USA vs. England

After a brilliant first day of the 2010 World Cup, we are ready for the clash most of the English speaking world has been looking forward to for 6 months.

I was quietly confident, and had been predicting a draw for the past several months, but I have been losing this confidence in the last couple days. I fear the talent gulf may just be too great.

What I have also been saying is that the USA needs to come out aggressive if they want to have a chance. Put out a positive, attacking team and take it right to England and their questionable defense, while keeping Wayne Rooney and co. away from the USA's own dodgy defense. But there have been several reports in the last few days that Bob Bradley is going to put out a defensive team and basically play for 0-0. I don't know why so many soccer coaches still think this tactic works, because it never does. Every time there is a big upset and the revisionist narrative becomes accepted in the media, people never actually look at the game itself.

So here is my conclusion. If Bradley plays some ridiculously conservative 4-5-1 formation with a Maurice Edu, Ricardo Clark, Michael Bradley midfield, then the US will lose 4-0. If Jose Torres and/or Stuart Holden feature in a more attacking midfield set-up with Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan pushing ahead in a front three, I predict a 1-1 draw.

World Cup - The United States of America - Part 3

This is it for the US Preview, and here I will deal with the strikers. To be honest, it's the easiest part. Jozy Altidore is talented, and he has such an amazing physique that he is almost unplayable when on form. But he is not a big time goal scorer. And he is very young and inexperienced.

He will start for the US. I would start Clint Dempsey up top with him, but Bob Bradley may leave Altidore up there on his own.

And the rest of the strikers on the US squad; Not good enough. Nowhere near good enough.

The one who was good enough, and whose emergence during the USA's qualifying campaign was huge, is Charlie Davies. Unfortunately, his celebration of qualification involved a friend driving drunk. Davies was severely injured in the resulting car crash, missed the remainder of the season for his club, Sochaux in France, and still is nowhere near fit to play in a high level football match. The Yanks will really miss him.

Herculez Gomez led the Mexican league in scoring, but he is 28 years old, and this is the first real success he has had. If he can continue to show the ability to finish he might be a useful late game substitute. If he scores only 1 goal, and it is a late goal that secures a draw against England, or a win against Slovenia, his inclusion will be justified, but I think that is the absolute ceiling of what we can expect from him.

All told, the US goals will have to come largely from the midfield. If Altidore can effectively hold up play and get his midfielders the ball moving forward, the US should score enough goals to advance out of the group stage. Unfortunately, the second position in this group will probably play Germany in the round of sixteen. On the other hand, if the US were to get something against England and win the group, it looks like a much easier road to the semi-finals.

I am predicting a draw on June 12th, 1-1, but England will most likely still win the group. Getting into the knockout stages will be a solid performance from this team, especially after a disappointing 2006.

World Cup - The United States of America - Part 2

The strength of the US lies in the midfield. There is a large group of experienced, skillful, and versatile European-based players. Landon Donavan leads the group, and he will probably play on the left wing throughout the tournament. Michael Bradley, although young, has loads of experience from his time in Holland and Germany, and he will anchor the central midfield. Clint Dempsey has really matured since his move to Fulham, and he will spend most of his time on the right side of midfield, although I would push him up front to play off Jozy Altidore.

These three players are guaranteed to start every match. There are several good candidates for the fourth (and possibly fifth) position(s) in the midfield. Bradley will sit deep in the central midfield, but he will spend a lot of time in attack, and he is not really a holding midfielder anyway. This makes it just about certain that defensive-minded manager Bob Bradley will deploy a traditional defensive midfielder alongside Michael Bradley.

There are two principal candidates for this position; Maurice Edu, who plays for Rangers, and Ricardo Clark, who plays (rarely) for Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany. I strongly favor Edu. He is more experienced, more composed on the ball, and far less likely to get sent off. Clark, in fact, is a red card waiting to happen. Those of you with long memories might recall him being sent off for his reckless (and recklessly stupid) challenge on Gennaro Gattuso against Italy in last summer's Confederation's Cup.

