The United States Men's National Team has a couple friendlies ahead of it this week. The team will return from Cuba this weekend and ultimately be at RFK RFK Stadium on Tuesday night for an encounter with a New Zealand team that hopes to be able to ultimately qualify for the World Cup and make some noise if it gets there.
Don't miss the soccer action from RFK Stadium at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, October 11, 2016. Catch every moment of the match live on ESPN.
Odds Analysis
A big flaw here in the plan for the United States is that it probably should have ultimately scheduled a little bit tougher foe if it could have found one to help get it ready for the opening match in the Hex against Mexico next month in Columbus. As it is, all of the teams in Europe were busy qualifying for the World Cup in their own right, and South American clubs are going through the exact same thing. Playing against Mexico would have resulted in a de facto stalemate with neither team wanting to show the other all that much.
So alas, this is what the Americans are left with. New Zealand is nothing special, and it surely will be beaten in this match, but by what margin remains the answer. At least Jurgen Klinsmann hopes that to be the case. If not, it'll be another nail in his coffin, one that started to get hammered home over the course of the last year or so.
Roster Analysis
New Zealand is playing against Mexico earlier this week, so it will be interesting to see how well it takes to the environment for two matches in North America. All eyes are going to be on Winston Reid, the captain of this club and the one man playing for a Premier League team. Most of the rest of this team is formed of New Zealand nationals who play domestically, particularly in the midfield where only 19-year old Henry Cameron was called upon out of any other nation. Cameron plays his club soccer at Blackpool in England.
This is the last tune-up match for the Americans, and you can bet they're going to be using a really good lineup in this one. This is where we're going to see if Klinsmann truly has confidence in his youngsters, Christian Pulisic, Darlington Nagbe, Bobby Wood and the likes. The more of those men you see against the All-Whites, the more likely you're going to see them against Mexico instead of the guys like Alejandro Bedoya, Geoff Cameron, etc.
Keep in mind that both Brad Guzan and Tim Howard were left behind on this squad, so we're going to see a relatively inexperienced keeper in net. San Jose's David Bingham figures to be the option for at least one of these games, though we wouldn't be shocked to see 21-year old Ethan Horvath either at some point.
Recent Form
The United States is only 5-0-3 in its last eight matches, numbers that aren't good enough to give Klinsmann any sort of job safety should things start to go haywire in the Hex in a hurry. That said, the team should take care of Cuba on Friday for a third straight win since the end of Copa America.
New Zealand just doesn't know what tough competition is like at this level. The club has played against Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji thus far this calendar year in the OFC Nations Cup. All five matches were won, though it took penalties in the Nations Cup Final to put aside Papua New Guinea.
Free Soccer Betting Pick
The United States is definitely young and definitely hungry, but we shouldn't just go assuming it's going to be able to beat the snot out of a defensive-minded New Zealand team that fared well in the World Cup a few years ago.
The All-Whites will try to stay tactical at the back and make some presses forward, and this could get scary if they manage to put one home early. That's when we'll see what this youthful side is made of. We do think the Americans will take the victory, but it'll be by a closer margin than anyone would like to admit is possible.
Soccer Odds: United States 2, New Zealand 1
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