England kick-off their FIFA World Cup 2010 campaign on Saturday against the USA and one man Fabio Capello is unlikely to know too much about is striker Edson Buddle.
The LA Galaxy forward could well get a start in Rustenburg against an unfamiliar England backline without injured skipper Rio Ferdinand.
Buddle is no spring chicken at 29, but the pacy forward had only played 11 minutes for the USA back in 2003 and didn’t feature in the qualifying campaign or the Confedereations Cup before the weekend, but he’s certainly a man in form and he seems at ease at international level.
Buddle bagged two goals in the recent 3-1 friendly win over Australia and that after a fine season top-scoring in the MLS, where he became a great foil for Landon Donovan.
With the mercurial Charlie Davies absent after a car crash and Jozy Altidore struggling with an ankle problem, the New Yorker could get a start alongside Herculez Gomez in attack. Gomez, who plays for Mexican side Puebla, also netted against the Socceroos and along with Robbie Findley the three of them look set to battle it out to start against Capello’s men.
For those of you Betting on Football World Cup matches, the USA are the obvious outsiders for the Group C opener at 6/1 but they will fancy their chances of upsetting the Three Lions who could have a new central defensive rearguard of Ledley King and John Terry.
The draw is priced up at a generous 3/1, while England are the hot 1/2 favourites and if they click into gear early on the USA could be on the end of heavy defeat.
Bob Bradley’s men will have to show discipline and defend for their lives, just like they did in their Confederations Cup bid, if they are to get anything from their opening game.
Their success over Australia and 2-1 win over Turkey shows that Bradley’s men have got goals in them but it will be their defensive work which will have to be good if they are stop England. But they might be worth swerving until after the opening game, because they should still have enough to get past Algeria and Slovenia even if they do lose to group favourites England first up.