United States v Mexico: Preview (Game at 3 pm CT)

While all the true global superpowers will be playing friendly matches in sold out stadiums across Europe, the only match that really matters tomorrow will be in front of over 100,000 people at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. The United States will take on Mexico in a crucial World Cup Qualifying match, and if Mexico fails to get a win from this game then they may not qualify for the World Cup in South Africa next summer.

In five games Mexico has earned only six points, and at the moment they are fourth in CONCACAF Qualifying standings. If they finish qualifying in fourth place then they would have to face off against a South American team in a two-legged qualifying play-off. This South American team could very well be Argentina, who has been struggling under the reigns of legend Diego Maradona. The Mexican side, however, will be brimming with confidence after the 5-0 drubbing of the Americans less than three weeks ago in the Gold Cup final. However, in the Gold Cup final US Men’s National team coach Bob Bradley used an experimental ‘B’ team, while Mexican manager Javier Aguirre’s team was full strength last month in front of 80,000 at the Gold Cup final at Giants Stadium in Rutherford, New Jersey.

The United States will bring its best line-ups to the vital qualifier, after coach Bradley gave his successful Confederations Cup team a bit of rest after their journey to South Africa. So the traveling statesmen, most of whom will be on planes from their respective European clubs, will not be too shaken up by the 5-0 loss.

Landon Donovan said of the loss, “I was sitting on my bed, not too happy with it. I think the frustrating part was the naivety to let it get away like that because there’s implications beyond just losing that game. There are historical implications, there are confidence implications for them and for us. It made it, in that moment, a little more difficult on everybody in US Soccer. It was difficult, but when you play soccer and you play at that level for a long time you understand that those things are possible sometimes, and you just need to move past it.”

The United States hosted Mexico six months ago in February’s World Cup qualifier between the teams, a time when the Mexican side was in disarray under their Swedish manager, Sven Goran Eriksson. Six months later, and both teams have found their strides. The difference is that while the United States squad has remained nearly the same, they will be facing a very different Mexican side.

Javier Aguirre has since replaced Sven Goran Eriksson, who is now the football director at Notts County in the fourth division of England, as the coach Mexicans are relying on. This is Aguirre’s second time in charge of El Tri. While his time in charge so far has not been perfect (i.e. losing to El Salvador 2-1 in qualifying on June 6th), the former Atletico Madrid coach has raised morale within the Mexican squad.

During Monday’s conference with reporters, U.S. coach Bob Bradley said, “I think [Aguirre] is an experienced coach. [Mexico] have now put together a few good results and I think some of the different players he’s brought in have taken advantage of the opportunity, and that makes them a team that is moving forward in this whole thing.”

Bob Bradley will most likely go with the same line-up that he went with against the likes of Egypt and Spain in the Confederations Cup, with the exception of playing an in-form Brian Ching over Jozy Altidore, who has just moved from Villarreal in a season-long loan to play with Hull City in the Premier League. Since the Confederations Cup, Oguchi Onyewu moved on a free transfer from Belgian side Standard Liege to a European power, AC Milan. Charlie Davies also moved from Swedish club IF Hammarby to French Ligue 1 side, Sochaux.

While the loss of captain Rafael Marquez (left calf injury) is a sizeable loss, four players who were not available in the first qualifier in Columbus, Ohio will be available to play on Wednesday in the Azteca. These players are midfielder Andres Guardado, defender Jonny Magallon, Arsenal’s young attacker Carlos Vela, and midfielder Gerardo Torrado. Guardado’s pace has single-handedly exploited U.S. defenders in the past, and Torrado will be responsible for marking Michael Bradley and organizing the team as a whole. Giovani Dos Santos showed that he has potential to be a world-class player in last month’s Gold Cup, so it will not be an easy encounter for the U.S. defence.

Jay Demerit, United States and Watford FC defender, said of the Mexican players he will be expected to stop, “They’re not the biggest guys in the world, so they’re not going to be doing much in the air. But on the floor, Mexico are as quick as anybody with their little one-two passes in and around the box to get people in. As a defender, ultimately, that’s just being switched on to try and anticipate and react to make sure we’re not giving them a lot of time to play those kinds of passes in the box and in our final third.”

Landon Donovan, the all-time leading goal scorer for the United States, said in an interview after the Los Angeles Galaxy’s 2-1 win over the New England Revolution, “We’re not going [to Mexico] for a point, we’re going there to win the game. And we’re going to keep playing the way we’ve been playing.”

When asked what is difficult about playing in the hostile environment in Mexico City, Landon responded, “The difficulty is everything but the soccer. When we play Mexico anywhere else in the world, I have no doubt we would beat them. And they use all the outside influences to their advantage, but that’s not an excuse anymore for us. We’re not going to use it as an excuse.”

Projected U.S. Line Up

——————-Howard——————-

Spector–Onyewu–DeMerit–Bocanegra

Dempsey—Bradley—Clark—Donovan

———–Ching———Davies———–

Projected Mexico Line Up

Guillermo Ochoa:

Ricardo Osorio, Jonny Magallon, Aaron Galindo, Carlos Salcido; Giovani Dos Santos, Gerardo Torrado, Israel Castro, Andres Guardado;

Miguel Sabah, Carlos Vela.

AFR Prediction

United States 2-2 Mexico

Mexico is coming off a hot streak, but the United States finally have developed enough poise and class within their squad this summer that they should be able to get a rare positive result in Mexican territory. The United States are not filled with world-class players, but when they are playing together they have the potential to be a world-class team.