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Hey everyone. Welcome to a very special edition of "The
Daily." I'm Greg Lalas, alongside Alexi Lalas.
We are standing in front of the soccer field at Belle Isle here in Detroit.
It's an island. It's right in the middle of the Detroit River.
Behind us is actually the grass that was used inside the Silver Dome in 1994 at the World
Cup. Alexi, it must bring back some great memories
to see this grass. I can't believe it's been 17 years.
It looked a little different last time I was standing on it.
It's been a long time since Detroit has had a soccer game.
So not only good memories, but I'm also excited about the game tonight as the US kicks off
it's Gold Cup run against Canada. Once again, in an indoor facility at Ford
Field. They're bringing grass in.
I don't know where that grass is gonna go, but this is pretty cool.
The US of course, back in Detroit. A lot of soccer buzz going on in the city
right now. They're expecting a decent crowd to come over
from Canada as well. You can't really see it, but it's actually
right over there on the other side of the river.
What are the keys to this game for the United States?
They're coming off that loss from Spain. We've heard for the last couple days how they
put that loss away for them. This is a good Canada team though.
It is. They put the loss away, but they also use
it as fuel, the loss to Spain. They're coming up against a Canada team that's
gonna match them physically. So win the physical battle.
Then rely on the fact that they are better individually and collectively.
This US team, in terms of their skill. Rely on the great players that they have.
They gotta win the physical battle first, because you know Canada is gonna come with
all guns blazing. A big mix in that is the mix of veterans and
the youngsters. There's a couple of new, young players in
this US team. Carlos Bocanegra, veteran defender for the
US, actually talked about what the veterans can do to help the new guys.
In these tournaments, maybe the guys like Tim and Juan and Alejandro, who haven't been
through a tournament, per-say, like this: where it's a Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday...
The quick turnarounds. It's not so much leaning.
I think it's, you know, everybody speaks and shares their past experiences.
How it was in the last Gold Cup. How it was in Confederations Cup.
We have a good group here. It's been great for us, and a good core veteran
group. The rookies would come in.
They work hard. They want to be a part of it, and they're
becoming a part of the group really quickly. We're confident with this group.
The US, Canada game is at 8:00pm Eastern time on Fox Soccer.
We will also have a live chat during that game, here on mlssoccer.com, kicking off around
8:00. Now Alexi, there was other Gold Cup action
last night. In Group B, Honduras and Guatemala played
to an ugly nil-nil draw. Actually, Guatemala down to 9 men, and Honduras
were missing several of their starters including Wilson Pilacios.
In the early game though, out in Los Angeles, Jamaica put on a clinic.
4-nil over Grenada. Yeah, lots of goals in this Gold Cup so far.
Big scoring in terms of the games. We talked a lot about the MLS influence in
this Gold Cup. You talk about Jamaica.
Ryan Johnson getting a goal. Dean Richards assisting.
Donovan Ricketts starting in goal. So it's wonderful to see these MLS players
being with their national teams, and actually playing well in these games.
Looking good. If you want to check out any of the highlights
from those games, you can check out concacaf.com. They have full highlights from every Gold
Cup match. Here at mlssoccer.com, we're going to have
complete coverage of the Gold Cup. We're going to be at every venue in every
city. I'll be here in Detroit tonight.
Again, don't forget that live chat at 8pm Eastern time here at mlssoccer.com
Lex, let's move on to some MLS news. Some big news out of Philadelphia right now,
where things are going very well. Union are on top of the Eastern Conference.
They are having great crowds out of PPO Park. Now they're looking to expand the stadium.
They're getting the results. Peter Novak, I think has done a tremendous
job in getting the right type of players out there.
Great defense. It's interesting to see also, Carlos Ruiz.
When he's playing, and when he's not playing. The difference in the way that the team plays.
Certainly, the attacking power that comes when Carlos Ruiz isn't on the field.
He's still an important part of that team. He's off at that Gold Cup in Guatemala right
now, and Philadelphia rolling without the little fish at this point.
Some other MLS news. Nick Garcia, the long-time veteran defender,
who was with Kansas City for a very long time, is back training with Sporting.
Sporting, opening up at LiveStrong Sporting Park on Thursday night.
Is Nick Garcia a good fit for this team again, or no?
Look, Nick Garcia wants to kick some people. He's back training.
He's back with Kansas City. I think that when you bring a guy like him
back, you are looking for experience. Looking for a maturity and understanding about
what Major League Soccer is. While it's nice to have a brand new stadium,
Kansas City has got to get these wins. They got a lot of work to do, and maybe Peter
Vermes is looking to bring some veteran leadership in.
One of the mainstays with Kansas City over the last year or so, Stephane Auvray is in
action tonight in the Gold Cup. Guadalupe will be taking on Panama in the
first game. Second game, again, USA vs. Canada.
That will be at 8pm Eastern time on Fox Soccer. We'll have a live chat here on mlssoccer.com
That's it for "The Daily" from Detroit. We'll have a little bit more tommorrow.