The Beautiful Game

The World Cup is upon us. And I, for one, am totally psyched.

This past weekend I got a taste of the action with two US friendlies: Venezuela and Latvia.

After watching those games, it struck me that we can put up two different teams: one that matches up better against the Czech's strength and one that matches up better against the Italian's speed and finesse. My hope is that this is part of Bruce's plan and that we don't field a "tweener" that plays weak against both. My guess is that Bruce will start the same 7-8 players in both games and tailor the remaining 2-3 based on the team.

Further, I was relieved about the depth of the bench and feel we can bring on reserves in the 60th minute that can really step up the level of play. And I sincerely hope Bruce does that.

I agree that Keller is "a" top goalie, not "the" top goalie. But Group E is loaded with goalie talent, so Keller is not the distinct advantage he would be in another group. But without him...

DeMarcus Beasley has got to step it up. At 24, he can't be washed up, but he did not look crisp against Latvia. On the other hand, Bobby Convey looked very good. My general assessment is that the US is very strong on the wings, but soft in the middle. If the games are played out in the middle, we will be hurting.

We have a good shot and USMNT fans have to feel better today then last week. The US will not be a deer in the headlights, but the rest of the world does not consider us an easy win either. CONCACAF does not prepare the US well for the WC, EXCEPT for Mexico. US v. Mexico is like Red Sox v. Yankees without all the goodwill and niceties.

And, by the way, if the US manages to get into the second round as the #2 team, they will likely face...Brazil.