Saturday Results

• West Ham eased past Sunderland 2-0 at Upton Park. Jonathan Spector started at lasted 73 minutes for the Hammers.
• Marcus Hahnemann kept a clean sheet in Reading's 0-0 draw with Coventry City.
• Jay DeMerit went 90 minutes in Watford's 2-1 win over Doncaster.
  

Thank You Nashville

As we turn out the lights on the 10 day adventure of the first double-date for final round qualifying, here's a couple bullet point highlights:

• Four Points from two games
  
• First Place in the 'Hex'
  
• First Time in U.S. history to come back from down a deuce and get at least a point on the road
• First Hat Trick for a teenager in U.S. history
• Nashville proving to the world there is a big-time soccer town in Tennessee

The next time the U.S. team gathers, it will be the start of a two month odyssey that includes one of the toughest road venues in the region, a trip to the home of the U.S. Soccer Federation, enormous challenges facing three of the world's finest at the FIFA Confederations Cup, and the title defense of the Gold Cup.

Thanks to all of you for your support, comments, criticisms, and contributions to the team's effort as the U.S. continues the march toward qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

We'll be back before you know it...

Tonight's Lineup vs. Trinidad & Tobago

Here's how the U.S. will lineup against Trinidad & Tobago tonight:
---------------------------Howard------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
---Hejduk--------Bocanegra (c)------Onyewu-------Beasley----
-----------------------------------------------------------------
---------------Bradley---------------Mastroeni-----------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Dempsey----------------------------------------------Donovan
-----------------------------------------------------------------
---------------Altidore------------Ching------------------------

Thoughts?

Don't Tread On The Red

You gotta admit - this is pretty cool.
1280x800








1024x768












1280x1024

Lineup Predictions?

The best part of game day for fans and pundits alike - minus, the game of course - is trying to figure out the starting XI that Bob Bradley will put out. The media are given the list one hour before kickoff, the same time that fans of the MNT blog get a peek.

But since that moment is still several hours away, let the predictions begin. Who do you think will be taking the field when the USA seeks to maintain their hold on the top spot of the final round hexagonal?

(We could post ours, but that would be cheating ...)

Gold Cup Groups Coming Thursday

CONCACAF has announced that the groups and schedules for the 2009 Gold Cup will be announced Thursday afternoon. The 13 venues for the regional championship have already been determined, and by this time tomorrow the U.S. will have been given the road map to navigate their title defense.

The U.S. rallied from a goal down to earn a 2-1 win against Mexico in the 2007 championship match, collecting their second consecutive regional crown and earning a place in this summer's Confederations Cup in South Africa where they will face Brazil, defending World Cup champions Italy and Egypt.

Halfway Through The Day

Different venue - same story. Game day is all about two things - eating and resting. Lots of crossword puzzles being done and headphones in the ears on the players' floor. It's a gorgeous day here in Nashville, and with 21,000 tickets sold through last night and a big walk-up crowd expected, it should be an electric night at LP Field.

Speaking of electric, here's a shot of Nashville at night.

UFC Fight Night in Town

UFC Fight Night is in Nashville tonight for a series of bouts culminating in Carlos Condit taking on Studio 90 host Michael Kammarman, er...sorry, Martin Kampmann at the Sommet Center. All the fighters are in our hotel, including many who won't be on the card tonight. That includes former title holder Forrest Griffin, who can count Tim howard among his many fans. Tim tracked down Forrest to get a picture. "I'm a big UFC fan, so of course I wanted to get a picture with the guy who held the belt. We watch all the fights in England. It's really popular over there."

You can watch today's game day edition of Studio 90 over at ussoccer.com.

One More Podcast

Tim Howard and Landon Donovan talk to ussoccer.com ahead of Wednesday's game. Listen to the full podcast here.

Podcast from Yesterday's Training

Training was moved up yesterday due to weather concerns but the team managed to get the customary hour on the pitch to run over final preparations for tonight's game. In lieu of a press conference Bob Bradley spoke to media after training. You can listen to the full podcast of Bob's pre-game comments here.