USA Send-Off Series, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA
United States vs Turkey 2:00PM EST Live on ESPN2, ESPN3.com, and Galavision (SPA)
Tomorrow afternoon, the United States will square off with Turkey in their final match before heading to South Africa for the much, much anticipated World Cup. It is my understanding that this is the first time the US Men's National team has played in Philadelphia and will coincidentally be my first time seeing the US men's team (I hope to have pictures and videos posted in the review post).
(The Roster)
The United States has never had so much attention drawn to them, both domestically and abroad. ESPN is pulling out all the stops in their World Cup coverage while dedicating plenty of time to the US team (see above video). Being drawn in a very fortunate group, which happens to include England, has many soccer crowds talking up the good chance that the US has to advance to the round of 16.
What I'll be looking for tomorrow is simply cohesion. With several players grinding it out through injuries and the roster just finalized, I want to know that the players will be familiar with each other. As far as I'm concerned, the US has never had a consistent ability to threaten at goal. I'm hoping our performance from the Confederations Cup will carry over. If not, expect another group stage disappointment, alla 2006 (in which the US scored 2 goals, one an own goal).
Turkey provides a good challenge for the US. They're one of the teams who is hard to understand. Having well-outperformed expectations at Euro 2008, they failed to qualify for the World Cup for a second straight time. Nonetheless, having set the goal of making the last 16 or possibly even last 8, the US will be playing teams who are worse, equal to, and better than Turkey. A must watch for any US supporter.
(My prediction: 2-2)
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