USMNT Preview-Honduras

This Saturday, the US Soccer team could clinch a birth in the 2010 World Cup with a win. The one obstacle in its way-Honduras, currently 3rd in the qualifying group and hungry for a rare trip to the globe's greatest sporting event. On top of that, the US will battle a hostile crowd (always a given in Central America) in San Pedro Sula. The biggest key for the Yanks coming out of the gate is possession. Besides scoring, overwhelming possession is the best way to take a crowd out of a game, not to mention the frustration that would mount on the Hondurans. The US will be without Clint Dempsey, one of its most prolific scorers as of late, due to injury. Because of this, look for Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo) to get the biggest start of his career tomorrow. Holden has the skills to maintain possession and create opportunities on goal (his cross to Charlie Davies late in the Mexico game nearly created a 2nd goal). In other roster news, veteran defender Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew) was added to the roster at the last minute. Hejduk probably will not see the field on Saturday, but he's a great presence to habe in the locker room for such an important trip. Other than that, the song remains the same as far as what we would like to see from the US-attacking early and often, and not sitting back in a prevent once they go ahead. Los Catrachos' sole World Cup appearance was 27 years ago-to say that they will be motivated with such a big game at home is an understatement- they are currently only a point ahead of Costa Rica. Falling into that 4th position would mean a 2 game playoff with CONMEBOL's (South America) 5th place team, most likely Lionel Messi and Argentina. Despite all of these points of interest, the biggest story about tomorrow's match is about television coverage. The Honduran Federation sold the rights to a US Closed-circuit TV company, so the game will only be available on pay-per-view. Check ussoccer.com or TSG for a list of locations around the country showing the game.

Buckeye out