If Bob Bradley decides to play a 4-3-3 or 4-5-1, there will be room for another attacking midfielder. This could be an opportunity for one of a few exciting youngsters.

A lot of people would like to see Benny Feilhaber start for the US if this position is available. I don't like him. Just like everyone else, I was excited about his talent when he burst onto the scene. But then he failed at Hamburg. Then he made a big move to Derby, and he failed at Derby. At the same time, he was dropped from the US team because his ego couldn't fit through the door to the changing room. Then he went to Denmark, and he has struggled to make an impression on a team that was relegated in the Danish league. Not a player I want on my team.

I saw Jose Torres play an excellent forty-five minutes against the Czech Republic Tuesday night. He is very composed on the ball, even when under pressure, he is a good passer, and he chips in with the occasional goal. I like him, but there is a problem. He is tiny. 5'5", 135 pounds tiny. He just won't be able to cope with the likes of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard in the middle of the park. As a change of pace for the final 20 minutes, I think he will be outstanding, but I just can't see him playing ninety minutes against a physically imposing team like England.

The third promising youngster, and the player whom I think is really going to break out at the World Cup, is Stuart Holden. Now, you may think I am biased because he is a Bolton player, but I had little hope and no expectations that he would be anything more than a reserve team player when Owen Coyle signed him in January. And it looked like I was right when he didn't even make the bench his first month at the club.

But then he got fit, made two game-changing substitute appearances, and was dominant in his first start for the Wanderers. He started against Holland for the US in a friendly and for the first twenty-five minutes he was the most dangerous looking player on the pitch. Then Nigel de Jong broke his leg. But now he is back.

He played 90 minutes against the Czech Republic, half on the wing, half in central midfield, and he was, again, the best player on the pitch. I predict that Holden will be a star. He might not start the first match for the US, but by the final match of the group stage, he will be in the starting XI, no doubt about it.

There is one more wild card in the US midfield; DeMarcus Beasley. He has had an up and down career, and will likely never live up to his potential because of his inconsistency, but he may be crucial to the USA's chances in this World Cup. His experience, his ability to play several positions, his pace, and his knack for scoring (and creating) important goals will be huge coming off the bench.

World Cup revisits 1776

It's the Mancs vs. the Yanks in the World Cup, as England and the US have been drawn together in Group B. They will face off in South Africa on June 12th, and it should be great fun.

An England win is likely, but that will not be too big a disappointment for the US.


The headlines will be about LA Galaxy teammates Landon Donovan and David Beckham (pictured above playing chicken at a pool party in North Hollywood), but the match will likely be decided in the center of the pitch. where Michael Bradley, the young US midfielder who currently plies his trade for Borussia Munchengladbach in Germany's first division will come up against the likes of Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), and Gareth Barry (Manchester City). It will be very important who Bob Bradley (US coach) decides to partner with his son in the middle of the park. Ricardo Clark (Houston) is a dogged ball winner who has been preferred in the past, but he is a red card waiting to happen. After the last World Cup, where the US had 3 men sent off in 3 matches, players of Clark's ilk may be left on the bench, if not the tarmac. Which brings us to one of the most perplexing players on the US squad.


Benny Feilhaber, a Brazilian born midfielder who currently plays for AGF Aarhus in Denmark, has had an up-and-down career with a good, yet brief spell with Hamburg in Germany followed by a disastrous stay at Derby County in England. He has shown glimpses of his talent, and would be a great partner for Michael Bradley, yet a rampaging ego and inability to get aong with any manager he has ever played for have left him on the fringes of the squad.

I think the fact that England/USA is the opening match for both teams works in America's favor. All of the pressure will be on the English, who will be expected to win and win big by the media and fans, who deliriously overrate the team. The US can relax and just play their game. If England wins, it is no big deal, the results against Slovenia and Algeria will determine if the US advances to the next round. Yet if the US draws or (highly unlikely) wins, it will be a massive jumping off point for them. And it will be treated by the English press as the biggest disaster since Thatcher's election.