I have a suggestion for Eddie Johnson. Lets not get the Europeans any more pissed off at us than they already are. I know you’re trying to get psyched up for the upcoming match, which is great, but calling it a war, not so much.

The American team was to spend Thursday and Friday nights at Ramstein Air Base outside Kaiserslautern, where the United States plays Italy on Saturday.

Johnson said Wednesday that he hoped some of the troops’ spirit would transfer over to the U.S. team.

"It’s like us in the World Cup. We’re here for a war," the 22-year-old forward said. "We came here to battle, we came here to represent our country."

Again, get fired up – love it. We need you guys on fire Saturday, but considering the Czech match, that statement just makes people laugh. And it’ll just get the Italians more fired up than they were.

"We’ll do our talking on the field. That’s what we’re here to do," forward Vincenzo Iaquinta said Thursday. "But if they consider it war, then it will be war for us, too."

See, the Europeans are a bit upset over the whole U.S. invading any country they don’t like so the whole war talk is probably ill advised.

Johnson was asked whether he was comparing a sporting event to a war.

"Yeah," he responded. "Whenever you put your jersey on and you look at your crest and the national anthem’s going on, and you’re playing against a different country, it’s like you do or die, it’s survival of the (fittest) over 90 minutes-plus. We’re going to go out there and do whatever we’ve got to do, make tackles, do the things when the referee’s not looking. … to get three points."

And tipping off the ref to watch you like a hawk probably isn’t such a good idea either. But hey, it’s the World Cup. Here’s hoping you start Saturday.