The USA men's squad is looking to make up for the Copa America disappointment suffered in the last month, by bringing home a prestigious medal at the 2024 Olympics, held in Paris, France. However, with their campaign did not start off well, after a heavy 3-0 defeat against France left them out of the qualification places.
Marko Mitrovic and his side can make amends today however, as they come up against New Zealand, who have a victory of their own after seeing off African opponents Guinea 2-1 in the first round of fixtures. With this match taking place tonight, at the Orange Velodrome in Marseille, let us take a look at team news, key players and information ahead of this crunch match in Group A.
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Team News
USA - Mitrovic could look to make a few changes ahead of this fixture, but faces no troubling injuries ahead of tonight's fixture. His entire squad remains fit, and could all find themselves starting or featuring at some point in this fixture.
Potential changes could occur in midfield and attack, as both Gianluca Busio (Venezia) and Paxten Aaronson (Eintracht Frankfurt) were substituted for Maximilian Dietz (Greuther Furth) and Griffin Yow (Westerlo) after an arguably poor performance. Both Dietz and Yow impressed during their short cameos, and could find themselves in the starting XI tonight, looking to impress and make their marks.
A switch to a more defensive formation in the latter stages of France could also see Caleb Wiley (Strasbourg) make an appearance in the defence, if Mitrovic decides to switch to a back five. The nineteen year old left back impressed with Atlanta United this season, and just completed a major move to Premier league side Chelsea, before being loaned out to his French outfit for the 24/25 season. In the country where he is due to play for the season, Wiley will hope to make a lasting impact.
New Zealand - New Zealand are in a similar situation to the USA, where no injuries or suspensions could see the Kiwi's line-up with the same squad that they did against Guinea, leaving head coach Darren Bazeley with no selection headache.
Ben Waine (Plymouth) and Matthew Garbett (NAC Breda) will expect to hold down their starting positions after their goals helped them across the line, and the midfield three of Lachlan Bayliss (Newcastle Jets), Joe Bell (Viking) and Sarpreet Singh (Free Agent) will be disappointing to be displaced by another member of the squad, after their impressive performance in the heart of the park.
The only possible changes could be at wing and right-back, where Vancouver whitecaps prospect Jay Herdman and veteran Michael Boxall (Minnesota) struggled to get into the game. If Bazeley is to make any changes for performances sake, Liam Gillion (Auckland City) and Lukas Kelly-Heald (Wellington Phoenix) could make their competition debut starts.
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Potential Line-Ups
New Zealand: Paulsen; Sutton, Bindon, Surman, Boxall; Bayliss, Bell; Herdman, Singh, Garbett; Waine.
USA: Schulte; Tolkin, Zimmerman, Robinson, Dietz, Harriel; Tessmann, Busio; Paredes, McGuire, Mihailovic.
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Key Players
USA - Kevin PAREDES - (Wolfsburg)
Since his move from DC United in January of 2022, Kevin Paredes has made his mark on the Bundesliga as a pacy, creative winger, always willing to crash the box and find himself scoring from a close range. In 55 appearances with the German side, he has scored four goals, whilst being regarded as a skilful wide man always willing to get down the line, and help out with defensive actions if needed. In the last 365 days, he is in the top 1% for defensive actions for attacking players.
In a game of opportunities for the USA, Paredes impressed against France, using his creativity to his full force to help set up four chances for his fellow team-mates. Unfortunately, the USA did not find the net on any occasion, and were unlucky to lose to such a heavy margin, but Paredes had shown enough to prove he can be a threat against the less prestigious New Zealand. With a 67% successful duel rate, as well as four defensive actions throughout the match against France, Paredes continues to show his all-round ability.
New Zealand - Alex PAULSEN - (Bournemouth)
After his recent move to Premier League side Bournemouth from Wellington Phoenix, 'keeper Paulsen is becoming hot property int he world of football, with many looking forward to see his footballing ability. In the match against Guinea he proved this, with an astonishing seven saves keeping the Kiwis in the game, and earning him the credit of man of the match, and a vital three points for his nation.
A save percentage of 80.9%, 12.94 goals prevented last season and a pass accuracy of 74.1% proves Paulsen is becoming a quality modern-day goalkeeper, doing whatever he can in order to keep the ball out of the net. Coming up against the USA, he will be looking to do the same heroics he performed in the previous match, and possibly impress his way to a Premier League cameo for his new Cherries side.
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When and where can I watch the match?
This match is taking place at 6pm BST on Saturday 27th July, at the Orange Velodrome in Marseille. In order to watch the games, you can find it on discovery+ to stream, or the Eurosport Player in the United Kingdom.
