I have no planned direction for this post, just thought I would get a few thoughts out before the day gets ramped up. I'll be doing my best (like most, I would assume) to follow the USMNT's showdown with Italy today at 2:30 ET on ESPN from work; the effort involves dodgy internet streams, supreme multi-tasking and the ability to avoid yelling at the computer and drawing attention to myself.
Let's hope I succeed.
As for the match, I have absolutely no idea what to expect. Just about the only thing we can be reasonably sure if is that the match will be physical. Anything after that is pure speculation. The recent form of the US isn't exactly encouraging, so I'd be lying if I said I was confident of a good performance. It's difficult to both care about the result, be entirely unbiased, and manage to squeeze out a prediction that's actually based in reality.
But I'm going to try.
Publicly stating predictions is a double-edged sword; overly optimistic, and I'm the blind homer idiot, the guy who doesn't seem to understand USMNT history or ability. Overly pessimistic, and I tarnish my experience of rooting for the team because I'm showing a lack of faith. Somewhere in the middle seems the safest route, but that's smacks of a cop out, a way to avoid both of the aformentioned circumstances.
Oh well, because that's what I'm doing. The match is likely to come down to a few crucial moments anyway (but don't they all?), so I'm splitting down the middle. I think we'll see a draw today, 1-1, and my completely random guess on the loan American goal is Clint Dempsey.
Why not? Clint is a good player who has struggled a bit for the Nats, but he's as good a name as any.
No matter my poorly chosen prediction, my even more poorly chosen player to score, or my conflicted feelings on the match, I'm excited to watch the Americans play against top-level competition.
Now I have to get some work done so I won't be too busy to follow along this afternoon.
Feel free to share your thoughts on what you think will happen in the comments below. What's your sense of the match, and do you think that the Americans can get a good result?
