Live Blog: Barbados vs. USA Pre-Game

2:50 pm - Yikes! We've got to get out of here! Coverage is starting in about 5 minutes over on ESPN Classic. Thanks for joining us on the Blog and we'll see you after the game!

2:47 pm - We're not the only liveblog going on today. The YNT Blog is doing a similarly awesome live session for the U20 WNT game against Mexico...

2:45 pm - Spain vs. Italy has just kicked off and over here the guys have headed back to the locker room.

2:41 pm - Barbados has left the field and the US team is about to do the same. The guys are all trying to get last shots in, courtesy of Carlos Bocanegra. 'Los has assumed the role of passer for a shooting drill and is laying balls off to guys who are drilling them at Chris Seitz. Random: Not sure why Beas has on different colored shorts from everyone. We'll look into that...

2:38 pm - Yes, conman24, it is, as you correctly guessed, quite nice...

2:35 pm - Its hard to imagine watching, let alone playing, 8+ hours of cricket in this weather...The good news is that all the terraces in the oval are covered...According to unrecognized academic source Wikipedia, Cricket has been played on this ground as early as 1882, with the first international match coming in 1895 - 113 years ago!

2:30 pm - Just under 90 degrees here in Bridgetown - or so says the internet. It is hot out to be sure, but when the breeze comes in from the ocean it cools down significantly. Hopefully there's a bit of a wind out there during the game...We're inside an air conditioned room, so no matter there in case you were worried about the Blog getting sunstroke. Speaking of which, we've been joined by one other person in the press box...

2:27 pm - It is enjoyable to hear the different songs that different stadiums around the world play during pre-game. The Blog's favorite from today so far is Tarrus Riley's "She's Royal." It is clearly a hit down here too - all the Barbados players were singing along

2:23 pm - Everybody is out now...

2:21 pm - Bitterling - everyone is available on the bench except GK Dominic Cervi...

2:20 pm - Goalkeepers are out (and so is Barbados). Brad Guzan is making his first back to back starts of his national team career. In other news he is also still leading our Euro 2008 pool. There's a big one today though - Brad has Spain going through and his closest opponent, Sacha Kljestan, has Italy advancing. Drama!
2:15 pm - You may have noticed in our previous post that Guatemala has advanced to the semifinal round for CONCACAF Qualifying. Guatemala could be the U.S.' group along with either Cuba/Antigua & Burbuda and Bermuda/Trinidad & Tobago...

2:12 pm - This is Danny Szetela's first start for the national team - in his only previous appearance, he came on as a sub in the 1-0 victory over Switzerland last October...

2:10 pm - Here is the view from the Press Box here in the Oval. In fact, the MNT Blog is the ONLY reporter in here right now...pretty lonely...

2:05 pm - Lots of changes from the first leg, seven in total. Guzan, Pearce, Bradley and Beasley are the only holdovers. Moor, DeMerit, Califf, Klejstan and Szetela all make their WCQ debuts...What do you guys think of the lineup?

2:03 pm - Let's start things off quickly - Here's the lineup for today's game.
----------------Guzan------------
Moor--DeMerit--Califf---Pearce
Kljestan-Bradley-Szetela-Lewis (c)
---------Adu---------Beasley-----

2:00 pm - One hour until kickoff, we're coming live to you from the Press Box at the Kensington Oval...