The 2014 World Cup begins on June 12, when Brazil plays Croatia in the opening match. Reporters and editors for The Times will count down to the start of the tournament each day with a short capsule of news and interesting tidbits.

Most of the players he takes to Brazil for the World Cup might be from Major League Soccer, but that did not stop Coach Jurgen Klinsmann from taking a candid and critical look at their preparedness.

“A lot of our guys don’t have the same foundation that our opponents have,” Klinsmann said at a news conference at the United States men’s national soccer team’s training camp at Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif. “We have to be clear about that.”

Speaking about opponents of the American team, he said: “They are coming from 10-, 11-month seasons where some of them are playing in a Champions League final, they have X amount of games in their legs. Their foundation is different to ours, so we have to catch up, and that’s what we have to do now over the next four weeks before we start our tournament.