Saturday, June 6th, is not only the 65th Anniversary of D-day, but also a FIFA match day and there are plenty of World Cup Qualifiers going on throughout the world. I'll start close to home with the United States, who take on Honduras at 8:00 PM EDT in Chicago on ESPN and Galavision.
Basically, this is it for the United States. They have to win. Sure, it's only the 5th game and the halfway point of qualifying, but you never want to drop points at home. Plus, with a win the U.S. will still have total control of their own destiny, and you do not want to have to start relying on others to help you out in world cup qualifying.
The key for the U.S. is who to play. Michael Bradley is out due to yellow card accumulation, so there is a void in the midfield to fill. Also, Brian Ching is out with a hamstring injury. Another player the U.S. may be without is Frankie Hejduk. He may or may not be ready to go at right back and it will most likely come down to gametime before a decision is made. So who's left?
I'm pretty sure U.S. Manager, Bob Bradley, will scrap the 4-3-3 from the Costa Rica match and go back to the traditional 4-4-2 (or it may be a 4-2-3-1). It's a no-brainer that Tim Howard will start in goal and Carlos Bocanegra and Oguchi Onyewu will anchor the middle of the defense. If Hejduk can go, he'll be right back. The other defender will be Jonathan Spector or Jonathan Bornstein. If Hejduk can't play, then both the Jonathans might start.
In the midfield I'd like to see Landon Donovan at an outside mid which will give him the freedom to run on the outside, move in and out of the middle, and help defensively if need be. I'd like to see Freddy Adu at the other outside mid for the same reasons as Donovan. Which leaves Jose Francisco Torres in the middle, to settle things down, if needed. I'm wondering if the reason Bradley pulled him out at halftime against Costa Rica was to save him for Honduras? - we'll find out tomorrow. The other mid, the holding mid, can go to two people - Pablo Mastroeni or Ricardo Clark. Now, I'm no Ricardo Clark fan, but he did just shut down Amado Guevara last weekend and Guevara is a central playmaker for Honduras. Will Bradley rely on Clark to do it again?
Up front, I'd put in Conor Casey. He's the MLS scoring leader at the moment. He was just brought into camp to replace Ching and can hold the ball like Ching, take a beating, win the ball and dish out a pass for a shot to...Clint Dempsey. Demspey and Conor up front for the Americans.
This line-up leaves a bench of some guys who can come in with speed and fresh legs if needed: Jozy Altidore, Marvell Wynne (who can play defense or outside mid), Benny Feilhaber or even Charlie Davies.
By shaking up the line-up a little bit, you bring in guys who are eager to show their stuff and make a mark for themselves. Whoever plays, the goal is to win and grab 3 points and keep qualifying for 2010 in our own hands.
A few words about other qualification matches. Japan and Australia can be one of the first teams to clinch World Cup berths with wins on the road over Uzbekistan and Qatar, respectively. The Netherlands can be the first European side to take a spot in South Africa with a win at Iceland. England can move closer to a berth with a win over Kazakhstan in Almaty, the first time these two nations will ever meet. Same for Denmark, if they can win against Sweden in Solna.
Another key match-up in Asia is North Korea hosting Iran. Iran desperately needs a win and North Korea would like nothing more than to get back to the World Cup (last time North Korea made it was 1966).
In Africa, it's the 2nd game of the final round and some big matches are: Morocco at Cameroon; Ivory Coast at Guinea; Ghana at Mali and Egypt at Algeria.
In South America, Uruguay hosting Brazil is a big one, along with Paraguay hosting Chile and Colombia travelling to Argentina.
Finally, the rest of CONCACAF sees Mexico going to El Salvador in a match where the winner is back in the thick of things and the loser will be up against a wall. Costa Rica travels to Trinidad & Tobago and would like to steal points on the road and increase their overall lead in the standings. The Soca Warriors, with only two points from 3 games, need a home win to get back on track.
A busy weekend which should be a lot of fun
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