Preview: US – Mexico

Tomorrow Jurgen Klinsmann will debut as the US Men’s National Team Head Coach in another installment of the US – Mexico rivalry. This is the first game for the Americans since the Gold Cup final in June where they blew a 2-0 lead against Mexico to lose 4-2. With both teams’ rosters containing a good chunk of the players used for the Gold Cup, the result will be used to compare if the coaching change was a good move or not. There is a lot of criticism and speculation about hosting a friendly against Mexico so soon after playing them in the Gold Cup final. The game is being viewed as a “money grab,” taking advantage of the high ratings the final received and the attention ESPN is paying to the game is not lessening the view. This may be, but this “re-match” could be a good starting point to see how the National Team could change with Klinsmann in charge instead of Bradley.

It appears Klinsmann is already making steps separating himself and his coaching style from that of his predecessor. Klinsmann has chosen to bring in a number of players that either fell out of Bradley’s favor or were never in it. Defenders Michael Orozco and Edgar Castillo are returning to the US National team camp in hopes of earning their second cap after their national team debuts in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Ricardo Clark and Edson Buddle haven’t played since the World Cup. Also returning to the national team roster is midfielder DaMarcus Beasley who last played for Bradley in 2009. Despite his long absence Beasley is tied for the second most caps on the team with captain Carlos Bocanegra at 93.

There is a good mix of veteran and new players on the 22-man roster for Klinsmann to work with. With a new coach come new tactics and formations so predicting a starting 11 for his first game in charge will be more of a guessing game than in the past; I would expect Klinsmann to stick with the core players that have performed well during the Gold Cup, but his desire to fix what has been broken could provide a few surprises in trouble positions like our left back.

The one position that Klinsmann won’t have to worry about for some time is starting goalkeeper. Tim Howard will start, but Klinsmann decided to call up DC United goalkeeper Bill Hamid for his first national team camp instead of a number of other MLS goalkeepers that have earned caps in the past. I can’t see this game becoming a sub-heavy game so Hamid will enjoy his first call-up from the bench.

In defense it is pretty safe to assume that Bocanegra and Clarence Goodson will start as the US central pairing. During the Gold Cup these two anchored a defense that was able to hold three clean sheets in the games leading up to the final. This time around the US will hopefully get a longer showing from Cherundolo at right back now that he has returned from the injury that took him out early in the Gold Cup final. That leaves the ever-cycling left back spot.  Heath Pearce is back on the roster and is likely to get the nod, but I would not be surprised to see Castillo come in during the second half.

Things get a bit more complicated in the midfield. Central midfielders Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones and Kyle Beckerman could end up all starting or competing for their spot in a central pairing. My expectation is that Bradley and Jones will start whether there are two or three central mids with the third spot going to Beckerman over Torres or Clark. Calling up Adu, Beasley, and Shea gives the US three left-footed options to play out on the left. This is something the US has not had consistently for quite some time. Based on his play at the end of the Gold Cup I’d like to see Adu get the start with Donovan on the right, though the two will probably switch sides throughout the game.  I’m also expecting Beasley to make his return in the second half to give the US a boost in speed.

Up top the US has Buddle and Agudelo competing for the lone striker spot. It will probably be Buddle this time to give the US a larger target for crosses and long balls with the absence of Altidore, but Agudelo has been playing with the national team more recently so it really could go to either one. If there ends up being a forward pairing, I would look to our attacking midfielders to fill one spot instead of Buddle and Agudelo playing together.

Kick-off for the game and for the Klinsmann-Era of US soccer is set for 8pm CST. The game will be shown live on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com. Prior to the game SportsNation will be live outside the stadium with Taylor Twellman as a guest host. ESPN will also be including 30 minutes of post-game analysis with a number of the usual soccer analysts.