The United States national soccer team will look to banish the ghost of a wild 2-4 loss to Columbia on Thursday when they come up against Peru at the Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford on Tuesday. Following up on their failure to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the US Mens National Team (USMNT) have been playing a series of top friendly games since the middle of the year. They have faced France, Brazil, Mexico and Columbia in that period but have only won one of those matches – a 1-0 win over Mexico. On Thursday, James Rodriquez opened scoring for the Los Cafeteros with a beautiful strike in the 36th minute but the USMNT rallied back to a 2-1 lead through Kellyn Acosta and Bobby Wood. Carlos Bacca soon equalised before strikes from Radamel Falcao and Miguel Borja ensured a thumping win for Colombia.
Peru enjoyed incredible fan support at the recently concluded World Cup and that should be expected with fans ecstatic to be participating in their first World Cup since 1982. La Blanquirroja lost their first two games 0-1 to Denmark and France. They won the last group game against Australia 2-0 but it wasn’t enough to ensure qualification to the knockout stage. They have played three friendly games thereafter, losing 1-2 to both Netherlands and Germany and thrashing Chile 3-0 on Saturday with two goals from Pedro Aquino and an own-goal by Enzo Roco.
Peruvian coach, Ricardo Gareca who signed a new 3-year deal in August has largely kept faith with the same squad that went to the World Cup for this month’s friendlies against Chile and USA. In this squad for the friendlies are MLS based Raul Ruidiaz, Yordy Reyna, Andy Polo and Yoshimar Yotun. The USMNT is currently undergoing a reboot of sorts. Young players are being fast-tracked to the senior team to provide a breath of fresh air. Looking at the 22-man squad invited for this month’s games, the average age is 24 years while 15 of them are 23 years or under. Six of the current squad will also be eligible for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics games.
USMNT interim manager Dave Sarachan said after the Colombia loss that he expects to make a lot of changes to the team ahead of the Peru game. Goalkeeper Zack Steffen has departed the squad due to hamstring tightness, so Brad Guzan is likely to start in goal. Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie remain sidelined with injury. PSG sensation, Timothy Weah was a bright spot in the last game and is likely to keep his spot. American fans should also expect to finally get a glimpse of Danish Superliga starlet Jonathan Amon.
Peru will miss their top strikers in Jefferson Farfan and Paulo Guerrero. Guerrero is suspended due to a failed drug test while Farfan misses out through injury. Ruidiaz poor performance against Chile may see Reyna come in for him. Pedro Gallese will remain in goal while Yotun and Aquino should marshal the midfield.
Peru do have pacy and tricky wide players and the American defence will have to tighten up especially the left side which wasn’t great in the Colombia loss. Communication from Brad Guzan will be important to keep the defenders on their toes. The first meeting of these two sides dates back to 1989 and the USMNT have 3 wins, 2 draws and a loss.
Verdict
A hard fought 1-1 draw, I slightly favour Peru to win this but the US are on home soil and given it is a friendly I think a draw is highly likely.
Comments