CUOVA, Trinidad (AP) — U.S. coach Bruce Arena left his starting lineup unchanged for Tuesday night’s World Cup qualifier at Trinidad and Tobago. Tim Howard started in goal, with DeAndre Yedlin at right back, Omar Gonzalez and Matt Besler in
CUOVA, Trinidad (AP) — U.S. coach Bruce Arena left his starting lineup unchanged for Tuesday night’s World Cup qualifier at Trinidad and Tobago.
Tim Howard started in goal, with DeAndre Yedlin at right back, Omar Gonzalez and Matt Besler in central defense and Jorge Villafana at left back.
Captain Michael Bradley started in defensive midfield, while Christian Pulisic, Darlington Nagbe and Paul Arriola were in advanced midfield. Jozy Altidore and Bobby Wood began up front.
Pulisic had been limping after a hard tackle to his left calf in the second half of Friday’s 4-0 rout of Panama.
The Americans would qualify for next year’s World Cup in Russia with a win and almost certainly with a tie. A loss could lead to elimination, a playoff next month against Australia or a berth if Panama loses at home to Costa Rica and Honduras loses at home to Mexico in games scheduled to kick off simultaneously.
Mexico clinched last month and Costa Rica on Saturday.
The field at Alo Boldon Stadium, about 24 miles south of the capital Port-of-Spain, had dried from Monday’s rain.
Arena made seven changes in each of the previous qualifiers, including using Brad Guzan instead of Howard in each road game.
Defender Michael Orozco and midfielder Juan Agudelo did not dress for the second straight game.
Trinidad made two changes from the lineup in Friday’s 3-1 loss at Mexico, when the Soca Warriors wasted a second-half lead. Defenders Alvin Jones and Tristan Hodge started in place of Kareem Moses and Kevon Villaroel.
Adrian Foncette remained in goal, with Curtis Gonzalez on the back line. Khaleem Hyland, Kevan George, Daneil Cyrus and Leston Paul were in the midfield, and Nathan Lewis, Shahdon Winchester and Levi Garcia in the attack
