About an hour from game time and there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot to say about this one. The United States is guarenteed at least a second-place finish in the group while El Salvador is still fighting for a place in the quarterfinals. Obviously, the US will want to win the group, but the next match will be much more important than this one. After the group stage, a whole new tournament begins. Teams that stumbled through the group stage get new life (i.e. France last summer) and teams that roll through the first round can have their tournement ended quickly (i.e. Spain).
Considering the cirsumstances, it will once again be interesting to see who Bob Bradley selects as his starting 11. Hejduk and Bocanegra are carrying cards into this game so it will be interesting to see how Bradley handles them. Mastroeni is eligible to play now that he has completed his suspension. I expect to see him in the line-up. Eddie Johnson will not play due to the knock he picked up in Saturday’s win over Trinidad. Other than that, a lot of question marks surround today’s starting line-up. Here’s my best guess…..

Howard

Simek DeMerit Onyewu Bornstein

Mapp Mastro Bradley Beasley

Dempsey Donovan