united states

Serbia

Pre-World Friendly Form:WDL

Serbia 0-1 New Zealand
Serbia 0-0 Poland
Serbia 4-3 Cameroon

The Serbians went over 180 minutes before finding the goal in an international, but when they did Serbia began to find their way again, locate the sort of form and ruthlessness in front of goal which seen them finish above France in qualifying.

It all began in worrying fashion when Serbia fell to a shock 1-0 defeat to New Zealand, this despite coach Radomir Antic fielding a strong starting eleven. It was, though, Serbia’s first warm up encounter whereas it was New Zealand’s second, if that’s any consolation. With 90 minutes under their belts, and a bitter defeat to spur them on, Serbia were once again disappointing against the Polish. A fabulous opportunity o wipe away some forward cobwebs was passed up by Serbia. However, in their final game before the finals, Serbia’s forward play finally began to flourish, although at the same time their defence was showing some early signs of vulnerability. As Serbia found the net four times through Krasic, Stankovic, Milijas and Pantelic, at the other Stojkovic in the Serbia goal was left exposed and ended up conceding three goals.

While the victory over Cameroon was a welcome relief, the three goals they conceded will be of great concern for the coach, who has built up a solid, resolute and consistent side and won’t want to see defensive lapses creep into their play.

Slovakia

Pre-World Friendly Form:WD

Slovakia 1-1 Cameroon
Slovakia 3-0 Costa Rica

Following the disappointment of drawing with an out-of-sorts Cameroon, with Kamil Kopunek scoring in a 1-1 draw, Slovakia eased some of the worries back home with a resounding win in their final international friendly, routing Costa Rica 3-0 in Bratislava, Slovakia, with goals from Vittek and Stanislav Sestak. The latter was especially lively in both encounters.

On the whole, Slovakia coach Vladimir Weiss will be pleased with how their preparations went following two unbeaten friendlies. The ‘Slovaks’ will now nosedive into their World Cup opener with New Zealand on June 15th feeling confident of their chances.

Slovenia

Pre-World Friendly Form: WW

Slovenia 4-1 Qatar
Slovenia 3-1 New Zealand

Although the quality of opposition hasn’t been great, Slovenia have done their hopes of springing  surprise in Group D no harm with a quick-fire double. Forward Noavkovic opened the scoring against Qatar in a 4-1 romp while Novakovic was once again the player to open the scoring this time against New Zealand as he accounted for two of Slovenia’s three goals against New Zealand.

It will be beneficial to have this winning mentality instilled into the players but Slovenia will face far bigger tests in South Africa against the likes of Algeria, the United States and Group C favourites England.

South Africa

Pre-World Friendly Form:WWWDW

South Africa 4-0 Thailand
South Africa 1-1 Bulgaria
South Africa 2-1 Colombia
South Africa 5-0 Guatemala
South Africa 1-0 Denmark

South Africa coach Carlos Alverto Parreira pencilled in a variety of games against a mixture of teams, ranging from Asian side Thailand to European’s Denmark. They started in a positive manner, obliterating Thailand 4-0, before finalising their preparations on home soil with a hugely impressive 1-0 win over Denmark. In fact, South Africa remained undefeated after five pre-World Cup internationals, recording 4 wins and a draw. They’ve also been scoring plenty of goals, mostly against the ‘lesser’ nations however, but their 13 goals in five games will only aid the forwards in their quest to fire South Africa into the knock-out stage, thus avoiding becoming the first host nation not to qualify from the groups. It was also nice to see some team spirit and togetherness in their games, and from a nation which needs little excuse to party, Bafana Bafana’s enthusiastic manner on the pitch will likely prove infectious around the ground.

Spain

Pre-World Friendly Form: WW

Spain 3-2 Saudi Arabia
Spain 1-0 South Korea

The favourites to win the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the reigning European Champions. Spain haven’t been at all convincing nor have they justified their strong favouritism in the betting rings with their performances in recent friendlies. It took an injury time winner from Fernando Torres back-up Fernando Llronte to spare their blushes against Saudi Arabia, while Jesus Navas’ beautifully curled effort was once again a lifesaver for the Spanish, who now won two games on the spin but only by a one goal margin.

Against Saudi Arabia, there were enough errors at the back to have Vicente Del Bosque worried, while they were equally as disappointing and lacklustre against South Korea although the fact Spain are in arguably the easiest group of the lot in South Africa should allow the Spanish team to cut out there mistakes and build up some winning momentum before they really get tested in the knock-out stages.

