England v USA: Live at Wembley

7:50 pm - That wraps it up from us here - Coverage is about to start on ESPN Classic and ESPN360.com, so flip there to catch the pregame. If you're at work - follow along with matchtracker at ussoccer.com!

7:48 pm - Teams are off the field now - only minutes until kickoff...

7:42 pm - The England has enough people on the field to play about 3 games. Their squad contains 29 people and those who aren't starting - all 18 of them - are all lining up on the subs ench... They're all in their half of the field right now. Things are quite crowded...

7:40 pm - The MNT Blog thoroughly enjoyed its trip to the Press Box today, or as its called here - Press Lounge. The buffet was tremendous, and we sampled some wild mushroom stroganoff along with rice and sweet potatoes. For dessert we had chocolate mousse with raspberries...

7:33 pm - I wonder how England's kit men did with the uniforms today...

7:30 pm - Thirty minutes to kickoff now, and the stadium is filling up quickly now...

7:28 pm - Here's your England starting lineup.. in a 4-4-2: James, Brown, Terry (c), Ferdinand, Cole, Beckham, Lampard, Hargreaves, Gerrard, Defoe, Rooney...

7:24 pm - We've been training with the matchballs all week, but tonight's set is a limited edition. Check out these... only 20 made!
7:20 pm - And the U.S. team is out on the field now, greeted by a chorus of halfhearted boos...

7:18 pm - Also when we were outside of the stadium we caught up with a few fans who made the journey to Wembley... wooo scarves!

7:14 pm - Yes Tommy, unfortunately this does mean what you think it does. Nice pickup though. Keepers are out warming up! Timmy Howard and Brad Guzan wave to the crowd as they trot onto the field...

7:13 pm - We’ll give you a sneak peek at the USA’s Starting XI:

Howard

Cherundolo – Onyewu – Bocanegra – Pearce

Dempsey – Clark – Bradley – Beasley

Johnson - Wolff

And some notes:

-Four players on the roster won’t be dressing tonight: Landon Donovan, Jay DeMerit, Jonathon Spector and Dominic Cervi.

-LD is nursing a slight groin injury, and will be rested for tonight’s match. Jonathon Spector is also unable to go, still receiving treatment for irritation in his hip.

-Nine out of the 11 starters also started in the USA’s 3-0 win in Poland two months ago, including the entire back four and goalkeeper.

-Midfielder Ricardo Clark will become the only player to have started all four games for the U.S. so far this year.

-Defender Oguchi Onyewu is the second-leading scorer for the U.S. on the year, having scored in back-to-back games against Mexico and Poland.

7:10 pm - Statue of Bobby Moore outside the stadium - Don't know who that person is in front of the statue, but they get a shout out from the blog I suppose...


7:02 pm - Want to see what's going on before kickoff here?


7:00 pm - You may have read about us meeting John Motson the other day. Well, we had the opportunity to sit Mr. Motson down for an interview the other day. Definitely a great watch...


6: 55 pm - Brett - the forecast for the game is light rain, although right now its stopped. Our weather says its 16 C right now, but that's colder than the forecast says. Hopefully the temperature doesn't drop any more...

6:50 pm - Setting up the locker rooms is quite the process, and its most of the reason that we get here early...
The locker rooms at Wembley are excellent, as you might expect. One great addition was the private coaches changing room (complete with plush leather couch!). As you can see we're wearing our anthracite kits tonight, with one addition - A small crest on the number...That's Carlos' jersey...

6:45 pm - The MNT blog went wandering about outside of Wembley a few minutes ago, and took a few pictures...
The new Wembley opened in 2007 and has hosted a few England games, most notably the defeat against Croatia that knocked them out of Euro 2008. Most significant for the press following the game here is that this is Fabio Capello's second home game in charge (he won the first)...

6:43 pm - The team arrived about 10 minutes ago, but we've been here scrambling around for a little while. The stadium is beautiful and, if you didn't know, its huge! The gates opened at 6:05 pm and people are starting to trickle in now...especially the U.S. fans who already packing into their section pitchside...

6:42 pm - Alright we're here and settled in at Wembley, we'll be here blogging until gametime ...