Getty Dax McCarty is one of several players stating their case for a World Cup roster spot.
USA look to continue their historical dominance over El Salvador in Wednesday’s quarterfinal.
USMNT has never lost to El Salvador in competitive play, and USA posted a 5-1 victory when the teams last met at the Gold Cup in 2013. Not one to take chances, Bruce Arena has called in reinforcements for his roster heading into the final matches of the tournament.
Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard and Jozy Altidore have all rejoined USMNT in the last week, but Arena will leave the European players home to rest. The returning trio have a combined 10 World Cups between them, but the group have only won Gold Cup once in their international careers. USA hasn’t won a Gold Cup since 2013, when the squad was split between Gold Cup and Confederations Cup.
In reality, this will be the last warm-up match for USA before the real competition. In 13 editions of the tournament, USA has advanced to the semifinal 12 times. Awaiting in the later rounds are Costa Rica and Mexico, two teams that could cause problems for USA en route to a sixth Gold Cup title.
El Salvador finished the group stage with four points, having lost to Mexico but scoring a win over Curacao. The roster includes five players currently in America, three of them coming from the New York Cosmos of the NASL.
Kickoff is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. Eastern, and lineups will be posted one hour before kickoff.
Here are the basics:
DATE: Wednesday, July 19, 2017
CHANNEL: Fox Sports 1
KICKOFF TIME: 9:00 p.m. Eastern
LOCATION: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia PA
LIVE STREAM: Click here for all live streaming information
LINEUP
USMNT: Howard, Gonzalez, Lichaj, Morrow, Hedges, Arriola, Nagbe, Bradley, Zardes, Dempsey, Altidore
El Salvador: Carrillo, Romero, Mancia, Tamacas, Ceren, Pineda, Mayan, Orellana, Larin, Bonilla, Zelaya