Tonight will determine a great deal about the health of the US National Team program. I feel the program is ill currently and could be terminally so with a loss tonight. However, the addition of Jonathan Spector for this match gives Peter Nowak a Premiership caliber player to put up against the Canadians, something he did not have in group play. Here is what I see as the likely starting eleven for tonight.
—————————————————Altidore————————————————————–
—-Holden————————————–Adu—————————————————Klejstan————
————————————–McCarty——————–Edu—————————————————–
—Spector———-Strugis————————————-Ianni———————————–Wynne————-
———————————————Seitz————————————————————————-
Yes a 4-5-1 which can hit you on the break. It’s unlikely Nowak will play Cervi in goal but I find him to be a lot more reliable than Chris Seitz. I’d also like to Michael Orozco instead of Patrick Ianni but assume Nowak will start Ianni who has looked lost throughout most of the group stage. Any thoughts about the US lineup? A result is mandatory tonight. Missing the Olympics for the 2nd straight time, and this time without facing Mexico would be cause for someone to be sacked in my opinion. Many of you will be distracted by the NCAA Tournament. Complicating matters is the decision of the NIT, now owned by the NCAA to also play tonight and tomorrow night. (The NIT traditionally took NCAA days off). So if you are going to give the match a pass, that’s alright, but for those of you interested Fox Soccer Channel at 9pm ET/6pm PT. It’s all on the line tonight, and much like the NCAA Tournament it is win and advance, lose and go home.
