Today the Red, White and Blue will face the Desert Foxes in Pretoria for their third and final game of the group stage. The US will be assured of a place in the Round of 16 if they simply win. A tie coupled with an England loss also gets them in. The other scenario would be for England to tie without outscoring the US in their tie.
The Lineups
United States:
Goalkeeper: Time Howard
Defense (L to R): Bornstein, Bocanegra, DeMerit, Cherundolo
Midfield (L to R): Dempsey, Bradley, Edu, Donovan
Forwards: Gomez, Altidore
Algeria:
Goalkeeper: M'Bolhi
Defense: Belhadj, Yahia, Halliche, Bougherra
Midfield: Ziani, Lacen, Yebda, Kadir
Attacking Midfield: Djebbour
Forward: Matmour
Notable change in the lineup for the US: Oguchi Onyewu is not starting, in his place Carlos Bocanegra moves over and Jonathan Bornstein moves into the left back position. Robbie FIndley is suspended due to yellow card accumulation but in his place is not Edson Buddle but Herculez Gomez. Buddle has only seen a little bit of game time in this world cup , and that was in their first game against England. I cannot figure out why Bob Bradley continues to look past him.
Key player for the US: Jonathan Bornstein. IF he can prove his doubters wrong and show that he does have the pace and mental toughness to play at this level and if he can provide some early stability and put an end to the US giving up early goals, then the US offense will do the rest.
Key mathcup: US forwards against Algerian defense. England failed to create space and meaningful chances in their game against Algeria. The US forwards must have looked at how Algeria defended Wayne Rooney and should have found a way through. If they can open up and expose that defense it will lead to great result for the US. Jozy Altidore showed, in a couple of runs, last game against Slovenia that he is capable of holding the ball up.
Prediction: The US will score and give up a quick goal before they rebound and take the lead once more. The US will advance to the next round with a 2-1 win.
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