The Scotland vs USA international friendly match will take place this Friday, November 15, 2013 (12:00 PM Pacific) at the Hampden Park in Glasgow. This friendly match will be a change of pace for the USMNT, which just last month finished a successful CONCACAF qualifying campaign, ending in first place, as the undisputed giant of the region.
Klinsmann is using this match against Scotland as a way to try out some players who could potentially join the squad in time for the World Cup, and to overall give the team a good challenge. The roster Klinsmann called up for the match against Scotland contains a mix of guaranteed World Cup starters, and a group of fringe players that are still fighting for a spot.
The fringe players who need to utilize the match against Scotland (and Austria, scheduled four days later) to impress Klinsmann are Eric Lichaj, John Brooks, and (maybe a little less work left to do) Brek Shea, Sacha Kljestan & Chris Wondolowski. These are the players that need to have excellent games, in case they want to convince Klinsmann to include them in the final roster for the World Cup.
For Scotland, the home match against the USA will be nothing more than an opportunity for coach Gordan Strachan to try out some fringe players. Scotland was knocked out of the World Cup a long time ago, and are simply using the official FIFA date to test out some players that could be used for the Euro 2016 qualifying.
Scotland vs USA Prediction
The USMNT has been invincible since the start of this past Summer; Klinsmann’s team has won nearly all friendly, Gold Cup and qualifying matches in the past five months. Now, a USA squad mixed with key starters and a couple of fringe players will face a Scottish squad that is not really preparing for anything. With the USA likely starting several players who are fighting for a spot in the World Cup, I expect to see a very good USMNT that will go on to dominate the match. I predict the USA will overwhelm a Scotland squad that will field mostly alternate players, and come out with a 3-1 away victory in Glasgow.
Scotland vs USA TV Schedule
The Scotland vs USA match will be televised on ESPN 2 and Unimas on Friday, November 15, 2013 at 12:00 PM Pacific.
