Gold Cup: U.S. - Grenada Preview

By Noah Davis

Who: United States vs. Grenada
What: Gold Cup Group B
When: 9:00 ET, Saturday, July 4
Where: Qwest Field; Seattle, WA
TV: Fox Soccer Channel  (English), Univision (Spanish)

Less than a week after succumbing to Brazil 3-2 in the finals of the Confederations Cup, the United States Men's National Team takes the pitch again in its opening match of the 2009 Gold Cup. The Americans -- boasting a young roster that's vastly different from the one they fielded in South Africa -- will play Grenada, the smallest nation ever to qualify for the regional championship, in Seattle's Qwest Stadium on July 4. Unless the proceedings go dramatically wrong, the Stars and Stripes should emerge with three points.  

Call the Reinforcements

After a CONCACAF decree allowed teams that participated in the Confed Cup to increase their rosters for the Gold Cup from 23 to 30 players, Bob Bradley added Benny Feilhaber, Brad Guzan, Conor Casey, Jonathan Bornstein, Jozy Altidore, Ricardo Clark, and Sacha Kljestan -- all of whom traveled to South Africa -- to the list of potential members of the squad. While I doubt the four playing in Major League Soccer will see much time, it wouldn't be surprising for Altidore (who needs all the playing time he can find) and Feilhaber to find their way on to the pitch at some point during the Gold Cup (although neither will be in Seattle).  

The Freddy Show?

If there's a time for Freddy Adu to impress both his national team manager and clubs around the world that he has improved as he claims, it's during the Gold Cup. Although the competition -- especially in group play -- will lack quality, the occasionally brilliant 20-year-old can should see enough time to demonstrate a commitment to defense and his wonderful one-on-one talents. The interest clubs around the world have shown in Americans such as Clint Dempsey and Oguchi Onyewu after their excellent Confed Cup performances prove people are paying attention to the performance of the U.S. National Team. Can Freddy take advantage?

Too Tall a Task

Grenada, ranked just ahead of El Salvador in the FIFA standings, tied Antigua and Barbuda in a Gold Cup tune-up and New England Revolution midfielder Shalrie Joseph will be severely limited due to injury. The team will turn to captain Anthony Modeste to lead a defense that will spend most of the three matches on its heels, while Delroy Facey and Rimmel Daniel -- teammates at Notts County in England's second division -- will provide any attacking flavor. It's been a nice run for the Spice Boyz, who surprised everyone with a second-place finish in the Caribbean Cup, but the success will end in group play.  

Projected U.S. Line Up

--------------------Perkins-------------------

Cherundolo--Conrad--Marshall--Pearce

Evans------Holden------Adu------Rogers

--------------Ching---Cooper-------------

Projected Grenada Line Up

---------------------Noel-------------------

Modeste--Marshall--Langaigne--Mark

--Charles---------Rennie----------Leo---

--------Bain-------Facey-----Daniel------

Goal.com prediction

United States 3-Grenada 0

Noah Davis covers the United States National Team for Goal.com.

If you follow the U.S. Men's National Team, you'll love their dedicated page on Goal.com