USA vs Colombia Preview

After a 2-2 draw with Polska. The USA head to PPL Park to take on Colombia aka Los Cafeteros or the Coffee Growers.

The USA are playing a completely different style of football with this South American side. This is the rematch of the famous match during the 1994 World Cup where the USA won 2-1 and clinched a birth into the Round of 16 after being considered heavy underdogs. The win was overshadowed by the death of Andres Escobar who was killed after the team returned to Colombia.

To talk more about the Colombians, looking at their roster many of their players play for the some of Europe's biggest clubs. So this will be no easy game for the USA. Colombia failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup but how could you fault them with the way CONMEBOL is so stacked. Many people site changes in formations as well as lack of goal scoring as reasons for not qualifying but Colombia did beat Ecuador by a score of 1-0 on Friday night so they will be riding high when they arrive in Philadelphia.

Bob Bradley's boys come into Philadelphia looking to improve on a 2-2 result against Poland. The questions are numerous will Bob continue with the Maurice Edu center back experiment? Will he stick with Jozy Altidore at striker? Will he continue with a formation other than a 4-4-2? All are great questions and I'm not even going to bother trying to answer them because it will usually be the exact opposite of the truth.

It's a good bet though that Stuart Holden and Jermaine Jones will be back in the lineup as their performances were more than impressive against Poland. Brek Shea and Heath Pearce are also joining the team so it will be interesting to see if those 2 make the field against Colombia. I've never been a big fan of Brek Shea mostly because of the way he played in the U-20 World Cup. I hope he proves me wrong. As for Heath Pearce, I'm still not sold that he is a International quality player.

The back line will need to play very well Tuesday night if the USA is to come out with a win. As Colombia has some very talented strikers with FC Porto striker Radamel Falcao who's coming off a match where he scored the winning goal for Colombia. Another is Trabzonspor striker Teofilo Guitierrez. So Oguchi Oneywu will have his hands full again against this Latin side.

In the attack, it all comes down to the playmaking of the Clint Dempsey, Stuart Holden, and Jermaine Jones. Jones especially because the Yanks are going to need his through balls that open up the game so well. Jozy Altidore or whoever is starting at striker will have a huge test as he will be going up against some of Serie A's veteran defenders like Inter Milan defender Ivan Cordoba, and AC Milan defender Mario Yepes. Both are over 30 years old but are still great defenders.

Formation Projections

For Bob Bradley:

Howard

Cherundolo Oneywu Bocanegra Pearce

Bradley Jones

Holden Dempsey Shea

Altidore

Same formation, for Bob Bradley. I have a feeling that he will throw both FC Dallas players out on to the field. The question is which players will have defensive duties and will be forced to track back last game Holden and Feilhaber both had to track back. I think we will see the same with Holden and Shea tracking back, which I'm not to thrilled about, but it's not a secret that our backline is shaky at best.

Subs: Feilhaber, Eddie Johnson, and Eric Lichaj

My Lineup

Howard

Cherundolo Oneywu Goodsen Lichaj

Bradley Jones

Holden Demspey Altidore

Johnson

Call me crazy, but I would like to try this out, many people noticed that Jozy is more affective out wide than just a straight hold up player. I say tryi it out put Jozy out there as a withdrawn striker and hopefully EJ will stretch ou the aging Colombian defense. I have Lichaj making his first cap and why not? I would like to see what this kid can do and I would like to see Clarence Goodsen out there as well but Bocanegra would also be good too.

Subs: Feilhaber, Edu, and Shea

Prediction 2-1 USA: I think USA's superior fitness is what wins the day. Some of Jermaine Jones' through balls will also open up the Colombian defense and I think that will be difference as the USA wins a tough and hard fought match.

Goals: USA (Altidore, Dempsey) Colombia (Falcao)