USA vs. Panama
7 pm CST
Tampa Bay, Florida
Again the Americans come in as the favorites, but this Panama team is a team we should be concerned about. While they showed that they had a lot of room for improvement against Guadeloupe, they also showed some moments of brilliance. It's these moments of brilliance we have to concern ourselves with. A win would give the USA six points in the table and we would be well on our way to advancing. While this is true, this is exactly what Panama is telling themselves as well. We need everyone on their game again. This will be a very motivated Panama team that will give it all they got to defeat the favorites for a chance to advance, but this is a much stronger USA team than they have faced before.
LINEUP PREDICTION
Howard
Cherundolo, Goodson, Ream, Bocanegra(c)
Donovan, Bradley, Jones, Dempsey
Agudelo, Altidore
I believe, as most would agree, that Bob will go with the same lineup we saw before against Canada. The lineup played well together and this is no time to fix something that isn't broke. I believe this is a solid lineup and will be nice to see if Goodson and Ream and keep their chemistry and if Agudelo and Altidore and continue to build theirs. Lichaj will be subbed in at some point, as will Edu, and Dempsey probably pushed up top. If this happens it will be later in the game close to the 70th minute.
KEYS TO THE GAME
1. Altidore needs to keep getting on the score sheet. The first goal is a great start, but he needs to build on it and get his form completely back to the standards that we need and expect from our star forward.
2. Bradley and Jones' teamwork. This duo worked very well together and it allowed Bradley to get forward and put some much deserved and needed shots on goal. We need Bradley to be in a scoring position more often. We can't have ball watching from these two.
KEY MATCHUP
USA ATTACK vs. PANAMA BACKLINE
Again, I go with this matchup, because Panama knows what they are going to get with the American attack, now try and stop it. They do present some scoring ability up front, but not enough to concern our backline too much so the obvious key matchup is not if we can stop them, but them stop us.
WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE
We warrant a lot of possession, but we need to create more with it. We can't just keep back passing and hoping someone gets the courage to try and create which is usually Donovan or Dempsey. We need to start getting more chances and shots on goal to coincide with the good possession on the ball that we are getting.
FINAL PREDICTION
The Americans show they are the best team on the pitch from the start to the finish. Timmy Howard will be hard at work and have to defend some shots on goal at times, but his spectacular goalkeeping should see us through to the next game. I see the Yanks getting the 3 points powering them through to the next stage. I see Donovan and Altidore netting for the Yanks. Panama nets one late.
FINAL SCORE
United States 2
Panama 1
Enjoy the game all you American Outlaws! USA! USA! USA!
Don't Tread.
WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE
We warrant a lot of possession, but we need to create more with it. We can't just keep back passing and hoping someone gets the courage to try and create which is usually Donovan or Dempsey. We need to start getting more chances and shots on goal to coincide with the good possession on the ball that we are getting.
FINAL PREDICTION
The Americans show they are the best team on the pitch from the start to the finish. Timmy Howard will be hard at work and have to defend some shots on goal at times, but his spectacular goalkeeping should see us through to the next game. I see the Yanks getting the 3 points powering them through to the next stage. I see Donovan and Altidore netting for the Yanks. Panama nets one late.
FINAL SCORE
United States 2
Panama 1
Enjoy the game all you American Outlaws! USA! USA! USA!
Don't Tread.
What do you think has led to Coach Bradley's change in the central of the back line? Is the new duo of Ream and Goodson here to stay, or just for the here and now? No trust in Onyewu?
ReplyDeleteAlso, it appears to me that we usually throw Dempsey up top in the last third of most games...and he usually either scores or causes great havoc. Why don't we do that earlier? Thanks for the blog.
Oh yeah...my prediction 3-1. Agudelo, Donovan, Bradley.
ReplyDeleteHey teachaman,
ReplyDeleteSo glad you posted! While I think Onyewu is still a great CB, he has been terribly out of form as of late rather that still be that lingering injury he has or just not playing good ball at the time. I think Ream and Goodson aren't yet here to stay, but it is quite possibly. Goodson really shows confidence at CB and plays well and Ream does very well on the ball BUT if you have a healthy and in form Onyewu, there is no way you keep him on the bench.
On Dempsey, he really is wonder for us. I love how versitile he is and he really is after Donovan becoming my favorite player on the team. You can tell all the time he puts in at Fulham is really starting to translate into some great football skills. I think we keep him where he is at because our lack of depth at the winger position. Even though he is great up top and does do wonders for us, we really need him at the winger position that he plays at Fulham. I would love to see us be able to move him up top at some point soon, but that probably won't happen until we can get a solid winger to replace him.
Great prediction! Hope yours is right over mine!
USA!