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• At FedExField in Landover, Maryland
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Lovely bit of skill by Hulk, first a backheel wide on the right, and when he gets the ball back, some stepovers followed by a cross with the outside of his right foot, which temptingly hangs, but Howard does well to reach out and collect.
Teams still feeling each other up, fnnar, fnnar.
There's some traffic issues outside the stadium according to this email from Brian Rottkamp:
"Down:I've been sitting in traffic for two-and-a-half hours en route to the game
Up: I may get to hear the NBA draft lottery on the radio."
And the Celtics-Heat, Brian. And the Stanley Cup. But let's hope you get into the stadium soon.
Klinsmann accused Denmark of showing Brazil too much respect. USA not looking scared so far. Donovan cuts in from the right and shoots with his left, beyond the far post.
Under a little bit of pressure Tim Howard boots the ball straight out on the right.
josh tweets: "@Busfield sigh. Is it stupid to predict a 3-2 win for the USA? I'm turning into a believer."
Johnson overlaps down the left for the USA but his cross goes straight out for a goal kick.
And we're off...
Brazil in the famous yellow shirt, blue shorts but with blue socks, while USA in the new red and white hooped shirts and blue shorts and white socks.
Scott Bassett emails: "Prediction: 2-1 USA! No, Wait, 4-1 Brazil! Crap, I don't know what to think. I would love that Scotland performance to be the new mode, but weren't the Scots jet-lagged, hung-over and over heated? I'm not lovin' the McWhopper shirts on those kids, I can tell you that."
On a similar theme: Chris Horymski tweets: "@Busfield marketing genius that the kiddies who get to march the USA XI all wear a huge Ronald McDonald M"
Your thoughts on Ronald etc welcome, although I may not get around to them until half-time - hoping it's too good a game. Of course, if it's a stinker, I may be begging for emails before then.
Here's the Brazilian national anthem and here's the Star Spangled Banner.
There's a lot of yellow in the stadium - as there always is when Brazil play. anywhere - but that Star Spangled Banner brought out the singing.
Michiel Jongsma tweets: "@Busfield I was about to go to bed, but then I remembered this pearl was on show. Damn those timezones! Have a good mbm."
Thanks, Michael. Guess you're not watching in the USA. Or you're going to bed damn early. How about a prediction?
I love that US Soccer has an official list of Bars showing the game.
Meanwhile Atif Mahmood tweets: "@Busfield Is the game on in the uk?"
Well, Atif, I'm watching on ESPN in the US, and they have channels in the UK, so maybe it's on there.
Sam Robinson tweets:
"@Busfield That Brazilian front three looks frightening. Think they'll be too strong going forward and will win 3-1."
Anyone dare to disagree?
And, if those videos don't keep you going until kick off, here's a couple of pieces you may enjoy reading:
ShinGuardian's unique take on tonight's game: "Are Jürgen Klinsmann's USA ready for Brazil after beating the Scots?"
Or, for the game at a different level, how about Graham Parker and Daniel Feuerstein's look at the US Open Cup - both its history and this week's games: "99 years of the US Open Cup."
And here's Brazil's last game, vs Denmark:
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Here's that USA vs Scotland game from three days ago:
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I guess I'm going to have to stick my neck out to encourage some predictions from you lot, so I'm going to predict a first for these two teams: 1-1.
This is a young Brazilian side, just two players over the age of 25. There's an enormous amount of experience there, to be sure, and they are unlikely to be overwhelmed by the atmosphere or the opposition. But this USA team is growing under Klinsmann and, while the Scotland result may not be a guide to tonight, they have some form.
Share your predictions via email to steve.busfield@guardiannews.com or via Twitter to @Busfield.
USA
Howard; Cherundolo, Onyewu, Bocanegra (c), Johnson; Bradley, Jones, Edu; Donovan, Gomez, Torres
Subs: Parkhurst, Dempsey, Beckerman, Castillo, Boyd, Goodson, Rimando
Brazil
Rafael; Marcelo, Juan Jesus, Thiago Silva, Danilo; Oscar, Rômulo, Sandro; Hulk, Leandro Damião, Neymar
Subs: Jefferson, Neto, David Luiz, Alex Sandro, Bruno Uvini, Rafael, Lucas Moura, Giuliano, Casemiro, Alexandre Patro, Willington Nem
So, that Jürgen Klinsmann must be feeling pretty happy at the moment: a big win against Scotland to kick off a rash of internationals - five in 18 days - in a year that has already seen USMNT beat one of the world's powers, Italy.
Meanwhile, Brazil have a pretty decent recent record too - winning the last seven and losing only once in the last 17 - and that was against Germany in Stuttgart.
Brazil - and their five World Cup wins - have a dominating record over the USA: in 16 games, Brazil have won 15 and the USA one. That lone victory came in a CONCACAF Gold Cup semi-final in 2003. But there have been some tight encounters, with this 2009 Confederations Cup final - when the US had already beaten Spain in the tournament (although had already lost to Brazil too) - making for top quality entertainment:
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Without a tournament this summer, Klinsmann says that he wants this intensive period of action to recreate some of the intensity of a tournament - and it does end with the start of World Cup qualifiers. Said Klinsmann:
We're treating this period of time like it would be a small tournament because this camp is a lot about how the players build chemistry and deal with a longer period of time being together. It's about how they are willing to go the extra mile in that time period to answer a lot of questions in that stretch. That's why we're calling it almost a mini-tournament.
Team news will be coming up shortly. Kick off is scheduled for 8pm EST.
In the meantime, how about sharing your predictions for the evening, via email to steve.busfield@guardiannews.com or via Twitter to @Busfield. Or any other thoughts/jokes/links you feel like sharing. Read More
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