Dax at the Olympics

Dax stretches out before Wednesday's training session in China, the last practice before the start of the Olympics. Thanks to U.S. Soccer for the photo.

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FC Dallas midfielder Dax McCarty is currently in China with U.S. Olympic Team, staying in a mini-Olympic village at the satellite venue of Tianjin - the third-largest city in China (behind Beijing and Shanghai).

The U.S. Men will open the 2008 Olympics on Thurs., Aug. 7 vs. Japan, live at 4 a.m. CT on MSNBC, Universal HD and the NBC Olympic Soccer Channel. Today, Dax took some time to send us / you a brief update on his experience so far...keep reading...

"Hey everyone. Just thought I would catch up with you all from here in China as we prepare for the start of the Olympics. What a crazy past few weeks it has been for me.

As I'm sure most of you know, I was sitting at dinner with some friends when I got the call a couple weeks ago that I would joining up with the Olympic team in San Jose. I was obviously sad for Nathan Sturgis, who got injured, as he is a good friend of mine. But ultimately, I was thrilled to be going. I arrived in San Jose the next day (after a 6am flight!), and immediately met up with the team before we departed for China.

That was a crazy day because we were issued all the gear we would be receiving for the Games. Let me tell you, I have never been given as much gear as I was in that day: two big, full duffle bags - full of shirts, shorts, warm-ups, jackets, hats, socks, shoes, a suit and a cell phone! The next morning we were off to Hong Kong to compete in the ING Cup against the Ivory Coast and Cameroon.

Hong Kong is truly an unbelievable place. It has just as many, if not more, huge buildings and apartment complexes (with a few skyscrapers thrown in there) than New York City. We stayed in a 5-Star hotel that was right on the water (Hong Kong Bay, I think), and were treated very nicely.

The weather out here is extremely hot and humid. I won't say it is as hot as Dallas (it’s close), but the humidity is what really gets to you.

After a few days of training, we played the two friendlies in Hong Kong's national stadium. We ended up tying Ivory Coast 0-0 and losing to Cameroon 1-0. Not the results we wanted, but ultimately these games are just warm-ups to prepare us for the real thing. We did not play our best, but you can tell that the team is starting to come together and play some good soccer. We will definitely be ready for that first game against Japan.

We left Hong Kong after our last game, and arrived in Tianjin (the site of our first 2 games in these Olympics) with tons of excitement.

We are staying in another first-class hotel. The security here is crazy. Just to get into the hotel, our whole team had to go through metal detectors and put our bags through x-ray machines. The only others staying in the hotel with us are the 3 other teams in our group (Japan, Holland, and Nigeria) and one of the groups from the women's side (Canada's group). No one else is allowed to come to the hotel unless they have an Olympic credential to get in. Not even families are allowed to come in. Pretty crazy stuff!

Our first game is tomorrow against Japan, and everyone is very excited that the games are finally about to start. I am very happy to be here and just trying to soak up the whole experience, because this is definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity.

I have been following the guys back in Dallas very closely and am thrilled to see us playing so well right now. I knew it was only a matter of time before we started playing how we are capable of. I can't wait to get back to Dallas and start playing with the guys again, but I need to bring back a Gold medal first!"