Bringing this back.
HUGE match against Mexico in the DF (Distrito Federal...Mexico City) coming up on Wednesday. World Cup Qualifier.
Estadio Azteca is one of biggest homefield advantages in any sport in the world. 105,000+ loud, obnoxious, unruly fans (2 words- "piss bags"). Altitude (7,200 ft). Smog. Just plane f'in miserable for opposing teams.
US has done awful there (0-11-1 since 1950)- however...this would be the best chance the USMNT may have in a long time. US is on the up. Mexico is sliding. Nevermind that Gold Cup final. With both rosters now official, we can now see that the US roster features 3 players that played significant minutes in the Gold Cup tournament (Ching may be the only one to play in this one). Mexico has around 8 guys that contributed and are on the squad for this World Cup Qualifier (it could be argued, though, that it was their performance in the Cup that got them a spot on the roster).
I'm not expecting a win. I'm hardly expecting a draw. But if the US can manage a result in Azteca, it would have a humongous impact on their chances for qualifing for South Africa in 2010. The US would be on the brink on clinching a spot, while Mexico would likely be battling it out for 4th place- meaning they would enter a playoff against the 5th place CONMEBOL (South America) team, a very tough task consider the 5th place team in CONMEBOL right now is Ecuador (#36 in FIFA, Mexico is #30).
The Standings of the "Hex" (6 CONCACAF teams) at the halfway point (play each team twice):
------Team-----------GP--W--D--L--PTS
1. Costa Rica----------5---4--0--1---
12
2. United States-------5---3--1--1---
10
3. Honduras-----------5---2--1--2---
7
----------------------------------------------------
4. Mexico-------------5---2--0--3----
6
-----------------------------------------------------
5. El Salvadore--------5---1--2--2----
5
6. Trinidad & Tobago--5---0--2--3----
2
Mexico NEEDS a win in this game (ok, not mathmatically, but considering everything). This is their place. This is the one thing that they can still hold of the US. Estadio Azteca is their safe haven. Plus, they moved up the time to 3 PM local time, instead of a night game. While the heat may not be that much of a factor (high 70's/80's), the altitude will be. By moving the time up, the US does not have the option to fly in the day of the game (a task used by, I believe, Argentina when they went to play in Bolivia). Altitude experts say that if you can't get 2-3 weeks to acclimate yourself, then you are best to just go in the day of and hope the body doesn't recognize the difference until much later. Because the US will have to fly in the night before, kickoff will be right when the players begin to feel the altitude kick in. Advantage Mexico (who has many players that play/live in the high altitude cities of Mexico).
The roster for the US:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa: 5/3 SO), Tim Howard (Everton FC: 11/7 SO)
DEFENDERS (7): Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes: 21/3), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA, 2/0), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover: 18/0), Jay DeMerit (Watford: 2/0), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew: 1/0), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan: 16/1), Jonathan Spector (West Ham: 2/0)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Michael Bradley (Borussia M?nchengladbach: 10/4), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo: 5/0), Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC: 17/4), Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus: 1/0), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo: 0/0), Jos? Francisco Torres (Pachuca: 5/0)
FORWARDS (5): Jozy Altidore (Villarreal: 8/5), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids: 5/0), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo: 15/6), Charlie Davies (FC Sochaux: 2/1), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy: 30/11)
This is very close to what the squad might look like next summer (assuming they qualify). A very good selection by Bob Bradley. Only complaint is Conor Casey. I'm just not a fan of him. I'd rather see Kenny Cooper. Not a big deal at all, as neither are/would have been likely to impact the match.
Special shout-out to the Columbus Crew's Chad Marshall! Great to see him get a call up.
TV for this match is a little confusing. Mexico's futbol Federation holds the TV rights (because it's their home game, a FIFA rule). The FMF sold their English speaking rights to NBC. It was expected that ESPN would buy the rights and broadcast the game. NBC didn't accept the bid. In the USA, the game will be seen on Telemundo (an NBC company), in Spanish or in English using the SAP button (they still make those?). The actual English broadcast (same as the SAP telemundo one) will be on Mun2 (dos). It seems NBC wants to use this marquee matchup to promote their new channel, geared toward the younger latin/bilingual populace in America. Right now it shows a lot of music videos, however, it will supposedly transform into a sports channel for a couple hours (
).
So, it's Telemundo or Mun2, both which are often found in a Spanish pay-tier. A lot of Cable and Satalite providers have agreed to offer a free preview/unlock Mun2 for August 12th. Telemundo is also available over-the-air in a lot of [larger] cities.
Comcast of Indianapolis has Mun2 (though it doesn't even have Telemundo). It is hidden among the other Spanish-tier channels that I don't get. However, I do receive Mun2 (607), so I'll be set.
I might throw out a predicted starting 11 as the game
draws closer...maybe even a predicted score
Edit- This roster has 20 players. Matchday roster will only have 18. So Chad Marshall might be one that doesn't actually make the trip. Good to see him in the picture nonetheless. Also, the Casey vs. Cooper thing- I forgot that Kenny just joined a Bundesliga 2 (German 2nd division) team about a week back. It is better he get acquainted w/ his new club (training sessions, friendlies) instead of flying across the pond just to sit the bench as the 4th forward.
