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USA vs. Turkey: The Pre-Game Tailgate

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Good morning folks. Today is the day the U.S. national team plays its final match before departing for South Africa and the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The Americans take on Turkey today (2pm, ESPN2, Galavision) in a match that should offer a stern test for Bob Bradley's squad. Bradley is expected to trot out a lineup that will closely resemble the team he will likely field against England on June 12th, though we could see a surprise or two.

One thing we should see today is Carlos Bocanegra at left back after Bradley all but annointed the U.S. captain as his starting left back on Friday. With Bocanegra at left back, that leaves Oguchi Onyewu, Jay DeMerit and Clarence Goodson to man the centerback slots. Goodson has played himself into the conversation and stands a good chance of starting if Oguchi Onyewu has any issues with his knee.

U.S. fans should be feeling better about the team's World Cup draw after Algeria's 3-0 loss to Ireland on Friday. Algeria struggled badly and looks like a safe bet to struggle in South Africa.

SBI will have coverage of the USA-Turkey match throughout the day, including a match-day commentary, so please be sure to follow along here. For now, feel free to share your pre-game thoughts on today's match in the comments section below. 

Comments

  1. Ives – as much as I want US to succeed, the comment that Algeria is a sure bet to struggle is a little unfounded.

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  2. “I would like to see Torres in the middle with Bradley. I doubt we will though.” But we did, and it was amazing! good request!

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  3. sorry for typos….you get the message though:

    Spector’s looking shaky but at least he’s healthy, on the field, and able to go 90 and experienced at LB.

    And won’t embarrass to the extent of Born…I can’t say it.

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  4. Because Gooch can’t go 90, Goodson watched 2 gos, the guy knows how to plaals against the Czechs, DeMerit’s vision and stomache are foggy, not to mention Boca’s hernia. And we won’t mention Born..

    With all that, fact that Spector was toasted in EPL playing on the left this season just means he has more experience at it than Bornstein. Boca’s fine for me on the left – there’s speed and wing talent in France that he’s had to defend for year. But if we need Boca in the middle then Spector’s the #2 LB.

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  5. In other news, they’ve really got to change the MLS schedule in World Cup years. There’s so much great soccer on TV, why go to the stadium on a day like today?

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  6. I would like to see Torres in the middle with Bradley. I doubt we will though. I’ll settle for a Clark-Bradley tandem. I would also like to see the forwards get some good minutes with the starters.

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  7. Plenty fit? I think someone is drinking too much from the cool-aid. Whe he jumped and landed in the wrong foot because he was worried about his bad knee gives me suspicions. Reports are that he is way better since 5 days ago, sounds hard to believe but we will see how the new improved gooch does today.

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  8. Funny what a year does, Holden goes from not even a squad member to one of our brightest young talents, Edu comes back to regain his spot from clark, if all the injuries sort themselves out then we have a back four that all play overseas, And now we have better depth in the midfield then we did at the confederations cup which I think really hurt us, I mean we brought sasha in for the Brazil game off the bench, Torres wasn’t ready then to play at that level but now I think he has a better understanding of how to move the ball and feilhaber becomes the fourth option, thats alot better in my mind. I can’t wait for the games. We definetly get out of the group, then the rematch, germany v USA !!

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  9. It should also be noted that Algeria fielded only about half of their first-teamers. I’m also wary of reading too much into it. On the other hand, they looked absolutely awful at the Africa Cup, except in the Ivory Coast game – with a total of one goal in the other five games.

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  10. I only watched most of the first half, but Algeria certainly did not struggle against Ireland. In fact, they were the aggressors and kept a majority of possession much like Mexico 1-3 England. Even though they build up play nicely, at times only playing 3 in the back for long stretches, their final third play was weak.

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