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USA vs. Trinidad & Tobago (A look ahead)

Aduorozco_isiphotoscom

                                                                                Photo by ISIphotos.com

The U.S. men’s national team’s ticket to the final round of World Cup qualifying is already punched, but that doesn’t mean tonight’s qualifier at Trinidad & Tobago is meaningless. That’s far from the case.

Tonight’s match is going to offer up a chance to see several of the U.S. program’s top prospects playing in a hostile environment against an opponent desperate for a positive result. With most of the national team’s top players absent (DaMarcus Beasley and Heath Pearce are the only regular starters in attendance), we will a very good chance to watch how some of these top young players handle a tough assignment.

Here are five things to watch for tonight:

Can Altidore dominate?

The call to make Jozy Altidore a national team starting forward has been going on since his header goal against Mexico in February and the goal he scored against Cuba on Saturday only made those calls louder. He should get the start tonight and will face a T&T defense that will be better than Cuba’s, but still not great.

Will Adu work his magic?

It hasn’t been the best fall for Adu, who has struggled for playing time since joining Monaco. Tonight should be his first chance since the Spain game to start in a tough match and show that he can control things in a playmaking role. The arrival of Jose Francisco Torres should put some added pressure on Adu to perform for the national team and tonight will be his first chance to show that he deserves more playing time.

When and where will Torres play?

Jose Francisco Torres showed some nice skills against Cuba but T&T will offer a far different challenge. Will Bob Bradley bring him off the bench or will he give Torres the start to see how he handles the intensity of the game? It is easy to forget that Torres is still young and new to the national team so don’t be surprised to see his minutes limited. If he does play it will be interesting to see

Who will play in the back?

With no Carlos Bocanegra or Oguchi Onyewu in the back, Bradley will have to turn to veteran Dan Califf at one of the centerback positions. Who will man the other? Will it be Maurice Edu, who looked good at center back in the Olympics? Or will it be Michael Orozco? The glut of central midfielders in the national team system might have Bradley thinking of shifting Edu to central defense for depth. As for left back, Heath Pearce has been the starter for a long time but Jonathan Bornstein is in camp and could be ready to challenge. Then there is the possibility of seeing DaMarcus Beasley there again after he made a cameo appearance at left back against Cuba.

Will we see Danny Szetela?

Szetela was off to one of the best starts in Europe for an American, starting and playing 90 minutes in all of Brescia’s first four games, but a groin injury has sidelined him for two matches and will put his playing time tonight in question. If he can play, it will be interesting to see how much he has grown as a player in recent months, and whether he is ready to challenge the deep pool of central midfielders for playing time in 2009.

These are just some of the storylines to watch for tonight. What will you be looking out for? What player or players will you have your eye on tonight?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. My main Q = Can we win on the road v. a decent (by Concacaf stds) opponent without our (arguably) top 3 players — Timmy, Landycakes, and Gooch? (You could even say that Dempsey and Boca make it our top 5.)

    If so, that will be a nice boost for the team, and the players that key the victory will see their stock rise in the eyes of the fans, BB+staff, and clubs on the prowl.

    Otherwise agree with Ives’s items to look for, especially Jozy (since we all want to see him leave no doubt in BB’s mind that he is our #1 striker) and Torres (since he is the player on the roster who combines the most talent with the least amount of time with the team).

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  2. I seem to remember first being impressed with Szetela in the U20’s when he was playing out on the right. Is he pretty much settled in the middle now or is there a chance he could play as a right mid in the future?

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  3. T&T is going to bring it because they need points, and they have some quality attacking players to test the defense.

    This is where we separate the men from the boys…

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  4. I’m not going to push people onto the Torres bandwagon, but he STARTS for Pachuca. He’s earned his role with hard work, dedication, and skill. Though I think he’ll be a little nervous, he’s playing with a veteran team that has won it all and on the road. He’s not playing on a second division tema in Sweden or Germany.

    I know some of you may not watch too much FMF, but he’s good enought to start tonight.

    This guy is the future of US Soccer. US coaches need ot brush up on their Spanish. We need more like him. Now.

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  5. WOW this is it, we have a good team with some young players. They have speed, Skill, force and I hope they can show maturety and a lots of heart. This is the future of the USNMT. Please Bob put them in the right places and lets play with a attacking formation, remember we don’t have nothing to loose. So let the kids loose and let them play. I can’t wait to see Altidore at front with Davis in a combonitaion and in the middle a combination of Beasley, Adu, Torres, Sasha

    on defense Pearce, Orozco, Edu, & Wynne. WOW GO USA!!!!!

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  6. i’d love to see jozy put on a show tonight. it seems like they have been saving his coming out party for the next w.c., but he is going to have to get some international experience first and work on some of his “mcbride-type” skills. he is easily the most exciting thing about this game.

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  7. This isn’t going to be a popular opinion, but I’d like to see Chris Rolfe get a start. He’s been in really good form for Chicago lately, and is one of this particular team’s most seasoned pros on the attack. I also wouldn’t mind seeing Perkins get in, but I highly doubt that will happen.

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