Looking Ahead to USA-Australia

Bob Dillon thinks that playing Australia without Jozy might benefit the US later on in the World Cup. Here are some of the things he's hoping to see in tomorrow's friendly:

Lots of attention has been given to the ankle injury of forward Jozy Altidore recently, and there is much to be concerned about because without 90 minutes from our top forward, we would clearly have to radically alter our attacking strategy. Altidore serves as our best target on balls sent up the field, and he has grown over the past year in this role of collecting, holding, and distributing the ball. The next best forward that can play this role (Brian Ching) is sitting at home, so if Altidore doesn't play on Saturday, then it will be quite interesting to see if the United States has a Plan B for its attack.

This could mean more balls to the wings for crosses, though we would lack height in our forward attack, or it could mean more of Donovan and Dempsey making runs with the ball across the box like we will see from the Dutch tandem of Wesley Snejder and Arjen Robben. Either way, this time to work on Plan B could actually benefit the squad if we move to the knockout stages of the tournament, where depth will be essential. Without Altidore, the US squad probably gets a chance to play two or three inexperienced strikers up front (Buddle, Findley, Gomez). It will be interesting to see if any of them can make an impact on the game for the full 90 minutes, particularly the speedy Robbie Findley, who helped turn the tide of the Turkey match. This was one of my worries as I watched the that game last week; I left the match asking, "Can Robbie sustain that for 90 minutes?" Tomorrow's match may help us answer that question.

Other things to watch for on Saturday morning include communication with the back five (I'm including Tim Howard). We will probably be fielding a slower back four (Bocanegra over Bornstein, Cherundolo over Spector), and for them to be effective, it will require great shape and world class communication. We should also see who gets the starting nod in the center of the pitch along with Michael Bradley. Will it be Torres, Clark, or Edu (as I suspect)? It would also be great to see some minutes from Beasley or Holden during this game, particularly since they haven't played many match minutes in the past couple of months.

Momentum matters in this last game. It would be great for the US to come away with a very professional 2-0 victory. The Socceroos don't have the quality of the US squad, but will certainly provide the right level of intensity going into next week's opening games. Finally, I commented during the Champions League final that every foul mattered as a tough foul could end someone's World Cup dreams. Let's hope that both these teams play hard, but smart, for 90 minutes.