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FIRST TO ARRIVE, FIRST TO TAKE THE FLOOR

The U.S. was the first of the 15 teams arriving from around the world to Chinese Taipei, with the initial group of nine players and five staff arriving at 8:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday, Nov. 16, after departing from Los Angeles at about 2:30 a.m. on Monday morning. The flight left more than 2.5 hours late due to delays including a security breach somewhere in LAX and also a "missing passenger" after the plane had pulled away from the gate, causing the 747 to return to the gate to refuel after sitting on the tarmac for about an hour. The U.S. held their first training on Tuesday night in a local gymnasium where the basketball lines had been removed in favor of futsal markings. The team played a six vs. six match with both coaches and the team coordinator taking the field. The second wave of players arrived at 11 p.m. Tuesday night, and had a much more comfortable time traveling on a half-empty plane that afforded them the opportunity to spread out to sleep. Goalkeeper Brett Phillips will be the last to arrive. He arrives on Saturday after staying home as long as possible in the States as his wife is expecting.