US looks to qualify in Chicago

Get excited about David Beckham? Wish you could have seen Barcelona play Manchester United for the Union of European Football Associations Champions League championship? Think excitement about soccer can only be found overseas?

You might want to think again.

On Saturday, the action comes to the Midwest with Soldier Field playing host to the United States Men’s National Team versus Honduras in the third and final home World Cup qualifying match for the U.S men, and some members of the IU soccer team will be tuning in.

To qualify for the World Cup, the United States must finish among the top three teams after three rounds of qualifying matches. Although currently ranked No. 1 in its pool, the United States faces a formidable opponent in Honduras, which is ranked No. 3 in the pool.

And to spice up this already important match, Honduras is responsible for handing the U.S men their last World Cup qualifying loss in the states in 2001.  

The match will also boast quite a crowd for a traditionally ignored sport in America. According to ussoccer.com, more than 40,000 tickets have been purchased. But several of IU’s own will not be attending the match.

IU coach Mike Freitag said that even though he follows the men’s national team consistently and has done so for “years and years and years,” coaching duties would prevent his attendance.

Another member of the men’s soccer team, senior defender Ofori Sarkodie, will also stay in Bloomington.  

Although he won’t be at the match, Sarkodie will still be watching from home. Sarkodie said he follows every single game, and he has a more personal relationship with the national team players than the average viewer.  

Sarkodie played with youth phenomenon Freddy Adu, as well as with Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore, while on the Under-20 National Team. Sarkodie and Altidore were also teammates on the Under-17 National Team.  

Although still playing college ball, Sarkodie plans on joining his former teammates one day. Sarkodie said he wants to play for both the U.S. National and Olympic teams, and play professional soccer either overseas or in the United States as well.  

Sarkodie said he could not predict how far the national team would go, assuming they made the World Cup. He said because the team is well-coached and contains many talented and experienced players from both overseas and Major League Soccer teams, the team is capable of competing against anyone.

But Sarkodie also said, at this high level of play, it is always one game at a time, so he could not truly give a prediction.  

The game will begin at 7:15 p.m. Saturday. With the U.S. men’s team having a 3-3-2 all-time record at Soldier Field and a potential World Cup spot at stake, it could prove to be a very competitive match.