SAO PAULO - Landon Donovan says the United States will head to the World Cup with its most experienced group of players, giving the Americans a "real chance" to do well at this years tournament. Dennis Rodman Jersey . As the U.S. finishes a week-and-a-half training camp in the host country, Donovan said American players have enough confidence and experience to confront more traditional World Cup teams heading into a first round that includes matches against Germany, Portugal and Ghana. "I think the experience that we have now far exceeds the experience that we ever had with any team, and that lines up to give us a real chance," Donovan said Thursday. "We are confident in how we play. We are confident in what we do. Our guys have had enough experiences against all of these players, against teams like Ghana, Portugal, Germany. ... We feel confident that we can get results against them, and thats a nice feeling going into a World Cup." The U.S. opens against Ghana on June 16, plays Cristiano Ronaldos Portugal six days later and closes the group stage against Germany on June 26. The Americans will be playing in their seventh straight World Cup, and Donovan is heading to his fourth. "Theres never been competition for places like there is in our team now," the midfielder said during a news conference. "You can really make a case for probably 35 or 40 guys to be a part of a 23-man roster, and thats never been the case. Its really up for grabs in a lot of positions, and that in itself obviously creates competition, which makes the team better." Donovan, who turns 32 in March, said the U.S. team is more respected by opponents. "The reason its the group of death is because we are in it," he said. "In the past, it would have been a relatively easier group for Germany or Ghana or Portugal because they had us in it. But now, because we are in it, it makes it one of the most difficult groups in the tournament." Donovan said the first goal remains to reach the knockout stage of the 32-nation tournament. "Our expectations, like most teams, are to get out of the group," he said. "We are aware that we have a difficult group, but the expectation is that we can do it and we are going to try to get out of our group, just like most teams in this World Cup. That is the objective. That is the goal. But we feel good about where we are at." German coach Jurgen Klinsmann brought 26 players to this training camp get acclimated to the teams World Cup base in South Americas biggest city. The team, mostly with players from Major League Soccer, will play an exhibition against South Korea on Feb. 1 at Carson, Calif. "Weve been very lucky to have two weeks here in Sao Paulo," Donovan said. "Its been very nice to have a couple of weeks to adapt to what its going to be like this summer. When we come back we have a comfort level. We know the people, the club, the training facilities. It makes it a lot easier. You get a feeling for what its like here, and it helps a lot." Klinsmann is expected to visit the Arena da Amazonia on Friday in the jungle city of Manaus, where the U.S. will play Portugal. Pau Gasol Jersey . Patty Mills scored 15 points, Tim Duncan had 10 points and 11 rebounds in limited minutes, and San Antonio trailed for only 11 seconds late in the first quarter of a 103-90 victory over Portland on Wednesday night. Jakob Poeltl Jersey . As if the individual strands of grey hair or the increasing amount of joint pain werent reminders enough, the impending end of Jeters career is a slap-in-the-face indicator of a generations fleeting youth. http://www.cheapspursjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-tony-parker-jersey . Four years after winning gold on home ice in Vancouver, the Canadians will get a chance to make it two in a row Sunday against Sweden after beating the United States 1-0 in the Olympic semifinals Friday at Bolshoy Ice Dome.(SportsNetwork.com) - The Toronto Maple Leafs were red-hot the last time they faced the Carolina Hurricanes, but a lot has changed in the month that has passed since. The struggling Leafs try to bounce back from a horrid road trip on Monday evening when they host the Hurricanes. Toronto had won six in a row before suffering a 4-1 loss at Carolina on Dec. 18. That setback came at the beginning of a current 3-12-0 rut for the Leafs, who have fired head coach Randy Carlyle over this span while falling seven points back of a wild card spot. The Maple Leafs, who have been guided by interim coach Peter Horachek in the six games since Carlyle was fired, were shut out three times and held to one goal on a recent 0-4-0 road trip, capping the swing with Saturdays 3-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues. Jonathan Bernier allowed three goals on 33 shots in the road trips finale, one that left the morale of the team awful according to captain Dion Phaneuf. It feels absolutely terrible, the defenseman said. I dont know what more I can say than when you go through stretches like this, its awful. The Hurricanes have 12 feewer points than the Leafs, but have gone 5-2-1 in January and picked up a 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. LaMarcus Aldridge Jersey. Nathan Gerbe had the winning goal with 5:41 to play, snapping a 22-game goal drought with his first tally since Nov. 28. Justin Faulk had a goal and an assist and Brad Malone also scored for the Hurricanes, while Anton Khudobin stopped 30 shots in the win. It was a good effort, said Carolina head coach Bill Peters. Everyone played good, valuable minutes and we found a way. Carolina kept Ottawa off the scoreboard on all three of its power-play chances and the Hurricanes have now killed off 33 straight power plays over a 13-game span. The Hurricanes got short-handed goals from Faulk and Chris Terry in the win over the Maple Leafs a month ago, with Cam Ward making 25 saves. He is 15-9-2 versus the Maple Leafs with a 2.73 goals against average and .910 save percentage. Phaneuf scored and Bernier made 33 saves as he fell to 2-3-0 versus the Canes with a 2.64 GAA and .923 save percentage. Carolina has won seven of nine and 13 of its past 18 versus Toronto. 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