United States of America World Cup Team Preview Odds To Win

United States of America

Odds to Win World Cup: +6600

After a fantastic run in the World Cup in 2002 and the Confederations Cup in 2009, the United States has to feel like this could be the year that it can bust onto the world stage and make a huge move at the World Cup in South Africa.

How They Got Here: Qualification out of CONCACAF was never really in doubt for the Americans. The only real roadblock along the way came in Estadio Azteca, where the Mexicans historically have dominated the Stars and Stripes. Still, the USA nailed down enough points on the road to get through with ease to its sixth consecutive World Cup.

Player to Watch: The man that is going to be under the biggest pressure to perform is GK Tim Howard. Howard has become the face of American soccer, as he had a fantastic 2009 Confederations Cup that nearly saw the USA shock the world in South Africa last year. Howard is going to have to be sturdy in net, not so much to get the US through the group stages, but in those nervy knockout rounds. Howard played in 13 of the 18 qualifying matches for his home country, which allowed 16 goals en route to the World Cup.

Previous World Cup Experience: The Americans have never done better than they did in 1930 when they reached the semifinals. However, under former manager Bruce Arena, American soccer had fallen under hard times under Bob Bradley took over and brought the squad to the quarterfinals in South Korea in 2002. The '06 World Cup was bitterly disappointing for the USA, as a 3-0 loss in the opening game to the Czech Republic set the stage for a brutal 0-1-2 record and just two goals scored against six allowed in three matches.

Key to Advancing: The red, white, and blue have to be thrilled the with the draw that they received for the first round of the World Cup. Picking up a point against England in the opening round would virtually assure advancement into the second round so long as there isn't a devastating three point slip up anywhere along the way to the Algerians or Slovenians. The US is just going to need to stand tall at the back, and Howard is going to need to keep his net relatively clean, and there should be no problems reaching the knockout rounds.

Predictions: If the United States was ever going to win the World Cup, this would be the year. This is clearly the most talented American side that has gone to a World Cup in decades, and the draw really couldn't be any easier. If there was any way to avoid Germany in Round 2 out of Group D, this could really be a romp into the quarterfinals once again for the United States. Don't be overly shocked to see the Stars and Stripes reach the semifinals of this event if they can overtake Germany in the first knockout round. Just reaching the quarterfinals would be considered a success, though.

Round 1 Schedule
England vs. United States (June 12th, 2:30 PM ET, Rustenburg)
Slovenia vs. United States (June 18th, 10:00 AM ET, Johannesburg)
United States vs. Algeria (June 23rd, 10:00 AM ET, Tshwane)

All Odds for 2010 World Cup from Brobury Sports

Odds to Win Group C
Algeria +1400
England -333
Slovenia +1000
United States +420
Odds to Advance Group C
Algeria +275
England -2000
Slovenia +200
United States -175