Time to Talk Football - Confederations Cup Predictions

Since Brian and I apparently write our blogs for each other, and I know he has at least a marginal interest in football, I decided it was time to write about my take on the upcoming international tournament in South Africa, the Confederations Cup.  The USMNT has taken part in WC qualifying recently, and their form has been up and down. Most recently, they lost ugly in Costa Rica 3-1, but responded by gutting out a comeback 2-1 victory over Honduras in Chicago.  Results are great.  How have they looked, and what can we expect next week when the Nats play Italy, Brazil and Egypt? Here are the results, as predicted by me, by peering into the mind of Ol' Stone Face, Bob Bradley.

The United States starts off on Monday June 15 playing Italy.  Some may remember that last time the USMNT played Italy, in the 2006 WC.  Brian McBride received a bloody face in that game thanks to Daniele de Rossi (he's smirking because he knows he's still getting laid after the game), in what would end up as a 1-1 draw.   This time around, barring any unforeseen red cards, I expect the game to be less bloody but more tactical - read that to mean boring.  Italy will defend and absorb pressure.  Against better teams, this tactic can backfire.  Against the US, which has no legitimate attacking options at the international level and must rely on set pieces for many of its goals, this approach will probably work wonders.  This is a warm up tournament, and of course the US would love to advance and do as well as possible, but I just don't see the US being dedicated enough to the sort of tactical approach that will be required to win this game - and that means not pushing forward and forcing Italy to come out of its defensive shell.  The US will probably find itself on equal terms in regards to possession, but won't generate many scoring chances while it sends men forward.  Italy will score on a counter attack, and grab another goal later as the US pushes forward to chase the game.  I hope I'm wrong, but I see this as a 2-0 victory for Italy.  With some luck, the US will get a goal early on and force Italy out of the back.  If that were to come from the run of play and not a set piece, and you actually saw it happen, consider yourself lucky. Gorillas reproduce in captivity more often than the US scores from the run of play.

Following Italy the Nats take on Brazil and its plethora of attacking options. Kaka, Robinho, and whoever else they decide to call in to make us all feel pedestrian and ordinary.  Maybe we'll be lucky and Kaka will come in lacking inspiration after his recent transfer to Real Madrid (note that he is not one of those athletes that thanks God, as you might assume from the picture.  In fact, he is mocking God because he knows that he now has more money than God). I would be shocked to see the US try and play attacking football in this one, if only because they don't have the ball enough to get their players forward.  However, Brazil has focused more on getting results under current manager Dunga.  This means that we won't see Brazil pushing 10 men forward, playing beautiful football. Instead, we'll see Brazil dedicating 3 or 4 players to the attack, and including others when the opportunities present themselves.  And with this approach, Brazil is just too individually talented to fall to the US.  The hope here is that the US plays smart and tough, denies open space and closes down quickly.  Hope for the draw.  0-0 would look good to Bob Bradley. Hopes for a win?  It will take a piece of individual brilliance by somebody (I'm thinking Clint Dempsey scoring on a long shot), or the US scoring from one of its few set pieces (Bocanegra diving header? anybody?).

Lastly, we play Egypt.  I don't know anything about Egypt except that a few of their players have had some success playing in England.  I also know that one of them (Amir Zaki who played with Wigan this year in the EPL) just pulled out of the tournament because of a pulled hamstring - probably an injury he suffered because of training while hung over (after attending a costume party, as seen in the picture).  My guess here is as good as yours. By this point, the US will either be eliminated, or in need of some points to earn their spot in the next round.  Egypt will likely be in the same position.  Expect both teams to play attacking soccer, and expect whichever team still cares about defense to win.  Personally, I don't like the idea that we would lose to Egypt.  I think we've come a long way as a footballing nation and we should start expecting to get some results in tournaments of this nature.  That means winning games against those teams that aren't named Italy and Brazil.  I don't care if Moses himself suits up for Egypt and parts Onyewu and Bocanegra on his way to scoring.  We should be able to get a result against Egypt.  So I'm going with my heart and not my brain on this one.  I say the US wins this game 2-1.

I would love to see the US advance out of the group, but in all honesty, I don't see it happening. The US will need inspired performances from some guys who haven't been playing very well lately, and they'll need some guys to step up.  If it happens, we may be pleasantly surprised.  If not, it will be a quick week in South Africa.