International Friendly Preview: USA - Australia
Who: United States vs. Australia What: International Friendly When: Saturday, June 5, 2010;
By Noah Davis
Jun 4, 2010 8:08:00 PM

The United States Men's National Team stages their final pre-World Cup warm-up match against fellow qualifier Australia on Saturday in South Africa's Ruimsig Stadium. For the Americans, the fixture simultaneously represents an opportunity for the coaching staff to settle on its starting line up for the opening match against England and to provide players returning from injury with vital game-situation minutes. The Socceroos, who feature the Wayne Rooney-esque Tim Cahill (Tim Howard's teammate at Everton), play a similar style to the Three Lions and will provide a stern test. In the end, the Stars and Stripes will defeat a physical, but less talented Australia side 2-0.

So Altidore's Out...

Jozy Altidore suffered a sprained ankle during training on Wednesday and will undergo a fitness test on Friday to determine his readiness for the friendly. Considering his importance on the squad, it's difficult to see him playing and risking re-injury no matter the result of the test. That leaves Bob Bradley with a vacancy to fill at the striker position and throws the entire attacking portion of the U.S. line up into doubt. Look for Clint Dempsey and Edson Buddle to start at the top to the American formation, with Stuart Holden replacing the Fulham star in midfield. Herculez Gomez and Robbie Findley should also see time, but Buddle's the best target man of the trio and Dempsey can play off the Los Angeles Galaxy striker. (That said, Bradley could opt for Buddle and Finley in the striker roles with Dempsey back in midfield and Gomez coming on as a substitute somewhere between minute 55 and 70.)

And the Back Four Is...

Oguchi Onyewu had a little more than 100 minutes of match action to get his legs under him during the two friendlies last week. He looked rusty against the Czechs but better versus the Crescent Stars. Now, it's time for A.C. Milan's defender to prove he belongs on the pitch against the Three Lions. Containing Cahill, a small player who's nonetheless very strong in the air, would help his case as would battling the muscle-bound Socceroos. Jay DeMerit's a virtual certainly in central defense, while Clarence Goodson could replace either Onyewu or the former Watford captain in the later stages. Steve Cherundolo will start on the right and reprise that role against England, while skipper Carlos Bocanegra mans the opposite fullback position. Depending on fitness, both could come off against Australia.

Australia Regroups...

After lackluster victories against New Zealand and Denmark, Pim Verbeek's side needs a solid performance to bolster their spirits before heading into a tough Group D. They open against a Michael Ballack-less German side, battle Ghana, and then finish with dark-horse Serbia only four days later. (Ironically, the two teams that advance from that foursome meet the first- and second-place finishers from the American's group, meaning these teams could play in the round of 16.) The 'roos rely upon Cahill and Harry Kewell to produce goals (with an assist from wonderfully named striker Josh "Jesus" Kennedy") and turn to Dempsey's club teammate Mark Schwarzer in net. Lucas Neill is their best defender and he'll be tasked with organizing the back line and slowly down the American attack.

Projected U.S. Line Up

----------------------Howard---------------------

Cherundolo--Onyewu--DeMerit--Bocanegra

Holden------Edu------Bradley-------Donovan

-------------Buddle-------Dempsey-------------

Projected Australia Line Up

-----------------Schwarzer-----------------

Wilkshire--Moore--Neill--Chipperfield

-----------Grella----------Culina-----------

------Emerton-----Cahill-----Kewell------

-------------------Kennedy------------------

Goal.com Prediction

United States 2-0 Australia


http://www.goal.com/en/news/1863/world-cup-2010/2010/06/04/1959300/international-friendly-preview-usa-australia

US vs Australia quite a friendly for four players

10:40 AM Saturday Jun 5, 2010

IRENE: After 3 years of getting ready, the United States' final dress rehearsal comes Saturday in a friendly against Australia.

In a refurbished stadium in a western suburb of Johannesburg, the Americans' last warmup match before their World Cup opener against England on June 12 possesses some intriguing potential matchups that make it quite a "friendly."

Australian midfielder Tim Cahill will be trying to beat US goalkeeper Tim Howard, his Everton teammate for the past four seasons.

And American midfielder Clint Dempsey will be trying to get the ball past the Socceroos' Mark Schwarzer, his 'keeper at Fulham the past two years.

There's a lot of mutual admiration.

