That's On Point: The Web Site

If you've ever attended at USMNT game on American soil, one thing tends to stand out. No, not the copious amounts of fans for the other team in the stands. No, on the rare occasion the U.S. finds the back of the net it triggers honestly one of the worst songs ever penned, "Goals, goals, goals...for the red, white and blue." It's so inane that it was probably penned by Marcelo Balboa and Poochie the Dog circa 1996 in a pitiful attempt to try to be extreme.

Now outside the immortal 'Super Bowl Shuffle', music and sports don't exactly mesh in American pro sports. Yeah, a couple NFL teams have theme songs and 'Meet the Mets' is amazing in its own, cheesy way. My suggestion for the U.S. (Metallica's 'Leper Messiah') probably wouldn't fly, so it's a moot point, though it would make the opposing team shit its pants. (Of course that would be neutralized by crying 9-year-olds in their AYSO team jerseys and lest we forget soccer in America's prime directive that is must be a family friendly affair.)

The only reason I mention this "song" is that the U.S. re-opens its quest for South Africa 2010 Wednesday night when it travels to the Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City (ESPN2, 10 p.m.) for the second round of CONCACAF qualifying. Goals, as usual, will be the premium, even if a draw would do in the results grid. (Goal-scorers win a free plastic bag full of urine!)

Quite simply, aside from Landon Donovan, the U.S. team is devoid to reliable goal scorers -- especially on the road. Can we truly expect anything from the three other forwards listed on the roster in Brian Ching, Clint Dempsey and Eddie Johnson?

In fact, with Guatemala most likely turning to cynical tactics and an extremely defensive formation, it's unlikely Donovan is cracking off a 50-yard run to score. Ching? A big lug of a player that might be able to throw his head on a set play, in theory. Dempsey? A total enigma and its still yet to be seen if he has a) a true position b) can effectively play with Donovan. Finally Johnson. For all his raw speed and athleticism, he doesn't posses that innate goal-scoring touch. To his credit his does get most of his work done against the CONCACAF minnows, so he's got that working for him.

Naturally there is a question to why coach Bob Bradley left the rapidly improving Kenny Cooper -- the second-leading scorer in MLS (13) -- off the roster. Cooper has shown an ability, albeit in in MLS, to score in all fashions and put his stamp on games. Is Cooper "the guy" longterm or just another flavor of the month we fans clamor for when he's omitted from a roster?

For as well as Cooper is playing, a game like this -- which ought to be extremely cagey -- calls out for not a forward but a goal scorer, someone for example like Pipo Inzaghi. He's not a guy that will do much, but given half an inch of space, he'll mop up the garbage and tally. Now the question, does the U.S. have anybody with this trait? Off the top of my head Ante Razov comes to mind. After that? You tell me. (I'm the only one, but I still miss the craftiness of Clint Mathis, before he fell into the black hole with Axl Rose.)

Maybe this isn't the biggest concern since both Freddy Adu and Jozy Altidore seem to be the attackers of the future, but for whatever the reason won't play big roles going forward to 2010 as they acclimate to their European clubs.

Wednesday's game is in Guatemala, but it's unlikely we'll be hearing the stupid USSF song anyway.

Other stuff:

* Guatemala is probably the worst team to watch the U.S. play against. From Carlos Ruiz on, these guys just play such an unappealing brand of anti-football it's sickening. Thinking back to the last couple matches against Guatemala makes my head sping, especially that foul-filled nightmare in the Gold Cup in 2007 or that 0-0 draw earlier that season. The U.S. is 4-0-4 in qualifying against Guatemala, but they've only won once away from home all-time in all competitions.

* Can Bradley afford to play yellow/red card risks Oguchi Onyewu, Michael Bradley and Pablo Mastroeni? It's hard to believe Guatemala coach Ramón Maradiaga isn't going to try to get his players to get the U.S. to draw stupid bookings, especially after the Olympics. (Onyewu comes into the game carrying a card.)

* Speaking of the Olympics, based on the washout in Beijing, Sasha Kljestan deserves a spot. He's clearly more effective as a right midfielder than either Donovan or Dempsey. What is the downside of letting him start a qualifier on the road?

* Taking a 180-approach, 34-year-old Eddie Lewis might deserve a start for a couple reasons a) he's savvy enough not to get drawn into Guatemala's cynical play. b) his left foot can create a goal from a set piece. Does that offset his lack of stamina/athleticism compared to DaMarcus Beasley on the left? We'll see. He's not getting any youngster, so might as well utilize him while he's still somewhat fit.

* I'd set the odds at 100,000 to 1 that somehow this game comes in High Definition. Even on ESPN2 HD channel it'll look like it was produced by Borat.

Lineup guess

Again, I'd advocate the 2007-08 Manchester United floating attacking options, but that seems unlikely. Here's a more likely guess, though I'd let Jay DeMerit get a crack over Oneywu. The question is how long Bradley continues to stick with the usual suspects before truly giving some new blood, or just as importantly, some new ideas into the game. None of our central defenders are exactly great servers of the ball and just hoofing it upfield isn't getting the job done with the presumably packed-in Chapines. Where the distribution is coming in this game is a mystery, amazingly, this is a game tailor-made for Claudio Reyna's conservative midfield passing.

Anything other than a 4-4-2, or a 4-4-1-1 would be a surprise.

GK -- Tim Howard
DEF -- Heath Pearce -- Onyewu -- Carlos Bocanegra -- Steve Cherundolo
MID -- DaMarcus Beasley -- Maurice Edu -- Michael Bradley -- Sasha Kljestan
FOR -- Clint Dempsey -- Landon Donovan (one of the two playing withdrawn)

Again, to win this game it probably requires a two-tier forward option. A hulking, hardworking, ball-winner to wear down the Chapines for 70+ minutes, then a cagey finisher to take advantage of tired legs. Unfortunately this current U.S. roster has neither of those options. The best chance to score is a set piece, where Bocanegra and Onyewu might show their best worth.

Closing thoughts:

Considering the U.S. hasn't won in Guatemala since 1988 (a winner by Jeff Agoos!) a draw wouldn't be the end of the world. The other two opponents in this round are a depleted Trinadad team and Cuba, so it's likely going to be the U.S. and Guatemala advancing anyway. Points here, even singular, are important since the next match is Sept. 6 in Cuba, where anything could conceivably happen. In fact, the team might long for the standard hail of batteries and bags of human excrement.

Bottom line, it would be good to see the team play with some discipline and maybe snatch a result via a set piece or a lapse by the Guats, not the other way around. Grabbing the full three points would show some serious growth by the team. Another listless 0-0 draw or even a loss, furthers the programs spinning wheels approach.

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SAY IT AINT SO -- Man, Benny Feilhaber truly wants to become John O'Brien 2.0. This slipped past me Monday. Apparently he left Derby County -- after a disastrous season -- to play for Danish side Aarhus. Gwah! Just to think, if he'd stuck it out at Hamburg one more season he might have had a shot to play with Van dar Vaart finally transferring. He joins another American castoff in Jeremiah White. Good luck Benny, hope you like LEGOs.

Labels: bob bradley, Landon Donovan, Soccer, USMNT, world cup qualifying