Bring on the best

U.S. gets World Cup champ, 3rd-place team at Confed Cup

Wednesday's Draw Group A 1. France 2. Japan 3. Colombia 4. New Zealand Group B 1. Brazil 2. United States 3. Cameroon 4. Turkey

SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) -- The United States was drawn Wednesday into the most difficult group of the FIFA Confederations Cup and will play World Cup champion Brazil, Turkey and Cameroon.

The Americans, coming off a quarterfinal finish in last year's World Cup, open against Turkey on June 19 at Saint-Etienne. The United States plays Brazil two days and Cameroon on June 23, both in Lyon.

"We are arguably in the toughest group in the Confederations Cup, and it will be a great challenge for the team," U.S. coach Bruce Arena said in Kingston, where the Americans played Jamaica in an exhibition game Wednesday night.

"We are excited about facing two opponents that are relatively unknown to us in Cameroon and Turkey, and, of course, playing against a familiar opponent in Brazil," Arena said. "It will be a great challenge for us and it will serve as great preparation for World Cup qualifying in 2004."

Turkey finished third in the World Cup, losing to Brazil in the semifinals and beating South Korea in the third-place game. Cameroon, the African champion, went 1-1-1 in the first round and was eliminated.

Brazil currently is ranked first in the world by FIFA, with Turkey seventh, the United States 10th and Cameroon 17th.

The Americans have beaten Brazil just once in 10 meetings, in the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Brazil was a guest in that tournament, the championship of North and Central America and the Caribbean.

The U.S. team has played Turkey just once, a tie at Istanbul in 1991, and has never played Cameroon.

The United States was drawn into Group B for the eight-nation tournament. Group A includes European champion France (ranked second), Asian champion Japan (22nd), South American champion Colombia (37th) and Oceania champion New Zealand (49th).

The top two teams in each group advance to the semifinals on June 26. The final is three days later at Saint-Denis.

The U.S. has played in two previous Confederations Cup tournaments, finishing third at the inaugural event in 1992 and again in 1999 in Mexico.

Arena guided the team to some of its most impressive results at Mexico '99. In Mexico, the U.S. finished second in a group that included New Zealand, Brazil and Germany on the strength of a commanding 2-0 win over Germany in the deciding match. The U.S. then lost 1-0 to Mexico in an overtime affair at Estadio Azteca before bouncing back and topping Saudi Arabia 2-0 in the third-place match.

Fixtures

    Wednesday, June 18
    Group A
 New Zealand   vs. Japan                      Paris
 France        vs. Colombia                    Lyon
    Thursday, June 19
    Group B
 Turkey        vs. United States         St Etienne
 Brazil        vs. Cameroon                   Paris
    Friday, June 20
    Group A
 Colombia      vs. New Zealand                 Lyon
 France        vs. Japan                 St Etienne
    Saturday, June 21
    Group B
 Cameroon      vs. Turkey                     Paris
 Brazil        vs. United States               Lyon
    Sunday, June 22
    Group A
 France        vs. New Zealand                Paris
 Japan         vs. Colombia              St Etienne
    Monday, June 23
    Group B
 Brazil        vs. Turkey                St Etienne
 United States vs. Cameroon                    Lyon
    Thursday, June 26
    Semifinals
 1-Group B     vs. 2-Group A                   Lyon
 1-Group A     vs. 2-Group B                  Paris
    Saturday, June 28
 3rd/4th place play-off                St Etienne
    Sunday, June 29
 Final                                      Paris

 

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