Miss USA and Miss Honduras Present: Brooks’ Half-Assed World Cup Qualifier Preview

June 5th, 2009 | by: Brooks Peck |

Alright, Marlon already gave his thoughts on that crapfest in Costa Rica, so here’s mine:

Moving on…this Saturday night matchup against Honduras shouldn’t be nearly as soul crushing. First of all, the game is in Chicago, so the US MNT won’t be scared to death by the riotous locals. Secondly, this game isn’t against Costa Rica — a team which, as we’ve all been reminded, has owned us in WCQs over the years.

But before we delve too deep into this match, let’s take a look at some fun (and this time 100% true!) facts about Honduras:

-Honduras means “depths” in Spanish.
-Gained independence from Spain in 1821.
-Its capital, Tegucigalpa is one of my most favorite words to say. Tegucigalpa! Tegucigalpa!
-They have a holiday called “Children’s Day” which is basically like a second Christmas, plus their Independence Day is celebrated with cheerleaders (I now regret not growing up in Honduras).
-80% of their population lives in poverty (nevermind).

As for the match, the US will be without Michael Bradley, which was booked for the second time on Wednesday. Brian Ching will also be out due to injury and will be replaced on the roster by…Conor Casey (damnit, Bob). Also, most devastatingly, Maurice Edu will miss the entire summer after undergoing knee surgery.

Honduras is coming off a 3-1 win at home against Mexico and a 1-1 draw at Trinidad & Tobago before that. Their squad features some very talented and internationally known players like Tottenham midfielder Wilson Palacios, Wigan’s Maynor Figuero, Roger Espinoza and captain Amado Guevara, and co-scoring leaders Carlo Costly of Birmingham, Ramon Nunez of Puebla, and David Suazo of Inter Milan (three goals each). Suazo will not be available due to injury, though.

The US is 2-1-1 against Honduras in WCQs, with the one loss coming in DC, and 7-2-3 all-time.

I’m not going to make any predictions, but I will say that if the US don’t look infinitely better than they did a few days ago I’m going to make the angry kid in the video above look like a very sane and stable individual.

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Brian

Just curious, who would you like to see Bob bring in to fix things up front?
Brooks Peck

Wayne Rooney?

Seriously though, I want Adu, I want Davies. I want young and talented.
Brian

I was thinking Davies, I thought he played alright against CR
http://usa.worldcupblog.org/ Marlon

I’ve been thinking over Freddy taking over for Bradley in the midfield. He’s not a superb defender, but he’s not a lunging idiot
Pseudinho

My lineup for tonight.
4-1-2-1-2
GK Howard
RB Spector
CB DeMerit
CB Bocanegra
LB Bornstein
CDM Clark
RM Dempsey
LM Beasley
CAM Adu
ST Donovan
ST Altidore

I’ll be tweeting live from the game at twitter.com/scmcbride
Nicholas

Interesting….#USMNT lineup v. Honduras: Howard; Spector, Onyewu, Bocanegra (c), Bornstein; Dempsey, Clark, Mastroeni, Donovan; Altidore, Casey
Nicholas

6-Marvell Wynne, 7-DaMarcus Beasley, 9-Benny Feilhaber , 14-Jay DeMerit, 15-Charlie Davies, 16-Sacha Kljestan, 18-Brad Guzan GK

No Adu, no Torres. Did Torres sleep with Mrs. Bradley? WTF?
Danimal

What is the reason Torres isnt in the lineup?
Golstriker

Pressure is squarely on Bob Bradly tonight. Bradley should never have been named coach of this team. If they lose tonight, surely, Bradly has to go.
Golstriker

Torres was the best player on the field the other night and they took him off. That’s Bob Bradley for you. He’s never played anywhere and does not have the pedigree to be a WC coach. Torres shows great promise.
Danimal

I agree golstrker…. Bradley was a poor choice in my opinion.
Golstriker

Here we go again … USA looks like stumblebums out there … this could be a wipe-out.
Danimal

That was fast… my high school kids know better then to play with the ball like that. Bradley looked like he is lost
SP

mastroeni and altidore have been complete shit
Golstriker

Clark might have gotten the call if he was not always on his way down. The announcers don’t have a clue either.
Golstriker

Instead of throwing their hands in the air and trying to work the referee, they shoild concentrate on playing. Otherwise, Honduras is going to score again soon.
http://france.worldcupblog.org Laurie

What, no liveblog? I’m heartbroken.

Also, if we’re going for a striker with the first touch of a [insert your metaphor of choice here], Nate Jaqua is available to replace Jozy Altidore. And Nate even plays every week.
http://france.worldcupblog.org Laurie

Alas, Jozy, you shoulda stayed in MLS.
Eric

What’s with our midfielders wearing the #9? First Torres and now Feilhaber. Is Altidore afraid of the responsibility?
Weston

any translations on that disturbing german kid video? lol.
http://ireland.worldcupblog.org Kevin

The German kid is actually screaming about the video game Unreal Tournament. People have just adapted it to lots of other things.

We have 4 midfielders who can actually pass a ball. Adu, Torres, Bradley, and Feilhaber. We start none of those 4. Great job, Bob.
SP

impressed me:
tim howard- solid game by a world class keeper. nothing he could do on a great strike by costly.

spector- i like what i see. great passes on the attacking end. responsible in defense. why did wynne start in costa rica?

gooch- solid as usual. great job when he went forward such as the pass to jozy that jozy wasnt able to control.

boca- got a goal that we will look back on as being crucial come november

feilhaber- didn’t know he was that good of a passer. will be fun to see him during the summer.

depressed me:

mastroeni- not the answer at defensive mid. i’m going to go ahead and blame their goal on him. this whole experience argument for him is overrated.

dempsey- finishing was poor, especially on the ball by benny

altidore- absent. much better touch than he used to have but play like a striker, son.

casey- didn’t fill the ching role well. was on the flanks way too much.

everyone else:

bornstein- hope he gets more chances. don’t remember any egregious mistakes but it seemed like boca had to cover for him a lot on the left.

donovan- great penalty taking skills. crosses were too strong.

clark- developing as a good option for def mid for the next 5 years.

beasley- he needs his confidence back.

demerit- didn’t see anything i didn’t like