My Starting Lineup

4-4-2

          Altidore        Dempsey

Donovan                          Holden

              Edu         Bradley

Bornstien                     Churundalo

         Bocanegra  Onyewu

                     Howard

or maybe more of a 4-4-1-1 or a 4-5-1

                    Altidore

                   Dempsey
Donovan                           Holden

                 Edu        Bradley

Bornstien                       Churundalo

         Bocanegra    Onyewu

                     Howard

my personal favorite, the 4-1-4-1

                     Altidore

Donovan   Bradley  Dempsey   Holden

                         Edu
Bornstein                            Churundalo

            Bocanegra   Onyewu

                       Howard

I think we know who is going to start

Roster for the USA v Mexico match on Wednesday:
Goalkeepers Brad Guzan , Tim Howard 
Defenders Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Bornstein , Danny Califf , Frankie Hejduk,  Oguchi Onyewu, Heath Pearce, Marvell Wynne 
Midfielders DaMarcus Beasley , Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark , Sacha Kljestan, Robbie Rogers, José Francisco Torres
Forwards Jozy Altidore, Brian Ching, Charlie Davies, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan 

I would be shocked to see anything other than this as the starting line-up:

       

                      Ching

                                    Donovan

Beasley                                            Dempsey

                   Kljestan      Bradley

Pearce                                             Hejduk

               Bocanegra      Onyewu

                            Howard

This is what I would like to see:

                            Altidore

Beasley     Donovan      Kljestan       Dempsey

                            Bradley

Bornstien                                          Hejduk

                  Bocanegra    Onyewu

                             Howard

The only real difference is Altidore, because he has the same tools as Ching except he is actually dangerous with the ball.

          

The only explanation for Bob Bradley's USMNT roster for the upcoming WCQ vs Guatemala is that he wants to put together a team of regulars that have played together a number of times. If you ask me there are too many old people on this team.

GOALKEEPERS: Tim Howard, Brad Guzan.

DEFENDERS: Oguchi Onyewu, Carlos Bocanegra, Heath Pearce, Steve Cherundolo, Frankie Hejduk, Jay DeMerit.

MIDFIELDERS: Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu, Sacha Kljestan, Pablo Mastroeni, Eddie Lewis, Demarcus Beasley

FORWARDS: Landon Donovan, Eddie Johnson, Brian Ching, Clint Dempsey.

Here's how I think we should start, disregarding all that I know about Bob Bradley:

                                     Eddie Johnson        

                                    Landon Donovan   

Demarcus Beasley                                       Clint Dempsey

                        Maurice Edu      Pablo Mastroeni            

Heath Pearce                                              Steve Churundalo

                Oguchi Onyewu          Carlos Bocanegra

                                           

                                     Tim Howard

Here is how I can almost assure you that we will start (or something just as silly with awful stirkers and people out of position) :

                    Eddie Johnson         Brian Ching

Landon Donovan                                       Clint Dempsey

                  Michel Bradley          Pablo Mastroeni

Heath Pearce                                                Steve Churundalo

                Oguchi Onyewu            Carlos Bocanegra

                                        Tim Howard

                     

USA vs Nigeria

What is the US lineup going to look like without Michael "Yellow Card Machine" Bradley and Freddy "Fancy Feet" Adu? I don't know, but here is my suggestion:

                          Rogers               Altidore                   

Holden                        Klejstan                        Feilhaber

                            Edu              McCarty

Orozco                                                                 Wynne

                                    Parkhurst

                                      Guzan

But of course McBride will be in the line up and for some reason a 3-5-2 is out of the question, so I expect to see something more like this:

                              McBride                  Davies

Rogers               Klejstan                      Feilhaber             Holden

Orozco                Parkhurst                   Edu                     Wynne

                                            Guzan

MLS Allstar Line-up

With the players that were selected, I'd like to see a 3-5-2 that looks something like this:

                     Kenny Cooper              Juan Pablo Angel

                                    Cuauhtemoc Blanco
Landon Donovan                                                 David Beckham


                  Shalrie Joseph             Pablo Masroeni


   Jonathan Bornstien                                  Frankie Hejduk

                                         Jimmy Conrad

                                            Matt Reis

MLS Allstar Votes

Matt Reis - NE


Drew Moor - DAL
Michael Parkhurst - NE
Bakary Soumare - CHI


David Beckham - LA
Cuauhtemoc Blanco - CHI
Stuart Holden - HOU
Sacha Kljestan - CHV
Steve Ralston - NE


Kenny Cooper - DAL
Landon Donovan - LA

The Magnus Effect

"Carlos kicked the ball with the outside of his left foot to make it spin anticlockwise as he looked down onto it. Conditions were dry, so the amount of spin he gave the ball was high, perhaps over 10 revolutions per second. Kicking it with the outside of his foot allowed him to hit the ball hard, at probably over 30 ms-1 (70 mph). The flow of air over the surface of the ball was turbulent, which gave the ball a relatively low amount of drag. Some way into its path - perhaps around the 10 m mark (or at about the position of the wall of defenders) - the ball's velocity dropped such that it entered the laminar flow regime. This substantially increased the drag on the ball, which made it slow down even more. This enabled the sideways Magnus force, which was bending the ball towards the goal, to come even more into effect. Assuming that the amount of spin had not decayed too much, then the drag coefficient increased. This introduced an even larger sideways force and caused the ball to bend further. Finally, as the ball slowed, the bend became more exaggerated still (possibly due to the increase in the lift coefficient) until it hit the back of the net - much to the delight of the physicists in the crowd."