Are These 'The Times That Try Men's Souls'?

I can't believe I woke up at 4:30am Pacific Time to watch the South Korea v Greece match, only to find that I had missed Lee Jung-Soo's 7 minute goal due to my own utter incompetence in the realm of being able to wake up in a timely fashion. The takeaway from this: Living on the earlier end of a time difference AKA 'The Past' is the worst... or, maybe I should just set my alarm for a few minutes earlier.

Nevertheless, I figured now would be a good time to reflect upon the day's eagerly anticipated festivities. After an interesting first day of play that saw everyone in Group A snatch a point (be it through unmitigated grit and pride for country as was the case for the South Africans, through squandered chances of what could have been in Mexico's case, or through defensive desperation against talented dysfunctionality as was the case in Uruguay v France) the day which we have been impatiently waiting for since the draw on 4 December of last year, has finally arrived. This is also the same affair that the ABC family of stations has been selling to the public in the form of a commercial that likens today's on-the-pitch quarrel to that which took place over 235 years ago by way of narration from Thomas Paine's pamphlet The American Crisis. I'm not sure that ESPN/ABC should be going about it in quite this manner, but I have to say that I am nonetheless INCREDIBLY excited to watch Clint, Jozy, and the boys go up against the English juggernaut which fields players from teams that I watch bright and early (Thankfully not 4:30 am early) each and every weekend.

My thoughts/predictions on today's match? Well I'm going to guess that Bob Bradley and Fabio Capello both go with that which got them here, namely a 4-4-2. My guess for the US given the past few weeks of play would be along the lines of this:

Altidore and Buddle up top (given that magnificent performance against Australia), a midfield of Donovan and Dempsey on the wings behind them with Clark and Bradley in the middle, followed by some combination of Bocanegra, DeMerit, Spector, and probably Goodson given that Onyewu's prolonged fitness is questionable at this point, with Timmy Howard in net. If the US plays patiently, with a stout backline, I think they have a solid chance of grabbing 1, or perhaps even 3, points from this match. They would have to play mistake free for all 90 minutes given the talent found amongst the ranks of Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard, Cole and company.

England will go with a 4-4-2 as well, I assume, looking something like this:

Rooney, and in all likelihood Heskey up top with Crouch being subbed in later, followed by a midfield of Lennon on one wing, with a combination of Gerrard, Lampard, and one would assume Joe Cole, given Capello's selection of him to the England squad, in the midfield, with a backline of Glen Johnson, Terry, A. Cole and Ledley King due to Ferdinand's injury, with David James in goal. England's problem could lie in their lack of a holding midfielder like Gareth Barry, who is not available due to an ankle injury. This means that Gerrard, who has been playing on the wing for the Three Lions, will split time in the middle with Lampard (both of whom are essentially attack minded, albeit the former to a greater extent than the latter). Assuming that they are able to deal well with the US attack in the absence of Barry, England should walk away with 3 points given the abundance of talent on the squad.

My Prediction for the match is as follows:

Although I will be actively cheering on the boys of the Stars and Stripes later this afternoon at an English pub in Pasadena, CA, for I'm neither a summertime soldier nor a sunshine patriot, my better judgement tells me to pick the Cross of St. George.

England 3 v USA 1 (With the USA goal coming from Dempsey, and the English goals coming from Rooney, Gerrard and second-half sub Peter Crouch)

Hopefully it's a fantastic match with both teams playing well and living up to high expectations held by many. And maybe, just maybe, the US will pull out 3 points, for as Paine writes, 'The Harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.'

I'd love to hear everyone's predictions.

Enjoy the match (and it's almost time for Lio to put on a show against Nigeria),

Ryan