Switzerland

Pre-World Friendly Form: DL

Switzerland 0-1 Costa Rica
Switzerland 1-1 Italy

Swiss fans were in dismay when their team fell to a shock 1-0 defeat to North Americans Costa Rica. In a scrappy game, where chances were few and far between for both sides, a mistake at the back led to Costa Rica’s opener and eventual winner, as Switzerland suffered a bitter blow ahead of the finals. They did, however, make amends in their next friendly, their last, by holding the reigning world champions Italy to a 1-1 draw in Geneva, Switzerland, thanks to a goal from midfielder Gokhan Inler, who has scored Switzerland’s last two international goals, his only goals in 34 appearances.

Uruguay

Pre-World Friendly Form: W

Uruguay 4-1 Israel

Uruguay, who need a play-off against Costa Rica to book their tickets to South Africa, only played one international in preparation for what they hope will be an enjoyable and fruitful stay in South Africa. A 4-1 win over Israel, with the La Celeste in control throughout in the Uruguay capital of Montevideo, led to joyous scenes at the end of the game as the Uruguay players and fans rejoiced at their qualification for the World Cup. That game was over a fortnight before Uruguay play their opener against France on Friday, June 11th, and there could be question marks over the lack of match practice Uruguay have had.

USA

Pre-World Friendly Form: WWL

USA 2-4 Czech Republic
USA 2-1 Turkey
USA 3-1 Australia

Following their 4-2 defeat to the Czech Republic on home soil, many were beginning to write off USA’s chances of even making the knock-out stage of the competition. Two wins the rafters though and Bob Bradley’s Americans are well and truly back in contention in Group C and will arrive in Rustenburg for their opener against group favourites England full of confidence and in high spirit after back-to-back victories over Turkey and Australia.

The biggest surprise to come out of USA’s warm up results was the amount of goals they scored – 7 in 3 games – as many, including us, weren’t exactly buzzing over their striking prowess. Somehow though, through their usual industrious and workmanlike attitudes, the United States have thumped in seven, with an impressive three of those coming in their final warm up match against Australia in a 3-1 win. Against Turkey, however, the American’s showed great tenacity and togetherness when coming from a goal behind, in a game they were being completely outplayed in, to record a much needed win. A sign that the Americans  have a tonne of fighting spirit within their camp.

USA V Turkey

Saturday, 29th May – 19:00 GMT
International Friendly
Location: Philadelphia, USA
LIVE coverage can be found by logging into your Bet365 or Betfair account.

USA

It was back to the drawing board for United States coach Bob Bradley after the Americans succumbed to a heavy 4-2 defeat at the hands of the Czech Republic. To make matters worse, the loss inflicted upon them by a team that won’t feature in the finals next month came on home soil in East Hartford, Connecticut. The loss may well have left a nation surprisingly buoyed by their country’s successful qualification for South Africa in disarray as few would have have anticipated such an emphatic scoreline at the beginning of the night, certainly not in the oppositions favour.

The Americans will, though, have the opportunity to make amends for their Czech mistakes just four days later, although, for some it was the last straw, with Bob Bradley axing several players who failed to make any lasting impression in that loss. Brian Ching, Eddie Johnson and Sacha Kljestan where all sent home by Bradley after the game while key defender Oguchi Onyewu, who has been out of action for over six months, was included after being one of a select few in the US team which came away from that Czech defeat with some pride still in tact, defending with a lot of heart throughout. Onyewu’s gritty attitude could inspire the rest of the US defence, one which was lifeless and untidy on the night despite the likelihood of some imminent exclusions from coach Bradley. A player which did catch out eye on the night was Ranger winger DeMarcus Beasley, who was a nuisance down the left-wing position, and his team-mate Maurice Edu, who scored the game’s opener.

Bob Bradley didn’t play a full-strength USA team against the Czech Republic, opting to leave the likes of Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy) and Jozy Altidore (Villarreal, former Hull City loanee) out of the team altogether. All three are expected to play some part, if not start, against Turkey in Philadelphia. And my how they need all three as the USA, from an attacking perspective, were toothless and unimaginative despite  a bucket load of pace in the final third of the pitch with Eddie Johnson, later axed by Bradley, Buddle and Beasley. An industrious Donovan will ensure the oppositions defence won’t rest easy throughout the night with his tenacious and relentless attitude. Clint Dempsey is arguably the smartest player Bob Bradley has at his disposal in terms of knowing when to get forward and which position to be in – superb positional sense and awareness – while Jozy Altidore is remarkably strong and will enable the US to hold the play up and wait for support, something which was absent on Wednesday as attacks seemingly petered out into nothing.

