Soccer Buzz

The US National Team will open their 2007 Gold Cup campaign this evening against Guatemala. These two teams met just over two months ago in a 0-0 draw in Frisco, Texas with the US fielding a lineup featuring several new players in the national team fold.

The main story line in this game will be how the Americans can attack a team that packs it in defensively. In March, Guatemala really bunkered down from the opening kickoff in what was essentially a 9-0-1 formation with Carlos Ruiz running around up top all by himself. The inexperienced American side was clearly frustrated by this tactic, but coach Bob Bradley hopes the game will be a learning experience for his team, especially going into tonight’s game.

Bradley will obviously have to use a squad rotation in the opening round of the tournament with the team playing three games in six days. However, I expect he will field his best team tonight since this will likely be the biggest challenge for the US in the opening round, especially since Trinidad and Tobago banning all of their players from last summer’s World Cup over a pay dispute (imagine that, Jack Warner’s cronies in the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation are also money-grubbing thieves).

Bradley may choose to use the same 4-3-3 formation we saw in the 4-1 victory over China last Saturday with Eddie Johnson (coming off back-to-back hat tricks with the Kansas City Wizards) flanked by DeMarcus Beasley and Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan playing behind them in the #10 role. This could also easily morph into a 4-4-2 with Beasley dropping into midfield with Donovan or Dempsey playing alongside EJ. Should Guatemala once again go with only one forward, the fullbacks for the Americans, perhaps Jonathan Bornstein and Jonathan Spector (now sans mullet), will aggressively push forward up the flanks.

I predict a low scoring once again between these two teams, but not the same result. Bradley will field a better and more experienced lineup than we saw in March, and this team will be much more focused on getting three points. Guatemala, on the other hand, has only scored one goal in its last three games and will be missing their captain and midfield engine Freddy Thompson due to injury. Guatemala will probably bunker again and will keep bunkering even after the US scores in order to maintain a decent goal differential.

Prediction: 2-0 to the USA

One more thing, I know there are many of you that wish the United States would essentially ignore the Gold Cup in favor of Copa America later this summer. That will be a post for a later day…

US Soccer, Gold Cup, Guatemala, Bob Bradley