Team USA and Mexico are going at it in an international World Cup friendly soccer match in the United States on Wednesday night and the game from University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona starts at 11 pm ET on ESPN, ESPN radio and the WatchESPN website and marks the last game for the US team before the final rosters for Brazil are finalized by Jurgen Klinsmann.
The United States come into the World Cup with high expectations this year, but it's likely all for naught with them being drawn into the group of death and that includes Ghana, Germany and Portugal. On top of that the US has the longest travel schedule of any team in the World Cup and that is unfortunate after the great year they had in 2013 and now Klinsmann is hoping to get a look at Julian Green and the rest of the team heading into the final roster picks. Klinsmann was angry after Puebla in the Mexican League did not let DaMarcus Beasley and Michael Orozco leave to play in the game, especially since the match is so important heading into the Cup in Brazil.
Jozy Altidore leads the team in scoring coming into the World Cup after qualifying and now the national club hopes to get some momentum going heading into the friendly schedule that leads into the World Cup. The team comes in after winning their first friendly with South Korea, but they lost the last matchup against Ukraine and now Klinsmann is preparing the team for a tough match against MExico. The match comes before their next game in May against Azerbaijan and that will be at Candlestick Park in California, while they also will play against Turkey at Red Bull Arena and then Nigeria at EverBank Field and that comes on June 7 before the tournament begins.
Clint Dempsey comes in after being suspended for two games in the MLS and that was a decision that Klinsmann was not happy with either, as the American star comes into the international friendly after being on the sidelines for two weeks and that means he could be rusty on Wednesday night in Glendale. Marco Fabian was called back for the Mexican team, while Green is looking to make his US debut. Mexico comes in after a draw with Nigeria and they play against Israel in a friendly next before matchups with Ecuador, Bosnia-Herzegovina and then against Portugal and that will be very anticipated for both sides before the WC in Brazil.