After a poor showing against the Czech Republic less than a week ago, the entire USA team will feel they owe it to Bob Bradley, and more importantly the nation, as after all the US, who aren’t naturally soccer lovers, have pledged their support for the United States team by coming out in their thousands to cheer them on in their friendlies and having purchased more tickets for the finals than any other nation, excluding the hosts South Africa.

Turkey

Turkey are playing their part in the World Cup by assisting those actually participating in next month’s showcase. On March 3rd, Turkey beat Honduras 2-0 in Istanbul and on Wednesday where out recording their third successive international friendly victory, recording another 2-0 win over Northern Ireland. The Turks have always been a dangerous team, finishing as a semi-finalist at Euro 2008 although they haven’t made the finals of a World Cup since 2002 in Korea/Japan. Even so, some nifty players such as Arda Turan, attracting plenty of support from big European clubs, Tuncay Sanli, the Turkish equivalent to David Beckham and Bayern Munich’s Hamit Altintop will provide this vulnerable bunch of United States stars with a proper game.

Match Odds:

USA – 2.20 SportingBet
Draw – 3.30 Bet365
Turkey – 3.25 totesport

Our Prediction: Draw – 3.30 Bet365

We’ve found these two teams hard to separate, as with home advanatage and the return of some big names, the United States should fare a whole lot better than they did in their 4-2 defeat against Czech Republic four days ago. Turkey, though, are on-fire at present, recently recording a hat-trick of friendly wins after a 2-0 win in Northern Ireland, as well as beating both Honduras (March 3rd) and the Czech Republic (26th May) 2-0 and 2-1 respectively.

If the USA defend as they did against the Czech’s, Turkey will find a way through Tim Howard’s goal without too much of a fuss, although Brad Guzan was in goal on the night. Even so, a far sharper performance is needed from the United States if they are to step up their preparations ahead of the finals in June, while Turkey themselves have one eye on Euro 2010 qualification and will be eager to continue their fine run of form away in the States. Like we said, too difficult to split them apart so a draw is a fair and perhaps logical punt.

Our Recommendation: Landon Donovan Anytime Scorer – 3.00 Bet365

Host: United States
Winners: Brazil
Runners-up: Italy
Third Place: Sweden
Fourth Place: Bulgaria
Top Goalscorer: Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) & Oleg Salenko (Russia) – 6 Goals
Participants: 24 (Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Colombia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, USA)

The United States were given their first taste of what it’s like to host a World Cup as they held the 1994 World Cup finals. Although US fans didn’t get to to see their team challenge for honours they did get a glimpse of Brazil winning their fourth World Cup and cement their place as the World’s current best footballing nation.

The final saw two of the world’s most prolific nations go head-to-head as Brazil took on Italy. However, the two couldn’t be separated and for the first time in a World Cup, a final was to be settled on penalties. It was Brazil though who held their nerve winning 3-2 in the penalty shoot-out.

USA had to hold off the bids of Morocco and Brazil as possible hosts for the 1994 World Cup but it came as a shock when FIFA announced it would be the United States who would host the prestigious event. The USA were yet to make any impact at International level in football but FIFA seen this as the perfect opportunity for the sport to grow in the US. 

USA may not have won the competition but they did set the record for the highest attendances for a World Cup host. Over 3.6 million went to the stadiums to watch the games while the average attendance was 69,000. The USA currently hold the record for the highest attendances which has yet to be beaten.

Greece, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia were the newbies in the 1994 World Cup while Russia competed for the first time as an independent nation after they were previously competing under the Soviet Union. On a similar note, West Germany and East Germany came together and formed one competitive nation by the name of ‘Germany’ and have done ever since.

As African nations put in a respectable display in the 1990 World Cup, FIFA granted the continent three qualifying spots. It was also the first and only World Cup which seen no British contingents compete.

Final:

Brazil 0 – 0 Italy (Brazil won on penalties) – Rose Bowl ~ 94,194 Attendances
 

Goalscorers:

Third Place Play-Off:

Sweden 4 – 0 Bulgaria

Goalscorers:

Sweden – Brolin, Mild, Larsson, K. Andersson
Bulgaria –