Soccer birthdays: Tottenham Hotspur and Clint Dempsey teammate Ledley King turns 31. (He’s in that picture, we swear.) The defender, who barely trains due to knee problems, played the first 45 minutes of England’s World Cup match against the United States. He suffered a groin injury and came out at halftime, before Dempsey magically willed the ball past Robert Green. We bet that makes for fun locker room conversation.
Also, Cüneyt Köz -- who has the most amazing name ever -- turns 20. Get this: The current Dynamo Dresden defender made his debut for his former club, FC Bayern Munich II, in 2010, replacing none other than the New England Revolution’s Saër Sène. It’s all very strange.
Big Important Stories of the Day: In case you haven’t heard, the United States men’s national team plays THE MOST IMPORTANT GAME IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD tonight. It is, at the very least, the most importnat fixture the Stars and Stripes have ever played in Antigua & Barbuda.
The actual importance lies somewhere between those two extremes. Mostly, we’d just like to get to tonight so we can stop writing and start watching.
RASNoD (Random American Soccer Name of the Day): Paul Caligiuri. Could the U.S. use a little of his magic tonight?
*Ahead on the blog today: Other than the U.S.-Antigua? Plenty. There are like a million other excellent World Cup qualifiers and friendlies going on throughout the day. The other Davis and Farley are on watch. These men don’t sleep. Ever.
What you should watch on TV today: I’m not even going to answer that. You know.
If CONCACAF’s final qualifying round started today:
- Guatemala
- United States
- Mexico
- El Salvador
- Panama
- Honduras
Outside looking in: Jamaica, Costa Rica, Canada
Background noise while we’re blogging: The Jamaican national anthem. Sorry, but it’s amazing.
We’ll leave you with this: Predictions for the match against Antigua & Barbuda? I’ll go 2-0 U.S.
*Always subject to change; you know how it is