Gear Bag
International Friendly Preview: USA v. Morocco
(Goal.com) - USA (#5 FIFA Rank) v. Morocco (#36 FIFA Rank)
When: 7 pm ET, Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Where: The Coliseum, Nashville, TN
USA’s 2006 pre-World Cup tune-ups are not the most daunting, which may conjure up painful memories of the 1998 World Cup in France, where the Americans finished dead last. Eight years ago, USA’s final preparations included pansy matches against the likes of Moldova, Kuwait, and Austria (the famous match where former U.S. coach Steve Sampson trotted out the ill-fated 3-6-1 formation, which gave Sampson false hope after two late goals resulted in a 3-0 win for the U.S. over the Austrians), before a final tune-up with World Cup-bound Scotland. Tuesday’s clash with Morocco – a depleted Moroccan side at that – is the first of three “Send Off’ matches, which also include dates with Venezuela (Friday, May 26) and Latvia (Sunday, May 28). If anything is to be taken from any of USA’s three matches over the next six days it’s that friendly results are not always indicative of success at major tournaments.
Regardless, fans of the Red, White and Blue will be tuning in eagerly Tuesday night to see what formation Bruce Arena trots out, from which the die-hard supporters will begin countless discussions over the implications of certain pairings and positioning schemes. As always is the case with Arena, it is anybody’s guess which players will start; and there are myriad possibilities in all areas of the park. Adding to the intrigue is word that 18-year-old Heerenveen and former U.S. U-17 midfielder Michael Bradley will be dressing, no doubt a reward for his hard work in training and in helping the team prepare. Bradley was not named to USA’s 23-man World Cup roster, nor was he named among the list of alternates in case of injuries ahead of the start of the tournament.
Morocco, meantime, will be fielding a depleted side. Top Atlas Lions who will miss the match include injured AS Roma midfielder Houssine Kharja, Osasuna's Moha Yaagoubi, Dynamo Kyiev's Badr El Kaddouri, and Kamel Chafni of Ajaccio. Skipper Noureddine Naybet, who spent most of the season on the bench with his English Premiership club Tottenham, as well as playmaker Youssef Safri, who recently had his gall bladder removed, are both misssing. Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh, out-of-form midfielder Youssef Mokhtari, and striker Jaouad Zairi also have been left out. But with all of the absences, manager M’hamed Fakher will have a chance to get a look at some new players, like Dutch-born Gent striker Mbark Boussoufa.
This match has all the makings of being an entertaining affair, albeit heavily one-sided. With the German Hofbrauhaus nearly within reach, Arena’s men won’t be that eager to get stuck in for fear of suffering a Cup-ending injury. But they possess too much quality to suffer a defeat. With Morocco’s team in flux, the odds of knocking off USA’s ‘A’ team are slim to none. A victory for the Atlas Lions would be to keep the final score respectable.
Goal.com Prediction: USA 3, Morocco 0
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Comments
USA never was and never will be good enough to win a single match...unless they get lucky.....
Posted by: Naveed | May 23, 2006 10:36 AM
Although most plaers of the moroccan aren't playing the match, still we gonna kick some butts :)
Posted by: dean hawari | May 23, 2006 03:26 PM
So, I guess we've been pretty lucky the past few years. And I'll bet you we have our share of wins (luck) in Germany.
Posted by: Deevan | May 23, 2006 04:15 PM
LOL they lost! What a bunch of losers. USA does not know how to play soccer. If they can't beat Morroco, how do they expect to beat Italy or the Chech Republic?
Posted by: Anonymous | May 23, 2006 09:24 PM
Let's chalk it up to a bad night. They've obviously got some things to sort out quickly. Pretty sad showing, but I won't write them off just yet.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 23, 2006 10:26 PM
NICE SPELLING
CZECH
Posted by: spell | May 23, 2006 10:40 PM
USA WON'T WIN A GAME
Posted by: USA | May 23, 2006 10:41 PM
I think all of you have jumped way to quick on writing the US off. Yeah they had a bad game, everybody does. Its better now to have a bad game than in the world cup. And we all know with the players they had on the field last night they are a much better team than we saw. Could it have been to the over training. maybe.. but i wouldnt use that as an excuse. The point is just when people think they US have no chance, they might pull up an upset like 2002 world cup against portugal. So id think twice about overlooking the United States.
Posted by: Brandon | May 24, 2006 10:47 AM
Awesome game!!!! Great to see Morocco win.....1-0, 1-0, 1-0. The atmosphere in the stadium was amazing, particularly the moroccan supporters - they really know how to show support for their team.....
Posted by: Anon | May 24, 2006 02:02 PM
US play was awful. There is no question about that, but writing them is a bit quick and unfair. Their captin went down early, that would shake most squads, and Morroco packed it in behind the ball. There was follow to the match. Fair play to Morroco they waited and converted on their change. The US will rebound and play better. I thought Bobby Convey made a difference in the game. I'd like to see him start at left wing and have Beasley play up front with McBride. It would give the team more attack options.
Posted by: rogue7 | May 25, 2006 10:50 AM
Extremely early to be writing off a quality team. To say that the US has never been good enough to win a single match a curious comment, considering they have qualified for 5 consecutive World Cups, a streak that not even some of the most accomplished countries in football can attest to. On top of qualification, They have already one several World Cup games and made the quarter finals in 2002, again something countless other countries cannot claim. Also, people underestimate Morocco. They've been very solid in recent years and missed qualification for German by a very narrow margin, so it's not like they played a weak opponent.
Not to make excuses, not the showing I would like to see, but it doesn't worry me that much. We'll see how the next two matches go.
Posted by: Heath Young | May 25, 2006 11:51 AM
Hello
You are The Best!!!
Bye
Posted by: Terabanitoss | May 9, 2007 09:57 AM
U.S.A. IS SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!! We will win the World Cup within the next 16 years. Plus the new Jerseys are cool.
Posted by: Keeeper King | May 10, 2007 05:31 PM
Come on guys, US has a long way to go and the few wins at world cups does not have much meaning. My question is, why in the world is Bob Bradley playing his son the full game when the kid can not control his temper and causes penalties against the team? Is there some sort of favoritism? Don't we have players in the MLS that can play better than his son?
Posted by: Soccer fan | September 12, 2007 11:39 AM