Preview: US – Belgium

Still looking for their first win under Coach Klinsmann, the US Men’s National Team will take on Belgium Tuesday in Brussels. This will be the first game the Americans will play away from home since November of last year. Once again Klinsmann will have to work with an incomplete roster. Teal Bunbury and Chris Pontius will be going back to their MLS clubs. Landon Donovan will also not in Brussels, but depending on what you read he wasn’t really at the Costa Rica game either. Replacing the MLS trio will be Clint Dempsey, Kyle Beckerman and Steve Cherundolo who were out of the last match.

Belgium is coming off a tough result as well after they could only manage a tie against Azerbaijan in Euro 2012 qualifying after leading the game. That leaves Belgium third in their group, one point behind Turkey with only two games left including their final match of qualifying against undefeated Germany.

Tim Howard and the US backline will be called upon a lot more in this game when they attempt to shut down a number of attacking options including Racing Genk duo forwards Marvin Ogunjimi and Jelle Vossen who combined for six goals during qualifying. Klinsmann may replace Michael Orozco with Clarence Goodson for this game to tighten up the central defense.

On the flanks expect Cherundolo to line up on his usual right side and Edgar Castillo may start on the left again, but Klinsmann does have a possible left back in Jonathan Spector, though neither player has instilled a lot of confidence against strong wingers like Jelle Van Damme or Eden Hazard.

Maurice Edu did well enough to hold on to the central midfield role even with Kyle Beckerman joining the team, but Belgium has dangerous midfielders in Marouane Fellaini and Axel Witsel, so Beckerman could line up next to Edu. Jose Torres is a shoo-in to keep his spot in the starting line-up as well after a great performance against Costa Rica. With Donovan gone the other attacking midfield role will probably go to Sacha Kljestan, if there is one to take.

Against Costa Rica the US had trouble connecting offensively to get chances on goal. Belgium has a much stronger back line with Vincent Kompany, Ajax teammates Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld and Nicolas Lombaerts. Brek Shea and Jozy Altidore will probably hold onto their starting spots, but the lackluster performance by Robbie Rogers may lead to Clint Dempsey playing right winger instead of somewhere in the midfield. A lot of pressure is going to fall on Dempsey’s shoulders for this game as the leading scorer for the national team with Donovan not on the roster.

Kick-off for the game is scheduled for 1:30pm and will be televised on ESPN and ESPN3.com