September 10, 2008

I hope that Bob Bradley goes with a more attacking formation tonight and the US blows T&T out of the water in their first home match of the semifinal round of CONCACAF Qualifying for FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

I'm expecting the same 4-5-1 with two holding midfielders that has led to unspectacular results in two 1-0 road wins at Guatemala and Cuba.

But, I do think that even without going out to not only win, but win in style, I thinkthe US will get yet another win and get ever closer to clinching a spot in the final round of qualifying.

And at the end of the day, that is Bob Bradley's #1 job right now.

News & Notes:

- TIAS.com has Part 2 with Clint Dempsey up.

- Steven Goff says that Bayern Munich was showing some interest in Landon Donovan. But, MLS may not want to give up Landycakes.

- According to the KC Star, tickets for this year's LA Galaxy game in KC is seeing a sizable drop in ticket sales. Unless they get a huge walk up crowd, they could be looking at 25% fewer butts in seats this time around.

- Apparently Rick Titus played for Toronto FC gratis over the weekend. I wonder if he got to keep his jersey at least?

- Steve Davis at MLSNet.com and Nick Green at Daily Breeze.com talk about the whole MLS scheduling fallout from the weekend.

- The Chicago Fire have locked up Justin Mapp for 4 more years. I wonder how long it will be before Justin wants to make a move abroad?

- USLSoccer.com's W-League Page had some good coverage of the WPS combine from last weekend.

- It's not soccer related, but I hope John Grant gets well soon. And not just because he plays lacrosse for the Rattlers and Knighthawks.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.

USMNT v T&T tonight