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The USMNT will be playing El Salvador in the fourth match of the CONCACAF Nations League A, Group D. After winning against Grenada, the USA squad will be looking to continue their winning ways in this competition. So far, they have a huge win over Morocco and a draw versus Uruguay they can be happy with. In terms of this game, however, let's look at three bold predictions for USA vs. El Salvador in CONCACAF Nations League.
Bold USA v El Salvador predictions
The kids will carry again
One of the best aspects of this USMNT squad is the fact there are so many young players here. Versus Grenada, the 21-year-old Jesus Ferreira was the one who carried the squad, putting four past the Grenada goalkeeper. However, it was not only Ferreira that played that game from the new and young generation. It was also Malik Tillman, Brenden Aaronson, George Bello, and Weston McKennie that got some minutes. All of the mentioned players are under the age of 24 and if we include 24-year-old players, it would be most of the squad for the US. This bodes well for the future of the USMNT, as they look to re-establish the consistency of success.
Ferreira still deserves a ton of praise for his contribution versus Grenada. Of course, the opponent was not as good, but four goals in a single match, a competitive one at that, is a great achievement. Ferreira now has seven goals in 12 matches for the USMNT and while most came here, it is still a great tally for such a young player. All fans and especially ones that also cheer for Ferreira's club, FC Dallas, can be proud and hopeful about the future of Ferreira and his US teammates. He should get the nod to start here again and while El Salvador is a tougher opponent than Grenada, Ferreira will be the focal point of the US attack once again, and with good reason.
Luca de la Torre will continue to impress
If we look at the USA midfield versus Grenada, it was Luca de la Torre that kind of looked out of place, in theory. At 24 years of age, de la Torre just made nine caps for the USMNT and he was largely overshadowed by McKennie, Tyler Adams, and other young prospects. However, in his tenth cap for the national team. de la Torre impressed anyone with a brain for football. He bossed the midfield and covered for the poor game of McKennie. Of course, one game this impressive versus Grenada will not be talked about in the same sense as others, due to the strength of the opposition, but it is still worth mentioning that the US has a real gem in this Heracles player.
Versus El Salvador, it will be tougher. To be frank, no one expected anything out of this Grenada team, but El Salvador are a solid side at times. Due to this, Luca de la Torre and the rest of the US midfield will have to put in more effort to play. If de la Torre can play as he played versus Grenada, or even similar to that, it will be a true sign of greatness for the youngster. However, based on how he looked, that should not be an issue. Putting in a Man of the Match performance in a game where your teammate scores four goals is an impressive feat and by all accounts, he should be as impressive or even more impressive versus El Salvador.
USA will win the match comfortably
El Salvador did get a positive result versus the USMNT fairly recently, also at home. Playing in their qualifying round for the 2022 World Cup, El Salvador managed to get a 0-0 draw at home. This game will also be at home and it will be of much less value to the US, so the El Salvador team might be looking at this as the perfect chance to win their seventh game versus the US in their history. However, other circumstances apply and the US will end up winning this game quite comfortably.
It is a match that the USA team will look at as preparation for the World Cup, as they are limited in that sense to just this game and possibly a friendly in August. Additionally, we saw against Grenada that Berhalter put out his best possible team, albeit without Christian Pulisic and Tyler Adams. He clearly values this competition and will field his best possible team again, which spells trouble for El Salvador. Lastly, the USMNT is entering the bout with tons of confidence, beating Morocco 3-0 and drawing with Uruguay 0-0 before this game, so they will look to ride that wave some more. All in all, any scenario but a US win would be equal to a miracle.
