It's been an incredibly disappointing summer for the United States Men's National Team. They were knocked out of the Gold Cup prematurely by Jamaica, lost the one-match playoff for the Confederations Cup against Mexico and then lost an inexcusable match at home against Costa Rica. All can be forgotten if the path to the World Cup in 2018 is an easy one, a road which starts with a match against St. Vincent & The Grenadines on Friday at Busch Stadium.
There will be soccer odds at BookMaker.eu available for this match.
ODDS ANALYSIS
The Americans are going to be hefty favorites on Friday night against a team which should be incredibly overmatched. Winning by anything less than a 4-0 margin would probably be considered a tremendous disappointment, and the Asian handicap should reflect just that. The United States isn't messing around with a lighter side due to the nature of these opening World Cup qualifying matches, and that should show in a high spread and a total.
ANALYZING THE UNITED STATES ROSTER
Jurgen Klinsmann knows that his job is on the line over the course of this next week and a half of World Cup qualifying matches, and he is bringing a good side with him. Clint Dempsey was left off of the team, but the rest of the attackers we've come to know are here with Jozy Altidore, Alan Gordon, Gyasi Zardes and Bobby Wood.
In the midfield, Michael Bradley should be wearing the captain's armband alongside men like Kyle Beckerman, Jermaine Jones and Mix Diskerud. Darlington Nagbe is getting his first call-up to the men's national team, and we can't help but wonder if he'll play a role in this match.
At the back, Matt Besler is back from his injury which kept him out of the Confederations Cup playoff with Mexico. Fabian Johnson, Brek Shea and Geoff Cameron should all play crucial roles.
Both Tim Howard and Brad Guzan have been called up to the team once again, and we'd like to believe that one man will play the opening match on Friday, while the other will play against Trinidad & Tobago next week.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"We're all excited about starting World Cup qualifying toward Russia 2018. Every time you say the words 'World Cup' it means so much to everyone involved that it gets you pumped and energetic." – United States manager Jurgen Klinsmann on his team's mindset heading into this match on Friday
RECENT FORM
The Americans are on a three-match losing streak dating back to September. They were beaten 1-0 by Costa Rica on October 13 three days after losing the Confederations Cup playoff against Mexico. That all came on the heels of falling flat against Brazil in a 4-1 fixture which wasn't anywhere near that close.
This is a really big step up in class for St. Vincent & The Grenadines. The team has been in good form of late, losing just one match since last October. However, the best team in the bunch it has played against was probably Aruba. The reason the Vincy Heat reached this point was by beating out Aruba in a home-and-home playoff, but there really are no expectations going forward from here in Group C of the third stage of World Cup qualifying.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
This is a really tough task for St. Vincent & The Grenadines, and the only hope they have is if the Americans trip all over themselves as they did against Costa Rica last month. It's just incredibly unlikely for that to happen.
Even if Klinsmann doesn't field his completely best side, there's enough firepower here to put at least four or five in the back of the net against a team with no players capable of playing in Europe whatsoever.
These two teams have never played against each other competitively, but when you look back at recent results against comparable teams in the Klinsmann era, the results have been good for the Americans. They crushed Cuba 6-0 in the Gold Cup and beat up Guatemala, Belize and Cuba back in the 2013 Gold Cup 6-0, 6-1 and 4-1. We suspect a similar outing on Friday.
United States 5, St. Vincent & The Grenadines 0
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