Soccer Stoppage Time

Mls Tickets - Mls Players Gear Up For World Cup

The MLS season is set to kick off later in March, and while the top players are making waves with their respective teams, they will have another goal in mind. This summer, a selection of top players will be playing on soccer's biggest stage: the World Cup. This year's World Cup kicks off in June, and the world's attention is already turning toward the biggest games of the year.

The final roster has yet to be set, but the U.S. soccer team has lined up a series of friendlies with other countries in order to determine who should make the final cut. MLS players are sure to end up on the final roster, but fans can see them here in the U.S. by getting MLS tickets from StubHub.com.

The first friendly game kicked off on Jan. 23 when the U.S. men's team hosted the Honduras National Team. Honduras came out on top 3-1, making the U.S. men hungry for a win. Victory didn't elude them on Feb. 24, when they went up against the El Salvador National Team. The U.S. Men's National Team took home the win by topping El Salvador. The team was without its stars playing abroad in Europe, but MLS greats stepped in to finish the job. After El Salvador took the lead, Houston Dynamo star Brian Ching shot in the tying goal. He also had an assist on Chivas USA's Sacha Kljestan's winning goal in stoppage time.

On March 3, the European stars were back—and needed—against a third-ranked Netherlands men's team. It wasn't enough, though, as the Dutch team took home a 2-1 win over the U.S. men's team. Both teams fought hard in the first half, but Dirk Kuyt gave the Netherlands the lead before the half, and Klaas Jan Huntelaar had another in the second half of the game. The U.S. Men's National Team's only goal came from Carlos Bocanegra late in the game. The bright spots of the game, though, came in the stats. The U.S. team had more shots (11 versus 10), less fouls (18 versus 23) and yellow cards (0 versus 2). MLS Players can now focus on their respective teams for a couple of months before World Cup play heats up again.

The Men's National Team will be on a break until the end of May, when they will have two warm-up matches against the Czech Republic and Turkey. The Czech Republic game will be on May 26, with the Turkey matchup following on May 29. The team begins World Cup play in South Africa on June 12 against England. They follow with games against Slovenia on June 18 and Algeria on June 23. England, U.S.A., Algeria and Slovenia make up Group C of World Cup Play. The teams will be ranked based on their group performance, with the top two teams moving on to the Round of 16. In the Round of 16, they will be up against the top two teams from Group D, which is made up of Germany, Serbia, Ghana and Australia.

About the Author

This article was written by Julie Cudney and is sponsored by StubHub.com.  StubHub sells tickets to sporting events, concerts and theater productions.  Go to StubHub.com for MLS tickets.

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