Greetings once again from unseasonably warm Columbus, where the buzz ahead of Wednesday's World Cup qualifier has yet to really reach a boil, but it is definitely starting to simmer.

Here are some tidbits from Monday, as well as a note for fans planning to travel to Columbus for the match:

The U.S. team trained in Obetz this afternoon and there were no real revelations from training. Landon Donovan and Jose Francisco Torres were the only players missing from training (both were set to arrive on Monday night). Among the highlights from the post-practice interview scrum was the interesting sight of U.S. coach Bob Bradley aknowledging that he believes the U.S. national team is the favorite heading into Wednesday. There's nothing surprising about Bradley agreeing with that, I think it's just interesting to know that most people (American and Mexican) would agree. Yes, the 8-0-2 record on American soil in the past 10 meetings vs. Mexico helps that, but it's still an example of just how much things have changed in the past decade.

Bradley was asked if Frankie Hejduk would start on Wednesday and Bradley, ever the coy coach, said it was a possibility. I think we are all accepting that the U.S. starting lineup will have very few, if any, surprises. It will most likely be the following:

——————-Ching———————-

Beasley———Donovan———–Dempsey

———–Bradley——Kljestan————-

Pearce—-Bocanegra–Onyewu——Hejduk

——————-Howard——————–

The Pearce-Jonathan Bornstein decision at left back is probably the closest one to being in any sort of doubt, but I think the betting money is on Pearce getting the nod.

—————–

Bradley spoke at practice, and also on a conference call earlier in the day. Here are some highlights of his comments:

On Jozy Altidore being called in

"We think about the camps he’s been in and the games he’s played for us and we still see some qualities that we think fit well into our group. In a year where he has had some changes, and obviously just been put on loan, we still felt that having him in this camp, talking to him, seeing where he is and having him ready to go is important and something that will help our team."

On Freddy Adu not being called in

"Yes, he was considered. Without getting specific to any one player, if you look at the bigger pool of players that participated throughout qualifiers last year, it gives everybody a sense of the pool. There are many different considerations that we look at when we put a group together. I already mentioned that single-fixture dates are particularly challenging because of the short turnaround. Freddy is a guy that’s in our pool and a player that will continue to be looked at every time we come together."

On the U.S. team's central midfield

"The center of the field is important and we hope to make it hard for them in that part of the field, that’s certainly something that I think we’ve done well in some of our important games leading up to this point. We know that Pavel Pardo is an incredibly important player for them so we need to close him down quickly, put him under pressure and make the game difficult for him."

Mexico trained at the same time as the U.S. national team, and is doing so under some extremely secretive conditions, so figuring out their lineup is MUCH more difficult than figuring out the U.S. team's lineup, something that was never the case a few years ago.

On Jose Francisco Torres

"Jose is a player who is good with the ball, he sees things quickly. We’ve had him in a couple of camps and we’ve always felt good about the simple way that he connects the game to people around him. We’re excited that he’s a part of our national team and we’ll see him later today and I think that he’s someone who can help us in this game."

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Lastly, For you fans who plan on attending the match, there are some items that will not be allowed into Crew Stadium on Wednesday. Streamers, drums, flag poles and fireworks (Duh) will not be allowed so please leave your fireworks and drums home. Pinatas that look like Sven Goran Eriksson will be allowed though.

That's all for now. Check in throughout the day on Tuesday for more coverage of USA-Mexico as we get closer to kickoff on Wednesday. Feel free to share your thoughts on anything above in the comments section below.