On Friday, the US plays its most important match in the World Cup qualifiers as it takes on Antigua and Barbuda. And they will have to do it without their biggest star.
With El Salvador, Jamaica, and the USA all tied with seven points atop Group A in the CONCACAF qualifiers with just two games to play, wins on Friday and Tuesday are not only important but essential for the US. Now they must do it without Landon Donovan and Brek Shea.
Donovan suffered a knee injury Saturday during an MLS game and Shea is suffering from abdominal pain. This only adds to the current discomfort surrounding the USA's qualification campaign. Through four matches thus far, they have not met the standard expected of them against CONCACAF teams. They barely won 3-1 against Antigua and Barbuda before drawing 1-1 with Guatemala. They followed those poor efforts with an even worse 2-1 loss to Jamaica before finally looking somewhat like a team (an ineffective one though) in a 1-0 win over Jamaica.
Donavan and Shea would provide the team with some killer instinct that was lacking in every single one of those matches. Now they have to hope that their usually ineffective offensive game finds a way to score goals.
The team will probably be thrilled that Clint Dempsey is back in form after some strong play for Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League. But the most positive news has to be the return of Michael Bradley who was sorely missed in the last two qualifiers. Without Bradley, coach Jurgen Klinsmann had to resort to using Kyle Beckerman, Maurice Edu, and Jermain Jones in the middle. All three of those players are defensive midfielders and lack the creativity offensively. During the games against Jamaica all three players failed to find ways to get the ball up to the forwards and create chances. With Bradley back, the problem gets solved exponentially as the American has proven that he truly deserves to be on the squad and was not a product of nepotism when his father was coach.
Should the US draw with Barbuda and Antigua, it will be a win or bust against Guatemala. After that they still have to take part in the sex team round in which only the top three move on.
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