US vs El Salvador Preview

Does everyone realize just how important Saturday's game is? With the US sitting in third place behind leading Costa Rica and trail Honduras on goal differential, these three point are all important heading into the tail end of qualifying. Should the US win? Yes, they are the better team by far. But remember well how El Salvador dominated the earlier match in El Salvador for some time before the historic comeback to grab a point. They played a disciplined, counter-attacking game and gave the US fits all night with their speed. A familiar face also joins them this time around in Arturo Alvarez. The former US youth prospect switched allegiances earlier this summer and played in his first official match earlier this month vs. Trinidad & Tobago. Why has his switch gone through quicker than Jones' and Castillo's? Sources say that it was because he had earlier appealed for the switch last year, which was before the latest rule changes.

This US roster is chock full of talent, but there are really some question marks for me. Why are Beckerman, Casey, Findley, and Rogers here? No disrespect to them, but Rogers and Casey have never impressed on the international level, Beckerman is at least seventh on the CM depth chart behind Bradley, Jones, Edu, Feilhaber, Clark, and Torres. He's also battling for that place with Sacha Kljestan. I see no reason for calling him in. Instead call in an Eddie Johnson or Kenny Cooper who are enjoying better seasons abroad. In actually better with Findley, as he is a younger player with potential. Better than the 31 year old Ching and 29 year old Casey. Two slow, lumbering forwards who's best days are behind them and who will be even less effective come next year. Rogers had his chance in the Gold Cup and failed to be effective against everyone except Grenada, and honestly, my sister could have been effective against them. Sure, he has potential for the future, but cannot change the game like Dempsey, Donovan, and emerging Stuart Holden. As for a starting 11:

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

Cherundolo-----DeMerit-----Bocanegra-----Spector

----------------Bradley-------Feilhaber

Dempsey------------------------------------Donovan

----------------Altidore-------Davies

With Onyewu serving his one-match suspension, Bocanegra will slide back into the middle and I'd take Spector on the left because that's where he has played in recent weeks with West Ham, so I'd feel safe with that pick. Feilhaber gets the nod over Clark because the US needs to come out flying and while Clark is a solid defensive mid, the US needs to dominate possession in this one which Benny is excellent at and which isn't one of Clark's strong points. Altidore and Davies need to start up top from now through the World Cup. They are getting minutes with better teams, in better leagues, against better players. Ching and Casey need to be sent out to pasture (damn, I'm killing them today). Now is the time for Altidore and Davies to develop a relationship with each other.