USA’s Chances in Brazil
Team USA’s recent play has done very little to sway the opinions of odds makers in the World Cup Group G. The United States got off to a good start with their win against the Korea Republic in their first friendly, but did not look so hot in their next two matches. The second game took them to Cyprus where they lost to Ukraine 2-0 and played to a draw of 2-2 against Mexico in the following match.
With those recent poor performances, odds makers have not seen a reason to change their initial bets, and still leave Team USA at the bottom of the potential Group G winners. The Americans are at +1200 and +15000 to win the whole thing with Germany the favorite at -200 followed by Portugal at +275 and Ghana at +1100.
The last two matches have shown the weaknesses behind the team’s defense especially since they gave up a 2-goal lead in the friendly versus Mexico. But, the team still has three more friendly matches, with two of them being played against Turkey and Nigeria with the finalized World Cup roster.
US head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has until June to name the final American roster and will most likely face several tough decisions. With a little under a month left before the US national team goes to training camp, better referred to as decision camp, where Klinsmann will determine whom will be traveling to Brazil. Before the final cut of 23 players, Klinsmann will call approximately 26-39 players for this training camp. He says that when composing the US roster you realize the depth of the American player pool, although it is not stacked with Champions League players or players from even the world’s best leagues.
Referring back to the lack of defense played by the national team, defense will be key at training camp. A group of nine defenders including Geoff Cameron, Matt Besler and Omar Gonzalez appears to be a good number to bring to camp and possibly even Brazil. As for goalkeepers, three slots seem to be enough, unless Tim Howard, Brad Guzan and Nick Rimando face injuries. Surprises in selection seem unlikely, but John Brooks who has recently gained valuable playing time in Hertha, Berlin may teeter on the edge of that 9-defender list. As for the midfielders, more popular names like Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley and Landon Donovan top the list.
With camp upcoming, and no player practicing to watch the World Cup on TV, there is still time left for final selections so be prepared for an aggressive training camp and lets hope that team can prove Las Vegas wrong.
