Saturday night will undoubtedly be an emotional and fiery affair between two teams who just simply don’t like each other.
Advertisement
“It’s more intense for them”. It’s not that American fans expect to waltz through CONCACAF, but far weaker United States sides have managed to navigate the Gold Cup successfully. So too did friendlies in 2000, 2007 and the last time they met in April. Can the US dictate the action, or will it fall back into its familiar pattern against Mexico of letting El Tri dominate possession while lurking after potential counterattacks?
United States and arch-rivals Mexico will clash for a 2017 Confederations Cup berth in California on Saturday.
Among the things they learned was a large crowd doesn’t necessarily mean an unruly one, even when it’s split between fierce foes. To many major soccer powers, it isn’t a particularly big deal. There would also be momentum to take into the World Cup qualifying campaign that begins later this year. A supplemental ticking process was held for supporters groups of the US and Mexican teams. There is also the issue of who will start in net on Saturday.
The the above graphic lines up as a flat 4-4-2, this personnel would more likely deploy in a diamond midfield, with Jones shaded left and either Alejandro Bedoya or Gyasi Zardes shaded on the right, where they will have the task of trying to keep marauding Mexican left back Miguel Layun honest defensively. In an unpredictable tournament like the World Cup, which sends teams home with a single loss, it’s a previous opportunity to mitigate a few of the many variables. The victor qualifies for the 2016 Olympics.
The USA will win if…
Klinsmann’s predecessor, Bob Bradley, was held to that standard and got the axe shortly after the United States lost the 2011 Gold Cup final to Mexico. Moments later, a belligerent fan pushed Massachusetts, dressed in a US jersey, and took a swing at his friend when the two men tried to take their seats. “This is the ticket to the Confederations Cup in Russian Federation”, US head coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. According to former USMNT star Landon Donovan, the outcome of the game should determine the future of national team manager Jürgen Klinsmann. There were the highs of a stirring run to the World Cup elimination rounds last summer, following by promising wins at Italy, Mexico and the Netherlands. His center back pairing seems straightforward enough – Geoff Cameron and Matt Besler are the consensus best options – but there is always the possibility that Klinsmann still believes Ventura Alvarao is ready for prime time. Donovan, who is retired from the sport, clearly stated that coaches in other parts of the world with the same results as Klinsmann has had with the USA national team lately are usually fire.
Additionally, Klinsmann has told his players that if they lose a game, they don’t get to “go to the grocery store the next day”. The victor gets a place in the 2017 Confederations Cup, an important global tournament held in the same venues as the next World Cup.
Hyndman said: “Being so closely connected, those coaches, I think it really helps us to think if we make an impression here, then it’ll be noted up top”. Many Mexican fans said they never felt threatened at the game.
U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati has already said that Klinsmann’s job is safe regardless of the result on Saturday. His job will still be safe with a loss, but the calls for him to be fired will only grow louder if his team doesn’t win this one. Not to mention a multi-million dollar contract through 2018.
“Obviously, their first squad hasn’t been doing all that great, and they’re just going to come out here and try to tear things off in the first 10 minutes, and we’ve just got to be ready to contain them”.
Unfortunately, Giovani dos Santos will not be playing because of a muscle injury.
Advertisement
Needless to say, there are not many men who can claim to be legends on both sides of a fierce rivalry.
