USA vs. Brazil: Questions USMNT Must Answer in Friendly

The U.S. Men's national team is off to a nice start in international play, but a serious test looms when they take on the Brazilians in a friendly on Wednesday.

While it is an exhibition, the game will tell us a lot about where the team is as a whole and answer some key questions that we have.

Can they keep the goals coming?

The Americans are coming off of an absolutely stellar performance offensively against the Scotland national team in which they were rampant in a 5-1 blowout.

Winning in impressive fashion against Scotland is one thing, repeating a performance like that against a Brazilian team that is ranked 6th in the world is another altogether. Don't expect five goals, but the Americans will need to keep up the offensive goal scoring if they want to put in a good showing against the Brazilians.

In the Americans' previous three wins this year they were able to pull out 1-0 victories, but it's unlikely that just one goal will get the job done against Brazil. The Samba Boys have scored five goals in their first two games this year, and haven't been shut out since a 0-0 draw against Argentina in September of 2011.

The Americans seemed to really find their stride with coach Jurgen Klinsmann's fast-paced attack, and they will need to continue to look in sync to put the pressure on Brazil.

How do they stack up against Brazil?

It's no secret that the Brazilians have largely dominated the U.S. team. The Americans have a dismal 1-15 record all-time in the head-to-head matchup and haven't won since 1998. The last time these two met resulted in a 2-0 shutout loss.

For a team constantly struggling for relevancy in the landscape of world football, a win over a great team in Brazil would boost morale and give the Americans some real momentum going into World Cup qualifiers.

The U.S. team has looked solid thus far but only own one win over a team ranked higher than them—a 1-0 win over Italy, which is currently ranked 12th by FIFA. This friendly will give them a chance to gauge the kind of progress they are making as a team.

How far can Clint Dempsey take this team?

In order to compete at the international level, the U.S. team desperately needs an elite goal-scorer. They need to find out if forward Clint Dempsey is the man that fits the bill against Brazil.

The forward is coming off of a career-year in the Premier League after scoring 17 goals in 37 appearances with Fulham.

In the only game Dempsey has played with the national team this year, he scored the lone goal of the game against Italy that ended up being the difference-maker. The U.S. team will once again look to Dempsey to shoulder the scoring load—the question is, is he up to the task?