"Tim is the ultimate competitor," Howard said Friday. "He's miserable to play against, you know, and that makes him a fantastic teammate. And he's a guy who is very, very fun-loving off the field. But every single game I played with him at Everton, he's been the first one to take the fight to the other team, to get stuck in, to push and shove, to really push the tempo."

The 37-year-old Schwarzer has been so good there have been reports Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger wants to acquire him to replace Manuel Almunia.

"Any game you play in, you always want to score, but it would be nice to score against Mark because he's always running his mouth in training," Dempsey said before cracking a smile.

"He helped us out a lot at Fulham. I think a lot of the success of the team goes to having that experience of him in between the sticks," Dempsey said. "It's great having him on the team. He's someone who has a lot of confidence, has a lot of experience."

It will be the last time for US coach Bob Bradley to test a thus-far shaky defence. It was be Oguchi Onyewu's third game back following October knee surgery and the second for Carlos Bocanegra and Jay DeMerit after abdominal strains. Bradley must still sort out whether Steve Cherundolo or Jonathan Spector will start at right back against England.

In the central midfield, it's unclear whether Michael Bradley will be joined by Ricardo Clark, Maurice Edu or Jose Torres.

"We're still determining how to balance it out," Bradley said. "Certainly a week before the match, we want to continue to move our team forward. That sometimes involves, you know, a different plan for different guys."

Forward Jozy Altidore could miss the Australia match after spraining his right ankle during training Wednesday. Altidore was held out of practice Friday, instead watching from the bench as his teammates worked out.

Dempsey could be pushed up to forward, which would leave Stuart Holden, DaMarcus Beasley or Benny Feilhaber to start in midfield with Landon Donovan -- who spent three months at Everton last season with Howard and Cahill. The other forward candidates are Robbie Findley, Edson Buddle and Herculez Gomez.

Bradley is expecting a fast-paced game, partly because the field at Ruimsig Stadium in Roodepoort is a bit narrow.

Howard has one primary goal.

"No injuries, first," he said. "I don't think the result is too much of an issue. Obviously, we'd want to win, that would be great, But no injuries and everyone feeling like they're getting up to speed would be very, very good."

Cherundolo expects players to go hard -- only to a degree.

"I certainly don't expect anybody to be playing in a reckless manner," he said. "But the best way to get injured is to go out and try not to get injured."

Last month, the US lost to the Czech Republic 4-2 using mostly second-stringers and rallied for a 2-1 win over Turkey in the Americans' US farewell.

Australia coach Pim Verbeek planned to rest Blackburn midfielder Brett Emerton, who has been banged up, and give limited action to Galatasaray forward Harry Kewell, been bothered by a groin injury.

This will be the seventh game for the US in South Africa.

"I think it's, if anything, a very small advantage that you've kind of seen what's coming our way," Cherundolo said.

A November 2007 friendly win over South Africa and five matches at the Confederations Cup last June made the Americans more comfortable, but comfort only goes so far in getting ready to play England.

"Certainly," Cherundolo said, "there weren't millions behind their TVs watching the game and following every single result and play."

- AP
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/soccer-football/news/article.cfm?c_id=86&objectid=10649906&pnum=0

As it pains me to say this about the american team, I do rate Dempsey. He seems to just poach goals out of nowhere

And I love all the comments about us being so similar to england (admittedly I have not watched their NT play lately) maybe in the past but I doubt pim's defensive 4-2-3-1 will have many similarities to Englands direct style.

Their win over Spain in last year's Confed Cup really hit me hard... I don't want to see that again. :evil:

Remember, it's the American way of thinking here, i.e. "WE'RE THE BEST IN THE WORLD, BAR NONE!"

It'll be splendid watching us defeat them and giving them a reality check.

What was up with that win in the Confederations Cup? Was it more the USA playing good or Spain playing appaulingly/players out/not trying?

It seems to me that the USA, like Australia, have really good goalkeeper stocks for some weird reason.

I gotta say, on paper the US national team don't look very impressive. Unless of course Major League Soccer is better than I think.

In that line up the only ones playing in the MLS are Landon Donovan who well all know is quality and also Buddle who is a team mate of Donovan at Galaxy.

Man, considering this is our last friendly before the real games begin, you'd think this thread would be jumping by now.

Quite frankly, I'm really getting excited by this match. :) Been waiting a looooong time for a match against the USA. Always wanted to see whether the USA are the 'pretenders' people always make them out to be. Hopefully they are.