For European countries, the lst stage of World Cup preparations begins March 1st. Unlike the US, Mexico, Japan, etc., the European countries have been in the middle of league play and March 1st is the first international friendly date. It will be their first opportunity to gather together in their national teams this year, and our first opportunity to gauge the form of some of the favorites for the Cup.
Or not. Because as with any other sport, scrimmages are almost entirely useless as indicators of how well a team is playing. So even though the particpants will be taking proceedings with more seriousness than they would your average meaningless friendly, you should take results along with a whole punch bowl's worth of salt.
That being said, there are some tasty matchups on the menu. Tastiest of all for me is Germany vs. Italy: two traditional powers each with something to prove. Some other intriguing matches between qualifiers include Spain vs Cote D'Ivoire, Croatia vs. Argentina, Mexico vs. Ghana, and of course US vs. Poland. The latter two will be on free TV here in the States, as will the England Uruguay match. Squad announcements are starting to trickle out and will I'm sure be continuing this week..
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