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jinpan1234
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Mar 20 2014, 07:35 AM
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SAO PAULO - Landon Donovan says the United States will head to the World Cup with its most experienced group of players, giving the Americans a "real chance" to do well at this years tournament. As the U.S. finishes a week-and-a-half training camp in the host country, Donovan said American players have enough confidence and experience to confront more traditional World Cup teams heading into a first round that includes matches against Germany, Portugal and Ghana. "I think the experience that we have now far exceeds the experience that we ever had with any team, and that lines up to give us a real chance," Donovan said Thursday. "We are confident in how we play. We are confident in what we do. Our guys have had enough experiences against all of these players, against teams like Ghana, Portugal, Germany. ... We feel confident that we can get results against them, and thats a nice feeling going into a World Cup." The U.S. opens against Ghana on June 16, plays Cristiano Ronaldos Portugal six days later and closes the group stage against Germany on June 26. The Americans will be playing in their seventh straight World Cup, and Donovan is heading to his fourth. "Theres never been competition for places like there is in our team now," the midfielder said during a news conference. "You can really make a case for probably 35 or 40 guys to be a part of a 23-man roster, and thats never been the case. Its really up for grabs in a lot of positions, and that in itself obviously creates competition, which makes the team better." Donovan, who turns 32 in March, said the U.S. team is more respected by opponents. "The reason its the group of death is because we are in it," he said. "In the past, it would have been a relatively easier group for Germany or Ghana or Portugal because they had us in it. But now, because we are in it, it makes it one of the most difficult groups in the tournament." Donovan said the first goal remains to reach the knockout stage of the 32-nation tournament. "Our expectations, like most teams, are to get out of the group," he said. "We are aware that we have a difficult group, but the expectation is that we can do it and we are going to try to get out of our group, just like most teams in this World Cup. That is the objective. That is the goal. But we feel good about where we are at." German coach Jurgen Klinsmann brought 26 players to this training camp get acclimated to the teams World Cup base in South Americas biggest city. The team, mostly with players from Major League Soccer, will play an exhibition against South Korea on Feb. 1 at Carson, Calif. "Weve been very lucky to have two weeks here in Sao Paulo," Donovan said. "Its been very nice to have a couple of weeks to adapt to what its going to be like this summer. When we come back we have a comfort level. We know the people, the club, the training facilities. It makes it a lot easier. You get a feeling for what its like here, and it helps a lot." Klinsmann is expected to visit the Arena da Amazonia on Friday in the jungle city of Manaus, where the U.S. will play Portugal. <a href="http://wholesalejerseyschinaauthentic.com/">Wholesale NFL Jerseys</a>. Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., has a long way to go if he is to somehow reach the year-end event starting in Monday London, which is limited to the best eight on the ATP Tour. Raonic stands a provisional 11th in the points race and must reach the final at the Bercy arena on Sunday if he is to have a chance to book a ticket to London. <a href="http://wholesalejerseyschinaauthentic.com/">Wholesale Authentic Jerseys</a>. The Vancouver Canucks made themselves better this year by improving their defence and adding depth on their third line. http://wholesalejerseyschinaauthentic.com/. Former Wallaby Lote Tuqiri and New Zealander Jamie Henry, with his debut try for the Cherry Blossoms, scored for Japan. Nathan Hiryama replied for Canada, who had Chauncy OToole sent to the sin bin during the 14-10 loss. <a href="http://wholesalejerseyschinaauthentic.com/">Wholesale Stitched Jerseys</a>. The Vancouver centre scored two goals Saturday as the Canucks beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 the final pre-season game for both teams. <a href="http://wholesalejerseyschinaauthentic.com/">Wholesale Jerseys China</a>. -- K.J. Choi opened with five straight birdies.FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Saer Sene scored in the 34th minute and the New England Revolution had four goals in second half on the way to a 5-0 victory over the two-time defending MLS champion Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday. New England goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth made five saves for his third consecutive shutout and sixth overall this season. He extended his shutout streak to 305 minutes. The Revolution (5-4-4) extended their unbeaten streak to 3-0-1, allowing just one goal during that stretch. Lee Nguyen scored in the 71st minute, Diego Fagundez in the 87th, and Chad Barrett and Kelyn Rowe in stoppage time for New England. Los Angeles (6-5-2) was shut out for the fourth time this season and fell to 2-2 over its last four matches and 2-4-1 on the road this season. Sene, appearing in just his eighth match of the season and first as a starter since recovering from off-season ACL surgery, got the Revolutioon on the board in the first half with his first goal of the season.dddddddddddd He perfectly executed a give-and-go sequence of passes with Fagundez and pushed a left-footed shot into the far left corner past Galaxy goalie Carlo Cudicini. Nguyen go his second goal this season, sending a ground-hugging shot from inside the penalty box area to the lower left corner of the net. Fagundez extended his goal-scoring streak to four matches, finishing off a nice pass on the left side from Kelyn Rowe. Then Rowe set up Barretts first goal of the season scored himself two minutes later on a defensive breakdown. The Galaxy put extended pressure on New England early in the match with four corner kicks over the first 20 minutes and five good scoring chances over the first 26 minutes. The Galaxys best bid came off of an indirect kick by Juninho in the 78th minute, which was foiled by Shuttleworth. ' ' '
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