Whenever Brazil plays, the world watches and tonight when they take on the United States in a friendly, it will be televised in at least 83 countries. Dear world, meet Brazil. Or not, you're probably already pretty familiar with them.
What those viewers from all of those countries will get tonight is a very young Brazil team. Only two players on the 23-man roster are over the age of 25, but that doesn't mean the team isn't exceptionally talented. Thiago Silva, Neymar, Hulk, Marcelo, Leandro Damião and Danilo are all in the team, giving Mano Menezes more than enough to work with.
Of course, the focus is going to be on the attacking players, specifically Neymar. The Santos star is already one of the best players in the world and maybe the most fun player in the world to watch. At just 20 years old he already has a highlight reel that stacks up against anyone with an array of incredible goals and fancy footwork that few in the world can even dream of.
Up top will be Hulk and Leandro. Hulk is already a familiar name to most soccer fans, one because of his name and two because of the interest he has drawn from some of the biggest teams in the world with Chelsea looking like the favorite. Leandro is also drawing interest from Europe as his days with Internacional dwindle. Tottenham Hotspur have long been thought to be his landing spot, but after yet another tremendous season in Brazil he has drawn interest from Juventus, among other clubs. If you want to see some of Europe's future club stars, look no further than Neymar, Hulk and Leandro.
What will also be on display is a U.S. team growing under Jurgen Klinsmann. They were fantastic against Scotland on Saturday, but that was Scotland and this is Brazil. Klinsmann promised an attacking style when he took over the U.S., but that might not be the smartest plan against a team like Brazil. The U.S. defense will be under attack and that means the defense will have to stand up. Whether they can or not will go a long ways to showing whether or not the team has improved since Bob Bradley got the axe last summer.
United States vs. Brazil
Game Date/Time: Wednesday, 8:00 p.m. ET
Venue: FedEx Field, Landover, Maryland
TV: ESPN2 (USA English), Telefutura (USA Spanish), ESPN UK (Great Britain)
For more on the U.S. vs. Brazil friendly, check out the match's StoryStream, which has previews, as well as live and postgame coverage.


There are 5 Comments. Load Now.
Shortcuts to mastering the comment thread. Use wisely.
C - Next Comment
X - Mark as Read
R - Reply
Z - Mark Read & Next
Shift + C - Previous
Shift + A - Mark All Read
Comment Settings
Live comment alert: Hide it!
Comments for this post are closed.