Checking in from Northern Ireland...

The U-20's are in Northern Ireland this week, where Thomas Rongen's side is competing in the 2008 edition of the Milk Cup. The Milk Cup is one of the premier youth tournaments in Europe, and scouts and teams from across the globe converge on Northern Ireland to take part.

The team arrived late last week and though they started the competition with a loss against Northern Ireland (white starting 11 picture), Rongen's team rebounded nicely to beat Wales, 4-0, yesterday (navy blue starting 11 picture).

Goals from Brek Shea (2), Peri Marosevic and Danny Cruz were more than enough for three points, as the U.S. defense held tight while not allowing the Welsh many opportunities.

The U.S. next faces Belgium on Friday in the Third place match of the Tournament.

You can check out video highlights and lots of great pictures and info at the Milk Cup website...

Happy Birthday Michael!

Michael Bradley celebrated the big 2-1 today, enjoying the afternoon off and then eating the best dinner we've had so far here in Hong Kong. Alfonso, our team administrator, arranged for some sushi and sashimi to go along with some sweet and sour chicken. You wouldn't believe the popularity of sushi with this group - The hotel staff couldn't refill the plates fast enough. There was also some chocolate cake and a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday from the whole team.

There was also some entertaining performances from Sacha and Stuart that capped off a great meal. While it's not a "traditional American" 21st birthday, it was pretty enjoyable.

Small Packages

This local woman stands about 4 feet 10 inches, so when she showed up on the team floor as a back specialist, it was a little surprising. The players who wanted a little extra work hopped on the table expecting a little TLC, but that's not exactly what they got.

Patrick Ianni, whose feet are pictured above, got some tough love. "I would never imagine a woman so tiny being so strong" he said, through his painful screams into the pillow.

(And in case you're wondering, those are the special Nike PreCool vests that we've been using to help keep body core temperatures down ... they were still wet from last night's game so they're drying in the training room closet.)

Post-Match Day

Well, by now you know that team came away with a scoreless draw against the Ivory Coast. In cae you missed it, you can read about the game here. And see some great action photos here, courtesy of our traveling photographers from ISI.

Today was a light day for the players training-wise, with only a recovery session in the pool standing between them and an afternoon of shopping in Hong Kong. Brian McBride, who is in the midst of his third trip here, served as the navigator for the local malls, willing and able to point other players in the right direction of whatever it was they were looking for.

And yes, his transfer to the Chicago Fire did finally become official yesterday, so congratulations to Brian and his new team!

Whoops!

Well, this could happen to anybody, right? That's why you play the tune up games before the tournament starts ... South Korea ended up winning this game 2-1, but don't bank on this kind of error happening when we play Ivory Coast tomorrow. We're guessing they worked on a few of these in training...

Phone Booths are the Past

Wi Fi booths are the future? In Hong Kong they are the present. On the way ride home from training we managed to snap a photo of this WiFi booth that seemingly replaced an outdated pay phone booth. Surely Superman can still change in one of these if he had to... (at least we hope so!)

Stadium Training

Today the team got its first glimpse at the aptly named Hong Kong Stadium, site of the two double headers of the ING Cup. The impressive-looking stadium holds about 40,000 and is expected to be about half full for tomorrow night's match against the Ivory Coast.

A Fit Fan

The team has picked up some fans during our stay in Kowloon, some of whom wait outside the hotel for the team to walk to the bus. They often just ask for autographs and photos with the players on the way across the bus, and sometimes they'll even have action shots of certain players for them to sign or even write personalized notes. Today one fan raised the bar - the team boarded the bus and started to drive away, so she - with a heavy-looking back pack on - chased the bus all the way to the highway, camera in hand and snapping photos. We're pretty sure she was trying to get extra shots of Robbie Rogers, and Robbie was nice enough to wave in appreciation. Her fitness was impressive. She kept up with the bus for about four blocks, and we were even hitting green lights....

A Yank Abroad

What could be more stereotypical than running into a fellow American at Starbucks? Well, that happened today as we found an U.S. fan living in Hong Kong and ordering a tall mocha right across the street from our team hotel. Recognizing the crest, he asked if we were with the U.S. team, knowing that we were in town for the ING Cup. He and a group of his American friends will be in attendance for tomorrow night's game against the Ivory Coast, and we hope he brings everyone he knows - the more USA fans the merrier!

Apparently there are over 60,000 Yanks living here in Hong Kong - hopefully we'll feel their presence at the stadium...

Change of Venue

Today the U.S. changed its training site to the Sun Wei Wen Stadium on the other side of town. As you can see, the stadium is in the shadows of some MASSIVE condo buildings, which seem to be the norm in this city of seven million people. Even though it's a bit smaller population-wise than New York City, it just feels so much bigger...

Global Icons

This afternoon Peter Nowak and Michael Bradley addressed media from all over the world at a press conference held at our host hotel - all four teams are staying here. We tell you this mostly because we really want to ask you if the photographer below is really sporting a David Beckham tattoo on his ankle?

CONCACAF Champions!

The U.S. U-17 WNT won the 2008 CONCACAF U-17 Women's Championship with a 4-1 win against Costa Rica. The team celebrated appropriately, drenching assistant coach Skender Gega with Gatorade (video to come).

The team also got a first-hand look at their first piece of hardward: the CONCACAF U-17 trophy and their gold medals