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Tuesday Kickoff: Greetings from Amsterdam

Gio van Bronckhorst (AP)

Good morning folks. I'm coming to you from Amsterdam today, a day ahead of the big USA-Netherlands friendly at Amsterdam ArenA. The U.S. national team is in town and ready to face its toughest test before the World Cup in June.

We have already had plenty of discussion about the potential U.S. lineup for tomorrow's match, but we should now consider the match-ups we could see against the Dutch. You have Michael Bradley likely battling with Wesley Sneijder, Jonathan Spector tangling with Arjen Robben, Jay DeMerit and Carlos Bocanegra potentially pitted against Dirk Kuyt and/or Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, and either Landon Donovan or Stuart Holden going against Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

There are these kind of quality tests all over the field for the United States, which makes this friendly so valuable for U.S. coach Bob Bradley to get a sense of where certain players stand. For me, the battles on the wing will say the most about the success or failure of this match. With Spector, Jonathan Bornstein, Stuart Holden and potentially DaMarcus Beasley getting chances, how they perform will go a long way toward determining whether or not this match is a success.

Here's my question to you this morning. Which potential match-up are you most looking forward to? Excited to see how Spector can do against a world-class winger like Robben? Curious to see how Jonathan Bornstein holds up in his toughest match since the Confederations Cup? Wondering how Maurice Edu or Jose Torres do against top-class competition?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. We’re not really even talking about how the players played. They played fine considering the opponent. We’re talking about whether Bradley made the right decisions and I believe he did. The USA were making some good chances and while Italy were dangerous, that’s what we’ve come to expect from them. Bob Bradley shouldn’t be fired for the Italy game, or any game in the Confederations Cup for that matter.

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  2. Scott you are WRONG! He is that good. With Davies hurt name are best starting 11 without including Holden and even if he isn’t Holden will be our first mid-field sub.

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  3. Among every other reason.. This is why this site kicks ass. Readers who contribute..

    Its not just Frankie Simek die hards.. lol

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  4. odd how the next best forward after Davies is EJ or Findley. Ching does not count because he doesn’t show up for the big game. I hope the USMNT can do some speed training. Our best defenders have no speed (spector, demerit), but our fastest defenders cant defend to save their lives. It’s very odd ESPN isn’t rebroadcasting this on ESPN2. They did it will Champions League didn’t they. You’d think this is more important that American Gladiator reruns and definately Jim Rome.

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  5. Sure, but this still means Altidore will be playing the target role and that Donovan will be making runs off of him. I love Jozy and have all the highest hopes for him in the future, but this just isn’t an effective part of his game right now.

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  6. Define glory. You seem to be concerned that our good draw will mean nothing. Does that mean you don’t think we’re getting out of the group? I’m as cynical as they come (fan of the Knicks, Mets, etc.) but I absolutely think we’ve got a great shot to advance to the knockout stages.

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  7. In your response to my first point, I guess you don’t know what irony is.

    Your opinion on Bradley is fair but impossible to demonstrate. It’s just an assertion. I find it logical to give credit to a coach when his team outperforms its expectations and your claim that “there were no tactics employed” (which is just a silly statement, frankly) has no basis in evidence. Were you standing next to Bradley to observe whether he gave tactical instructions to his players? Anyway, I never said anything about tactics in the first place. I was just stating the facts that: 1) we had one poor performance out of four against the top competition in 09 and 2) the team massively overperformed with Bradley at the helm.

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  8. No. It’s silly to argue that you have to have defenders capable of shutting down one of the world’s best speedy wingers in order to progress in the World Cup. Shutting down someone like Lennon is a silly standard to judge someone by. There are only a few left backs in the world who can shut Aaron Lennon down. We don’t have to have one of them in order to advance.

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  9. Excited to see how Spector can do against a world-class winger like Robben? Curious to see how Jonathan Bornstein holds up in his toughest match since the Confederations Cup?

    Switch these statements. Bornstein didn’t do anything in the gold cup. Robben will own him.

    Hopefully, EJ can get lucky, Edu will be on onfidence, Torres can show what he can do on the ball, Simek will impress and

    Findley wont play

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