Gold Cup looms, but first USA must deal with world champions

photo by Chris Brunskill/ISIphotos.com

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By FRANCO PANIZO

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The CONCACAF Gold Cup is just three days away, and would normally be the sole focus of a U.S. national team trying to win back its Gold Cup trophy, but with a high-profile friendly looming against Spain today (4:30pm, ESPN2), the Americans will need to face a World Cup champion team eager for revenge before taking care of Gold Cup business on Tuesday against Canada.

It was almost two years ago on a brisk night in Bloemfontein, South Africa that the United States shocked Spain, and the world, with a 2-0 victory in the semifinals of the Confederations Cup. The loss is still a vivid memory for some of Spain's players, and they are hoping to erase that memory when they visit Gillette Stadium to take on the U.S. team on Saturday.

The Americans are well aware that they will once again concede possession to Andres Iniesta and the rest of the technically-gifted Spanish side in their final tuneup before the Gold Cup. But that is exactly the type of stiff challenge head coach Bob Bradley wants his players to go through before a grueling regional tournament which could see the team play as many as six games in 19 days.

"The opportunity to play the world champions is special to all of us," said Bradley. "When you think about what Spain has accomplished in recent years, their success, the way they play, the number of great players, it's a great test for us."

Led by veterans Carlos Bocanegra, Landon Donovan and Tim Howard, the U.S. team is hoping to pass that test by pulling off another upset. But it knows that will be tougher to do since its Gold Cup opener against Canada is looming. With the game against the northern neighbors being played in Detroit three days after the Spain friendly, Bradley is looking to fully utilize the six substitutions he will have at his disposal so as to not overwork players.

That leaves Bradley with some interesting choices to make as he looks to shape an 18-man gameday roster out of the 22 players in camp (third goalkeeper Nick Rimando has remained with Real Salt Lake and will only be summoned if needed).

"As a starting point, we are thinking a lot about how to find a balance in this regard," said Bradley when asked about playing Spain while also keeping the critical Gold Cup opener in mind.?"I think we would plan on using all six subs. The likelihood that those six substitutions all get used on the field. The flipside to that is that you have to have a plan for four guys that are going to play 90 minutes.

"As we've gone through all the different things, we joke 'it's a little like doing a sudoku.' We keep putting certain things down and we get to the end and there's two nines in the same line so we have to start over. It's important that we step on the field against a great team, that we play well, there's things we want to work on but at the same time, we have to - based upon where we are with each player, how much he's played, how he feels as he's gone through the week - make decisions that will fit the Gold Cup and everything that's coming up."

If history serves correctly, Bradley will start what he deems to be his strongest team before inserting substitutions at halftime. That means the first-choice Americans will need to not only contain the potent forward combo of Fernando Torres and David Villa, but also clog the center of the field against the likes of Iniesta and Xabi Alonso, just as they have to some degree of success in the past two meetings against Spain (in 2009 and in a 1-0 friendly loss in 2008).

"There's games you know you're going to have to defend more than others, and you have to be mentally tough enough to get the job done," said Clint Dempsey, who scored the insurance goal in the Confederations clash in 2009. "As long as your team and everybody is working hard for each other, and limiting the time and space that a team has on the ball, keeping two solid (lines) of four, and defending from the front to back, as long as everyone is on the same page it is not difficult.

"When people start to take shortcuts that is when you get punished. If we can keep everybody on the same page I think we are a tough team to break down."

The United States will also need production from its forwards if it hopes to steal a result against the world champions. Jozy Altidore has struggled to find the back of the net in recent months, and Chris Wondolowski and Juan Agudelo are still relatively inexperienced at the international level, so questions remain as to where the goals will come from, especially considering the lack of touches the trio will likely get versus Spain.

But that won't be an excuse, not for a U.S. team looking for some confidence before its important regional tournament.

"It's hard but at the end of the day possession doesn't win games," said Altidore. "We just have to do our best to contain them and be patient. They're going to have the ball, we know they're going to play with the ball, so we just have to be patient."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SoccerByIves/~3/_RqQ6cKbIjI/usa-preparing-to-gear-up-for-gold-cup-with-friendly-against-spain.html

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