US vs Morocco

Ninety minutes to go before the final drive down the road to Germany begins as the US men take on the Lions of Morocco in Nashville. With the lineup still not released, I, like most fans, am most interested to see if John O'Brien will be included as a starter. With his injury problems, I would be a little surprised if did start the game anywhere on the pitch, but I haven't seen him play in a few weeks, so who knows where he is at.

This game should be a great first test for the red, white and blue as Morocco is a talented team. The final score is not the big point of the game, instead it will be how they use the offside trip, what they do off corner kicks and if they can make their runs into the box (i.e. the building blocks of the game). That said, if they don't walk away with a win, there would be a lot of negative press.

Games on Friday and Sunday will require Arena to rotate his roster wisely. This should allow all players a chance at some time on the pitch over the next six days.

Also, too much should not be read into who is or is not on these rosters and with whom. I'm sure Bruce has an idea of some configurations he might play in Germany, but the whole point of these three games is to see who is play well with whom right now.

In the end, there will be some foolish mistakes and flashes of brilliance. My guess is the US will come out ahead 3-1.

US men vs. Morocco
7pm EST
Live on ESPN2