Nothing to see here, folks. The entire post was based on a something Brian Ching said, and it turns out it was a false alarm. I should probably just delete this and pretend it never happened.
On the most recent episode of The American Soccer Show (download here; relevant bit starting at 19:10), US international Brian Ching noted that he hoped to be called in for "Holland and Germany". Both Zach and I missed it at the time, unfortunately, or we might have followed up. The Holland match has been confirmed, and will take place March 3rd in Amsterdam; but Ching's reference to Germany is the first time such a match has been mentioned anywhere. Is it possible?
Did Ching misspeak? Or is USSF working on a match with Germany that only the players know about?
To this point, I have been unable to find any other reference to the match, and US Soccer has not responded to requests for comment.
If there is a Germany friendly in the cards, it can only happen in April; the German FA has lined up a string of matches for their side leading up to June, with every month between now and then having at least one scheduled game, then two send-off matches in May:
Source
The Americans on the other hand, much to the consternation of their fan base, have no matches planned after the March 3rd showdown with the Netherlands in Amsterdam:
Source
None of that, of course, is evidence of anything. I'm just trying to place Ching's comment, since it came so out of the blue (enough so that neither Zach nor I caught it while conducting the interview).
When contacted for comment, the German FA responded by pointing to a scheduled USWNT match with Germany on May 22nd, so it would appear that either something got lost in translation or they were being intentionally evasive.
If and when US Soccer does get back to me, I'll update this post. I'm not hopeful that they'll confirm what Ching said, though if there is a match either scheduled or in the works, we might expect a non-denial denial.
A Germany friendly would certainly make me happy, with the clear need for tough competition before South Africa of paramount concern. The Netherlands game is a nice start, but the clock is ticking on World Cup kickoff, and Bradley needs more opportunities in the months to come to test his squad and make final adjustments.
*UPDATE 2/9*
Per Brian Ching on Twitter, his mention of a Germany match was a mistake. False alarm.
