USMNT opens Hex against El Tri

Yep, it's just about time for Gooch to get his glare on.

The schedule for the final round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying has been drawn, with the Red, White & Blue slated to host arch rivals Mexico on Matchday One, which is February 11th.

The full USMNT dance card:

Wednesday 11 February - USA v Mexico
Saturday 28 March - El Salvador v USA
Wednesday 1 April - USA v Trinidad & Tobago
Wednesday 3 June - Costa Rica v USA
Saturday 6 June - USA v Honduras
Wednesday 12 August - Mexico v USA
Saturday 5 September - USA v El Salvador
Wednesday 9 September - Trinidad & Tobago v USA
Saturday 10 October - Honduras v USA
Wednesday 14 October - USA v Costa Rica

And lest anyone forget (I know I did until now), the 2009 Confederations Cup draw is also today, and you can follow it live at FIFA.com in a few hours. The teams coming out of the bowl for this June tourney will be Brazil, Egypt, Iraq, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain and the USMNT.

I will add those draw results to this post when they are known.

UPDATE: The United Stated were drawn into a group with Brazil, Egypt and world champs Italy.

They will open Confederations Cup play against Italy in Tshwane/Pretoria on June 15th, tackle Brazil in the same city three days later and close the group agenda against Egypt in Rustenburg on the 21st.

The full (rather lopsided) draw:

Group A
Iraq, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain

Group B
Brazil, Egypt, Italy, USA


- Greg Seltzer