The United States Soccer federation will usually wish to choose venues for their world Cup matches, where the climate could have its effect and the fans for the visitors can hardly afford to travel thus far to have maximum support. That is natural.
Nashville at this time of year is cold and sometimes the wind chill factor can make life miserable for the normal American. The hot blooded Soca Warriors would find the chilly weather to their discomfort, moreso, when they have been experiencing hot weather in sunny T&T.
What the yanks may have forgotten is that our overseas players have been playing in this type of weather for the past ten years or more and they have actually just been facing some horrible English weather up to last week. Now that this is out of the way, the next step is the fans. For a small country like ours, I suspect that the world would remember our unstinting support for our team in Germany three years ago, when crossing the atlantic was expected a huge economical burden. Well, look out for a solid Trini support in Nashville, Tennesse tonight. Our more serious challenge is the strength of our character to cast aside the introverted behaviour which tends to affect our team when facing Uncle Sam.
Our under twenty squad changed that image some weeks ago and made USA look ordinary opponents whose previously astute strategy became distorted and reduced their solid structure to amazing mediocrity. The answer to this result will lie squarely upon the attitude of our players, not only in spells, but at all times during the match. Coach Maturana has often said that he does not look at the opponents, but focuses on his squad. It’s a noble approach if there are specific duties for each player, leaving him with no time to focus on anything else. If one is to take pattern from Saturday’s match against Honduras, not much in the performance of the warriors led me to believe that there was a plot for a victorious result.
If the final score implied that the two teams played well enough to deserve one point each, then I need some guidance as to what portion of our specific plan worked for us. However, if we continue to look back, we shall not see what is ahead, hence the reason why the selection of today’s starting team must guide the fans in the direction of a vision of victory.
Will it be the presence of Clayton Ince, Chris Birchall, Russell Latapy, and Kenwyne Jones in the starting lineup ? Or will we just change the attitude of the same players of Saturday into more aggressiveness and fighting spirit to offset a shaken US squad which just was rescued from El Salvador’s lion’s den by two late goals in the central American capital ?
I have learnt that its folly to second guess Francisco Maturana by trying to prophesy his doings in terms of style or selection. It will be much easier to comment on the predictability of the US. After their near disaster on Saturday, they will not wish to go into this game without Oneywu in central defense, knowing that Kenwyne Jones is stronger in the air, faster on the ground than either Bocanegra or/and Califf. They will also recognise from the videotape of our last two matches that finding attacking space for Frankie Hedjuk on the right side could be America’s most potent option if Keon Daniel and Aklie Edwards are not informed of their basic defensive duties.
Their middle four of Clint Dempsey, Da Marcus Beasley, Bradley and Jzetlan can be their downfall. Four players with the ability to run forever, but do not have the creative ability of their predecessors Mastroeni, Reyna, and Landon Donovan, when he played in midfield. Carlos Edwards, Birchall, Clyde Leon and Khaleem Hyland can provide the type of assertiveness which will force the yanks to be more cautious against the Warriors than they have ever been.
Whether Maturana will persist with two strikers, meaning Jones and one other, could leave us without a creator in Latapy and by extension reduce our ability to use the effectiveness of Jones. To this point of writing, I am still placing confidence in the judgment of the coaching staff as they are the ones on the spot, watching the players carefully and making decisions based upon what they see in the practice sessions.Good luck to the lads.