For Tom Sermanni's Debut, U.S. Women Will Play Two Games Against Scotland In February

I'm not sure if it's just a happy coincidence or that they planned it that way but for Tom Sermanni's first two games as the U.S. women's national team's head coach, he'll face the county of his birth: Scotland. You know that the U.S. will probably take on Australia (his previous team) at some point in the next year too if I had to guess.

They also represent the first matches of 2013 for the U.S. as they'll meet Scotland on Saturday, February 9 at EverBank Field (home of the Jaguars) in Jacksonville, Florida followed by Wednesday, February 13 at LP Field (home of the Titans) in Nashville, Tennessee. It will be the fourth time overall that the U.S. women have played in Tennessee and first time since 2004 (Canada). The game in Jacksonville begins at 5 p.m. and the broadcasting information for both matches will come out at a later time.

The U.S. has only faced Scotland once before, an 8-2 win by the Americans in September 2002 that included a hat trick by Abby Wambach (first of her career) and Mia Hamm (last of her career). Speaking of Wambach and Hamm, Abby is only six goals shy of Mia's record for most goals in the history of international soccer (158).

You can expect a similar scoreline this time around since the U.S. is the top team in the world while Scotland couldn't qualify for the 2012 European Championships-they fell to Spain in a two-game playoff. The Americans finished 28-1-3 in a wildly successful 2012 that included a gold medal at the London Olympics and simultaneously revenge against Japan who had beaten them at the 2011 World Cup.

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U.S. Men Set To Dominate in 2012 Olympic Qualifying Next Spring In Nashville

Let's be honest, the path to the 2012 Olympics in London is pretty easy for the U.S. men's team.

It was announced yesterday, the U.S. men's under-23 team (aka the Olympic squad) will face Canada, Cuba and El Salvador next spring in Nashville, TN for regional qualifying. They are coached by Caleb Porter, also the head coach at the highly successful University of Akron.

I'm not predicting 5-0 wins in each game but come on, the U.S. should roll over each of those garbage teams. Sorry, this isn't hockey (Canada) or baseball (Cuba). El Salvador isn't known for anything else, they just blow.

These games should serve as a sort of a warmup for the Olympics not to mention the World Cup qualifiers that some of the more talented team members will also participate in.

Striker Juan Agudelo is on the U-23 team and other guys eligible include goalkeeper Bill Hamid, defender Timothy Chandler, defender Alfredo Morales, midfielder Danny Williams, midfielder Freddy Adu, midfielder Brek Shea and striker Jozy Altidore. They have all been invited to the senior national team's camps and in some cases, they are already some of their top players.

The team can also call in three overage players for the Olympics, something to keep in mind as next summer approaches. As I said last week with the Euro 2012 draw, next summer is going to rule. Between Euro 2012, London Olympics, Champions League and World Cup qualifying, there is going to be plenty of world-class soccer around every corner.

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