U.S. Men: USA to host Germany Feb. 6 in Jacksonville

In what will be the team’s first home match of 1999, the U.S. men’s national team will play World Cup quarterfinalist Germany in an international friendly on Feb. 6 at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The game is a rematch of the USA’s 1998 World Cup opener against Germany and will be televised live on ABC at 1 p.m. ET. It will be the Americans’ first match after competing in the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup in Mexico, where they will face New Zealand, Brazil and a yet-to-be-determined European team (World Cup champion France has withdrawn from the competition). “The Florida soccer community has been a great supporter of all of our U.S. national team programs for many years, so it is always wonderful be able to schedule games in this area of the country,” said U.S. Soccer secretary general Hank Steinbrecher. “We have a short window early in the year to get in a number of competitive matches prior to the 1999 Major League Soccer season (which opens in March), so this will be a critical evaluation period for our new head coach and his players.” The United States is undefeated in their two prior matches played in Jacksonville — a 1-1 tie with Moldova on April 16, 1994 at Wolfson Park and a 2-1 win over Israel on June 17, 1997 at Alltel Stadium. The U.S. Soccer Federation is holding discussions with Germany to make the match a doubleheader between the U.S. Under-23 National Team and the German Under-21 squad. An invitation has been extended by U.S. Soccer and is currently under consideration by the DFB. Though they are categorized in different age groups, the two youth teams feature players of comparable ages that are attempting to qualify for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Tickets for the match range from $10-$28 and go on sale Oct. 29 at 10 a.m. (ET) and can be purchased at all TicketMaster outlets or by calling (904) 353-3309. Advanced purchase discounts are also available. Germany is also scheduled to face Colombia in a friendly on Feb. 9 at the Orange Bowl in Miami. Ticket information for that match will be released in the coming weeks.