The U.S. Men’s National Team will kick off the year with an international friendly at Toyota Field in San Antonio, Texas this Saturday, January 20 at 3 p.m. ET (TNT, Telemundo, Universo, MAX, Peacock, FDP). The game will pit squads with relatively little international experience against one another, as USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter selected 17 players who are keen on securing their first caps. His Slovenian counterpart, Matjaz Kek, has also chosen 17 uncapped players. Saturday’s friendly will conclude the team’s annual January camp, but the U.S. will return to Texas to meet Jamaica in the Concacaf Nations League semifinals at AT&T Stadium in Arlington on March 21 at 7 p.m. ET. The winner of that match will advance to the final, with the loser to the third-place match. Both of those games will be played on March 24. FOOTBALLING HISTORY Since becoming an independent country and national association from Yugoslavia in 1992, Slovenia has enjoyed some success. The team participated in its first tournament of consequence when it qualified for Euro 2000. The squad was eliminated after registering a 0-1-2 mark in the group stage. After it failed to book a spot in the five consecutive tournaments that followed, the Slovenians qualified the 2024 competition that will be co-hosted by Italy and Turkey. In 2002, the Slovenians qualified for their first FIFA World Cup at Korea/Japan. They lost all three of their matches while being outscored 7-2. It wasn’t until the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa that the Eastern European side reached for the competition again. In its opening match, Slovenia secured a 1-0 win over Algeria before losing a two-goal halftime lead and settling for a 2-2 draw with the USMNT. In its third and final group match, the Slovenians were eliminated via a […]
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