May 24, 2001

From U.S. Under-20 Men's National Team press officer in Toulon, France -- May 24, 2001

POSTCARDS FROM TOULON
Each day we will send out a postcard from one of the members of the U.S. Under-20 Men's National Team that is in Toulon, France, competing in the 29th Toulon Festival.

Today's postcard is from defender  ...
ALEX YI
Height: 6' 2"
Weight:  175
Born: February 27, 1982
Hometown: Easton, Maryland
College: UCLA 

It was great to finally get in to Toulon after the flight to Newark and then to Paris and then to Marseilles. I felt like the team's spirits were pretty good. I talked to a couple of the guys, and we all felt pretty excited about this being the last step before we get onto the big stage in Argentina.

The training sessions so far have been pretty good. It is a little hectic as everyone is still trying to get their legs back from the long flight over. Everyone is really looking forward to tomorrow's match against Italy. I think we have to set the tempo, and tomorrow's game will be really important to see how we do in the rest of the games here.

Right now we are just hanging out around the hotel. It is a beautiful town, located right next to the water. A couple of the guys walked into town, while others went to the mall and walked around there. The mall is under the hotel, and it is nice to have something like that so close. That is one of the great things about where we are staying, there is a lot to do and look at right around here.

We will all watch the Bayern Munich - Valencia final, and then tomorrow it starts. Tomorrow we will try to go out there and have fun, be confident and take some big steps toward Argentina.

Alex