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.