Brazil v. United States Preview

Brazil v. United States
Thursday, June 18, 9:30 A.M. Eastern
Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa

Brazil’s second match of the tournament is Thursday morning against the United States. The U.S. has been on an average run of form coming into this tournament, and the seat is getting hotter for their coach Bob Bradley. They are second in their qualifying group, and were recently defeated badly in Costa Rica by a 3-1 margin. One of the main criticisms of Bradley are his dubious lineup choices. The U.S. plays many players who see little or no time for their club teams. If you think Brazil has a left back problem wait until you see the U.S.’, who have played midfielders and center backs at the position.

Despite the shortcomings of the U.S. team, this is not a cakewalk of a match. The U.S. played well yesterday against Italy during the first half, going into the tunnel up 1-0. However, down one man due to a red card, they lost 3-1. The star player for the U.S. is L.A. Galaxy forward Landon Donovan, who scored the lone goal against Italy. Additionally, Oguchi Onyewu, is a tall and formidable central defender who has been linked with several Premier League clubs this summer.

The U.S. is not a team with a tremendous amount of pace. There are two keys to this match: 1) Dani Alves and Elano against whoever is playing left back; 2) good passing. Alves should have a lot of freedom on the right side of the pitch, and a good performance from him is going to be a good performance for the team. Brazil’s speed in comparison to the U.S.’ means that the counter attack should be particularly deadly, unless we are not connecting on our passing, which was the case in the first half of the Paraguay match.

United States:

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.)

Brazil:

Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Gomes (Tottenham Hotspur), Victor (Gremio)

Defenders: Maicon (Inter Milan), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Miranda (Sao Paulo), Juan (AS Roma), Lucio (Bayern Munich), Luisao (Benfica), Kleber (Internacional), Andre Santos (Corinthians)

Midfielders: Kleberson (Flamengo), Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos), Josue (VfL Wolfsburg), Ramires (Cruzeiro), Elano (Manchester City), Felipe Melo (Fiorentina), Julio Baptista (AS Roma), Kaka (AC Milan)

Forwards: Alexandre Pato (AC Milan), Luis Fabiano (Sevilla), Nilmar (Internacional), Robinho (Manchester City)

Prediction: Brazil 2 – 0 United States