USA vs Colombia Preview

Tomorrow the United States takes on Colombia at PPL Park in Chester, PA.  Colombia is coming off of a 1-0 win against Ecuador at Red Bull Arena Friday night.  Tonight we'll have a traditional preview of what to expect from the United States in game two of the October opening in the FIFA calender.  We'll also take a look at what formations and guys we'll see this time around from both teams. 

Lets start off with the United States potential line changes.

I expect there to be some significant changes to the US set up here.  We already know that two starters won't even be in uniform.  Carlos Bocanegra and Steve Cherundolo have been sent back to France and Germany respectively so we can expect almost wholesale changes in the backline.  Here's the lineup I see starting.

-----------------------Guzan

Spector-----Goodson-----Onyewu-----Pearce

---------------Bradley------Jones

Holden-------------Dempsey-----------Bedoya

----------------------Altidore

Not exactly a lineup that is blowing my skirt up either.  But the fact is that Bob Bradley is still coach and when last I looked, just about everything he does is pretty predictable.  Sure the Edu at centerback was a bit of a surprise, but not completely out of the picture since Edu did play there during the Olympics and against the Czech Republic in the Send Off Series to the World Cup. 

Whats the lineup that would love to see?

-----------------------Guzan

Spector-----Goodson-----Onyewu-----Pearce

--------Bradley------Jones-------Holden

----------------------Dempsey

---------------Altidore-----Johnson

I'd expect that everyone on the roster gets a cap in this one except Howard.  Of course, maybe Howard starts with the jumbled backline and Guzan comes on after the break.  But I'd really like to see Johnson get the full 90 here, just to see where he is at.  Don't look at my Edu exclusion as a bad thing, I could see he and Jones splitting the 90 here.  Lichaj and Shea also get at least a half in this one as well.  Feilhaber maybe comes on late in this one, and Bedoya as well. Parkhurst probably gets a run out as well, maybe the last 10 minutes or so. 

The three in the midfield give us the advantage over their two, allowing us, potentially to control possession and create numbers up in the final third.  Johnson gives the speed option up top.  Dempsey goes into the playmaker role, which he played so well against Poland.

Lets look at the potential Colombia lineup:
4-4-2, or a 4-2-3-1 depending on how you want to look at it.  This was their lineup against Ecuador, so things can change:

------------------Ospina

Zuniga-----Perea-----Yepes-----Armero

----------Restrepo-----Viafara

Ibaro-------------------------------Ramos

------------Moreno

------------------------Gutierrez

There you have it.  Let's hope for a positive result.  Until then, have a good evening.