USA Versus Slovenia: A Preview

When the USA met England on June 12, they played a team that was strong in the midfield, and in that match, England had an edge in this department. USA however were able to counter this advantage by an effective use of the flanks, where Landon Donovan caused all kinds of problem for the English defense as did Jozy Altidore on the left flank.

It was  a spirited performance by both sides and the final result (a one all), I thought, was fair to both sides, never mind Robert Greene's gaffe that gifted the USA a goal. While England had an edge in the midfield, with Wayne Rooney playing on the forward edge of midfield rather than as a main striker, helping to draw  attention away  from Heskey, the main striker, the USA were stronger defensively, with notable performances by  Oguchi Onyewu and, of course, a man-of-the-match performance by goalkeeper Tim Howard.

The strength of the USA is in their disciplined and organized approach to the game and their conventional but effective use of the flanks, which was their main strength in Korea-Japan 2002, where they had a good run, losing out to Germany in the quarterfinal by a goal to nothing.

Expect to see the USA make use of the flanks today to take advantage of the pace of Landon Donovan and Jozy Altidore, who will be expected to  make quick breaks down the flanks and then take quick crosses into the goal area of Slovenia, where Clint Dempsey, Robbie Findley and others would expected to be on hand to convert the crosses into goals. Expect Altidore and Donovan to be busy in the middle as well, playing striking roles proper, with the former on the forward edge of the attack and latter playing a supporting role.

With a strong defense, and with their strong performance against England, arguably one of the best teams in the World Cup, the USA should play at a more relaxed and deliberate pace in this match, giving the attackers enough time to make runs off the ball to set up attacks at goal. If they can avoid lapses of concentration, such as the one that caused the early goal against them in the England game, the three points at stake in the match should be theirs by the final whistle.

On their part, Slovenia should be looking to build on their positive start against Algeria last Sunday, where they collected all three points of the match via a 79th-minute goal by Robert Koren. Expect them to employ a similar approach as the one used against Algeria, where they packed the midfield in a deliberate ploy to thwart movement in the middle, waiting  for  right moments to break away through counter attacks.

But for  Algeria's keeper inadvertent mistake that caused the single goal of the match, I do not think that this strategy was really effective apart from stifling play in the middle of the pitch. The one man advantage that Slovenia had after Abdelkader Ghezzal was sent off for a hand ball, having earlier earned a yellow card, did not seemed to matter. Thus, I do not expect them to cause much problems for the USA.

All said, the USA should win this match easily. I predict a two-goal to nothing victory for the USA.

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USA5

Oguchi ONYEWU