The US men’s national team are back in action on Friday (8pm ET), as they travel to take in Grenada in Nations League soccer action. Can the visitors get the job done for the first time since the 2022 FIFA World Cup, having failed to win in January? This international matchup preview aims to find out before deciding on betting predictions and picks.
After what was a respectable performance, yet an ultimately disappointing end in Qatar before Christmas, USMNT got back down to business in January, though despite playing two friendlies, they failed to register a win. First off, they failed to cut it against the Serbians, who won by two goals to one on American soil. Despite dominating in terms of possession and efforts on goal, and despite scoring first through Brandon Vazquez, USA left the field with nothing to show for their efforts.
That defeat to Serbia preceded a more pleasing tie against the Colombians in Carson, Los Angeles. On that occasion, they performed better from a defensive point of view, opting for a more cautious approach, which certainly helped to keep things tighter. It didn’t do much for their offensive game, as the Stars and Stripes came out of the game having registered just five shots. This game against lesser opposition now provides the visitors with an opportunity to improve.
Grenada is far from known as a strong soccer nation, but Friday’s hosts do come into this game in solid form at their own level. They have now gone seven games without tasting defeat, three of which were victories, which should mean that they come into this game feeling confident. Unfortunately, they have not played a team on the USA’ s level for some time. In fact, their last opposition of that quality was the USMNT, who won by five goals to nil on home soil back in June of last year.
Struggle against bigger nations
As touched on in this preview above, the Grenadians arrive here in decent form and that should give them the courage to go toe-to-toe with their visitors. However, they lack the quality to really make inroads and are thus likely to struggle.
The likes of both Montserrat and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines have won on Grenadian soil in recent times, so it is not at all difficult to envisage a team that recently reached the last 16 of a World Cup enjoying themselves. Besides USA, Grenada faced World Cup-level opponents in Qatar back in 2021. They lost by four goals to nil on that occasion.
An end to their offensive woes?
USMNT has struggled to really hurt teams at times, and that’s no secret. They found it difficult not only to score goals in Qatar, but they struggled to open teams up. For all, with the likes Tyler Adams, Yunus Musah and Weston McKennie in midfield, they often kept the ball well, playing a nice passing game. They couldn’t really find a cutting edge, at least not enough of one to create the opportunities necessary to score more than three goals in four games.
This game is very much a fixture against inferior opposition, so USA have the opportunity to end their offensive struggles. It is worth noting that they do have a relatively pleasing scoring record in such games, scoring three or more in games against this opposition at home, Honduras and Panama in the last 18 months.
USA on top
This will be the fifth renewal of this fixture, and it’s fair to say that USMNT are easily on top. When the teams last met, back in June of 2022, the US won 5-0 on home soil. In that game, we could see that there was a clear gap in quality between the two teams and realistically there always has been. Every time the pair have met on the soccer field, USA have scored at least three goals, winning four out of four.
Visitors can get back on track
As mentioned above, this is a great opportunity for the US to improve in the final third and they should do that, but should we automatically assume that they’ll go crazy in offense?
If this game was on American soil, you’d absolutely expect USMNT to run riot, much as they did back in 2022. However, it is on the road, and even against lesser soccer-playing nations, Friday’s visitors haven’t exactly thrived from a goal-scoring point of view.
At the end of the day, they should have the quality to come out on top, but don’t expect them to all of a sudden score a glut of goals just because the rankings say it should be comfortable. After all, away from home in CONCACAF Nations League games and CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers, Team USA have scored more than once in none of their last six, scoring more than once in just one of their last nine.
It is also not as if they have always produced thunderous offensive displays against weaker opposition, scoring one or none away against El Salvador, Costa Rica, Jamaica, and Panama since late 2021.
It may well be an easy win for the US, and they may score five or six en route to wrapping up the three points, but there is plenty to suggest that they may stutter their way to victory rather than cruising in high-scoring fashion. So for the betting picks and predictions, it is this one recommended wager for USA Betting’s preview:
- Go under 3.5 goals @ +115 with Bovada.
For another view of this same game, see our other Grenada vs USA predictions and preview article.
Bradley Gibbs writes on MLS and other global soccer leagues for USA Betting. He also pens betting guides and strategy. Bradley has written for numerous sites and publications including Just Bookies and the Racing & Football Outlook.