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Know your opponent: USA

June 13th, 2009 | By: Tamim | 8 Comments »

Gone are the days in which the United States participated in major football (soccer) tournaments with teams formed of college and amateur players and there biggest dreams were to grab a draw or something; things have developed so much back there since 1994 world cup and now the US is a difficult number against major teams.

Gone are the days, although not completely, when the MLS was an emerging league that used to bring retired football stars like Pele and others; now, Working from a base of youngsters who learn, play, live football professionally, the US has produced a good number of excellent payers who even excel in major European leagues.

Mexico’s dominance over the North American continent was gradually threatened and now overturned by complete US dominance and the popularity of the game is on the rise and the average attendance in local matches is increasing.

Although they don’t have the natural talent like that of Brazil, nor they have the high technical abilities like those of Italy, they can play football efficiently, meaning that they can do what it takes to score a goal, it mayn’t be fancy or clever, but it’s a goal after all.

They are characterized by high fitness, strong physical power, speed and excellent basic talents like passing, shooting, field positioning…..etc and this enables them to compete against any opponent.

Take a look

Team roster

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa/England), Tim Howard (Everton/England), Luis Robles (Kaiserslautern/Germany)

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes/France), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA/M.L.S.), Danny Califf (Midtjylland/Denmark), Jay DeMerit (Watford/England), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege/Belgium), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock/Germany), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United/England), Marvell Wynne (Toronto/M.L.S.)

Midfielders: Freddy Adu (AS Monaco/France), DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers/Scotland), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach/Germany), Ricardo Clark (Houston/M.L.S.), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus/Denmark), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA/M.L.S.), José Francisco Torres (Pachuca/Mexico)

Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Xerez/Spain), Conor Casey (Colorado/M.L.S.), Charlie Davies (Hammarby/Sweden), Clint Dempsey (Fulham/England), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles/M.L.S.)

Coach: Bob Bradely

Team preview

I can’t claim knowledge of US players except for Donovan for his move to Bayern Munich, Freddy Adu for his controversial choice between Ghana and the United States to represent internationally; instead I am going to select players to watch from the American team

Landon Donovan: probably, their most celebrated start and the team’s thinking mind in the field; has some good passes and excellent shots and even more he is a very cool penalty kick shooter although failed to prove himself in Europe, Donovan will be looking forward to prove himself in an international tournament like the confederations cup

Jozy Altidore: from what I saw in the video, this guy has very good talents, excellent physical strength; he can be very dangerous and a real threat to El Hadary

Michael Bradely: the son of the coach!! Scored their two and only goals to grab a victory for the US over their rivals Mexico in their match at the world cup qualifications which makes him some kind of a hero there.

Team record

World cup
1930 (third)

Continental titles
CONCACAF Gold Cup (1991 USA, 2002 USA, 2005 USA, 2007 USA

Head to head
None

One last thing about USA team is that their goalkeepers coach is Egyptian called Zaki Abdel Fattah, a former Ghazl El Mahalla and national team player.

Last match

for more about USA check Brooks Peck and Marlon at the USA WCB

Tags: abu treika, altidore, bob bradley, donovan, egypt, freddy adu, Team News, USA, zidan

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Comments

By Leila | June 13th, 2009 at 7:00 am

I think we can beat USA easily if we play concentrated. I think they will be #4 in our group at the end.

Is it true that Zaki won’t play at Confed Cup?

By omar | June 13th, 2009 at 11:32 am

fuck tht egyptian dude caoching their goalies altough i do understand y he wud chose us against egypt..he used to coach the galaxies kevin hartman and made him the best us american player at the time…plus he will give them tips on how we play our tendencies and stuff..i think it will be a big achieve if we win factorin tht egyptian dude

By MoMONEY | June 13th, 2009 at 1:13 pm

I live in the USA. We cannot underestimate the USA at all. They are the exact opposite of us- organized, efficient, and incredibly hardworking and fearless. We have more talented players for sure, but if we go in confident like we have been, we will get killed and the backlash of losing to them will be HUGE In the eyes of the Egyptian people…

Posted from United States

By Kevin | June 13th, 2009 at 2:02 pm

My concern with the US-Egypt tie is the quality of players like Abou Trika and Hassan, guys who can pass the USA off the park if they don’t play the right side. Freddy Adu and Jose Torres can really pass a football, but Bob Bradley has a vendetta against Adu for some reason. If he were to play them together in the center, or maybe with Adu sitting in front of Michael Bradley and Torres in a 4-2-3-1, that would give us the best chance. Of course, Bob is a muppet and doesn’t give a damn about keeping possession, so we’ll play a bunch of long ball rubbish and get passed off the park.

By Alex | June 14th, 2009 at 12:59 am

BEing a USA fan, u pretty much hit the nail on the head with our team… We lack a creative spark but we do work hard and have good intangibles that can defeat a team that doesnt put in 100 percent effort.

We rely on Donovan, almost to a fault, and he is by far our best player, save for possibly our keeper Tim Howard… He played for Man U for a couple years b4 leaving for Everton where he just signed a 5 year extention

Our weakness is definetly on the flanks where we have not found a permanent starter at either right or left back… They are wild cards, but our center backs are for the most parts dependable.

Altidore is young but a good talent. He is physically strong and has a good amount of speed but like any youth has his faults. We do not have a permanent second striker either so we will see.

The midfield is the strong point for the US, but we ussually dont know who will start. Donovan, Dempsey, and Bradley all are almost guaranteed spots on the pitch, but Torres, Feilhaber, Clark, Klestjan, Beasley, and Adu all have a shot to start in the other spots.

We will just have to wait and see I guess, but the general consensus for the US is save for EXTREME circumstances they ussually play completely derived from their formation and where players are put on the pitch. Good, or bad, it will be an interesting match.

Posted from United States

By Tamim | June 14th, 2009 at 4:14 am

zaki won’t pay and i am so happy about it; new faces will get a chance to excel in front of the giants instead of him

By Mohammed S. | June 14th, 2009 at 4:31 am

Is Egypt taking the Confed cup seriously or trying out new players and tactics for use in the WCQs?

Posted from Saudi Arabia

By Tamim | June 15th, 2009 at 12:47 am

mohammed s: we are going to play our best especially after the bad world cup qualification campaign, at the same time we are going to try ne players in certain positions.

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