Rumble at Rio Tinto: U.S. vs. El Salvador

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – If all goes right, the United States soccer team will be a lot closer to South Africa 2010 by late Saturday evening.

El Salvador will be a significant underdog when it meets Bob Bradley’s men of the U.S. soccer team inside Rio Tinto Stadium in suburban Sandy.

But things don’t always go right in the world, as we all know, which is why planes bound for North Carolina sometimes end up in the Hudson River. So this is still a big test, and Bradley’s bunch must take care of matters with a steely professionalism.

A win certainly doesn’t guarantee anything; It’s still a little early for that. But 13 points in the group standings would look pretty good with a match upcoming Wednesday against group bottom feeder T&T, then a home date up after that in early October.

And the U.S. should certainly win. Oddsmakers say so. I say so. The U.S. players say so – just not in so many words.

"Our goal tomorrow is to score early, knowing that if it doesn’t come early, over 90 minutes we’ll wear them down, break them down and be able to get a goal," Landon Donovan said Friday after training at the sweet little stadium at the base of the Wasatch Mountains. He did caution that El Salvador has "figured out a way of playing that they are comfortable with on the road."

That means counter attacking. But the U.S. is well prepared, and the two men in the middle (Michael Bradley and Benny Feilhaber in all likelihood) will be responsible for being smart in their positioning and shutting off the counter attack spigot.

The worrying wildcards for the Americans are an unsettled defense and MLS man Arturo Alvarez, who just recently acquired citizenship and could even start for El Salvador. As for the defense, someone without a lot of experience will partner with Carlos Bocanegra in the middle of the U.S. back line. It’s probably Chad Marshall, although it could be Jonathan Spector or Clarence Goodson.

Again, Donovan sounds confident: "Carlos will be in there," he said of Bocanegra. "He’s our leader back there, and he’s going to take care of things."

"It’s not a game where we’ll be, hopefully, worrying about defending in our box for 90 minutes," Donovan said. ":It’s just a game where we need to be smart, put them under pressure, keep them in their end and break them down that way."

I will post the lineups from Rio Tinto as soon as they are available. Meanwhile ... 

Continue reading to see what else a good fan would know as he or she preps for the 8 p.m. (ET) kickoff on ESPN Classic:

Weather: It’ll be a little warm, with a high of about 88 today in suburban Sandy. That won’t really favor either team, although it might be just a little harder on guys who play mostly in Europe.

Yellow cards: Yikes! Nine U.S. players will be forced to sit out a match upon receiving their next caution. They are Jozy Altidore, Carlos Bocanegra, Conor Casey, Steve Cherundolo, Ricardo Clark, Jay DeMerit, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan and Benny Feilhaber. Following Saturday’s match, the U.S. next meets Trinidad & Tobago on Wednesday.

Roster: There are 23 players in U.S. camp. Bradley must choose 18 for the game day roster. One of them will not be Colorado Rapids striker Conor Casey, whose wisdom tooth extraction on Monday kept him from reporting this week. So he’ll stick around and play for the Rapids in an MLS match; Bradley will make a decision following Saturday’s contest on whether to take Casey for Weddnesday’s match at Trinidad and Tobago.

Big Gooch out: Since you’re a good U.S. Soccer supporter, you know that Oguchi Onyewu is suspended for tonight’s match. His first yellow card came on June 15, 2008, against Barbados. His second came 13 months later, on Aug. 12 against Mexico. Bradley was asked Friday about the FIFA rule (two yellow cards in qualifier competition necessitates a one-game suspension). He basically said that it is a bit arcane, but that everyone plays by the same rules so he doesn’t have too big a problem with it.

Last time against El Salvador:  The United States fell behind, 2-0, but rallied behind goals from Jozy Altidore and Frankie Hejduk to earn the 2-2 draw back on March 28 in San Salvador.

The U.S. at home: They’re good. The last qualifier loss at home came in Washington, D.C., against Honduras back 2001, just a few days before the world exploded on Sept. 11. Bob Bradley has never lost a qualifier at home (a 7-0-0 record.) The United States is 10-0-2 at home against El Salvador going back to 1977

Finally, here are the CONCACAF Group Standings and the schedule for today and Wednesday. The top three teams receive automatic berths for South Africa 2010. The fourth-place finisher faces South America’s No. 5 in a home-and-away winner-gets-the-berth widow maker:

 Matchday 7 – Sept. 5, 2009

Costa Rica vs. Mexico

United States vs. El Salvador

Honduras vs. Trinidad & Tobago

 Matchday 8 – Sept. 9, 2009

Trinidad & Tobago vs. United States

El Salvador vs. Costa Rica

Mexico vs. Honduras