. Thanks to Bob Wendell and Reid Prentice for forwarding this to us.

And speaking of great articles, here's a fun piece in this past week's issue of Time, by Franklin Foer (author of the excellent How Soccer Explains the World) about the Champions League final between Arsenal and Barcelona.

18 days and counting

We have our backpacks. We have little bottles of shampoo. We have our US jerseys (Randy's is #20, Brian McBride; mine is blank). We have our reservations and our name-stamped match tickets containing microchips to ensure that only we can use them. We have guidebooks. We've been listening to German for Travelers cds from the library. We're psyched to eat sausage and drink riesling and beer. Sounds like we're ready...

Here's our itinerary.

W/June 7
Leave for Amsterdam @ 6:35pm
Arrive London Heathrow @ 6:55am
Depart London Heathrow @ 8:40am
Arrives Amsterdam @ 10:50am

Th/June 8 Amsterdam
Hotel Acacia

Su/June 11 Train to Essen (closest hotel we couuld find to Gelsenkirchen)
Essen
Hotel Hasselkuss

Susannah’s birthday!

Mo/June 12 US vs. Czech Republic in Gelsenkirchen

Tu/June 13 Train to Bonn
Bonn
Eschweiler Galeriehotel

Fr/June 16 Train to Landstuhl
Landstuhl
Airhotel Royal

Sa/June 17 US vs. Italy in Kaiserslautern

Su/June 18 Train to Prague
Prague
Merlin Hotel

W/June 21 Train to Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Hotel-Gasthof Schlotzer

Th/June 22 US vs. Ghana in Nuremberg

Fr/June 23 Train to Frankfurt
Depart Frankfurt @ 3:30pm
Arrive London Heathrow @ 4:05pm
Departs London Heathrow @ 7:40pm
Arrive DC @ 10:35pm