U.S. Soccer Returns

This Saturday the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team will play its first match since a less than successful World Cup campaign.

With new coaches and new players, what should fans expect to see this weekend?

Don't expect to see too many faces from the World Cup. Even the young players who looked mostly sharp won't see action. Bobby Convey, Oguchi Onyewu, and perhaps Clint Dempsey may not see action this weekend.

Niether Convey nor Onyewu made the roster, and although Dempsey made the roster, he recently signed a contract with Fulham FC in London and is likely to have obligations abroad.

A few of the faces remain the same though. Landon Donovan will likely still run things in the middle of field just behind the forwards, and Pablo Mastroeni may take to the field behind Donovan as a defensive midfielder. Chris Albright and Jimmy Conrad will return as defenders, and Eddie Johnson will be counted on to do some scoring.

The rest of the roster ought to be familar to MLS fans, as all who watch will likely see a number of players earn their first caps for the U.S. Men's National Team.

If age and MLS performance are the indicators, there stands a reasonable chance that the coaches may choose to use a 3-5-2 formation. Both Nowak and Bradley tend use this formation in club play, and many of the players selected for the roster come from teams which also use this attacking pattern.

The three defenders will then have to be some of the most athletic in the league to prevent the Danes from counter-attacking. Dasan Robinson is the fastest left-footed defender in the MLS. He will likely take to the field next to Bobby Boswell and Michael Parkhurst.

The five-man midfield ought to be packed with talent, but once again, the team lacks depth on the right wing. Brian Mullan is the only natural in that spot, but Pat Noonan is also capable of playing up the wing. However, it seems safe to anticipate Mullan's blistering pace on the right wing.

Landon Donovan will return to the middle of the attack, and Justin Mapp seems like the obvious choice for the left wing. Mapp is naturally left-footed, incredibly fast, and good on the ball. However, his confidence has often vanished when he wears the red-white-&-blue, so fans will have to wait until Saturday to see if he can live up to his potential.

The other two midfielders will likely play slightly back. If Bradley wants to add some chemistry and veteran leadership to his team, he'll play Pablo Mastroeni and Kyle Beckerman in these positions. Although Beckerman tends to play more forward, his experiences with Mastroeni in Colorado could pay off in this position.

If the coaches should find that this position is not suitable for Beckerman, Ricardo Clarke would be summoned off the bench to replace him.

Both Nowak and Bradley know that the current thought on forwards is to go one big and one small. Based on the performances during the season, the natural choice seems to be Chris Rolfe and Nate Jaqua. This is the obvious choice only because of their chemistry from two seasons of playing together with the Chicago Fire.

However, it is incredibly likely that Kenny Cooper will start in place of Jaqua. He has Jaqua's size but is better on the ball, faster, and had a better season than Jaqua. The combined mobility and skill of a Rolfe-Cooper forward line is fun to imagine and should prove entertaining to watch.

As for their Danish opposition, the Danish roster is also fairly young. The team is made of players from smaller clubs like Brondby and far larger teams like Werder Bremen. Their forwards are fairly inexprienced, and many of them play at smaller clubs.

However, the American defense will need to keep a sharp eye on Peter Lovenkrands. Lovenkrands plays for Shalke in the Bundeliga and has one goal for Denmark in 17 appearances.

Nicklas Bendtner is also starting to find his form despite playing for Birmingham City. Bendtner has two goals in four matches for the Danes.

The Danish defense, on the other hand, will be a tough a nut to crack. Led by Thomas Helveg of Borussia Monchenglad, who has 104 caps with the team, the back line will also feature Niklas Jensen of Copenhagen, Martin Albrechtson of West Bromwich Albion, and Daniel Agger of Liverpool.

The Danish defenders' confidence should be high as it is expected that Thomas Sorenson of Aston Villa will tend the nets for the Danes. Sorenson has plenty of experience snagging balls from the world's top goal scorers in the English Premier League, and he has played in 59 matches for Denmark.

This match should prove to be a real challenge for the young Americans. If Bradley and Nowak have been successful in training the team over the past month, success should in the bag. However, it will by no means be an easy task. Defeating a European side seems to always be a challenge for American teams.