A good week of soccer ahead

With the bruises from the US World Cup ticket draw still fresh, we look ahead to what this week in soccer has to offer us. Thankfully, there is a great deal of action (and a lot of it is American) to give us some joy.

Tomorrow (Jan 18) sees the US Women begin the 2006 Four Nations Tournament in China. Their first game against Norway should see Kristine Lilly (pictured) get her 300th cap for the US. FIFA will commemorate the historic achievement as Mr. Makudi Worawi of Thailand, the Chairman of the Committee for Women’s Football and FIFA Women’s Competitions, will travel to China and be on hand to make a special presentation to Lilly.

This tournament will take place in Guangzhou, China. The US Women are very fond of this location as it was the site where they won the 1991 Women's World Cup. Oh, Lilly was a player for the '91 team.

Here is a list of games and local times for them:
Jan 18 - USA vs Norway - 12:30am EST
Jan 20 - USA vs France - 12:30am EST
Jan 22 - USA vs China - 3am EST

Too bad non of these games will be aired on US television.

On Friday, the MLS gets action going again thanks to their MLS SuperDraft. The event will take place in Philadelphia from noon - 5pm EST.

Marvell Wynne seems set to be the number one pick over all, but who knows what could happen. To follow the events leading up to the draft and to watch it live on Friday, look over here.

Expect to see a lot of shuffling happen between now and Friday.

Also on Friday, the African Nations Cup begins in Egypt. This is always a fun tournament to watch as there are always surprises. From a US prospective, it will be interesting to see how Ghana plays. They will be without star midfielder and captain Michael Essien (injury), so it will not be a full example of what the Black Stars can do, but it will still be worth a watch.

Here is the tournament's home page for more information.

Finally, the week ends up with the US men playing their first match of 2006. The US will play Canada at Torero Stadium in San Diego. Much like the women's event in China, this one does not look like it will be on television, which is a shame as it will be our first good look at more then a few players.