The tournament in South Africa will be the sixth consecutive appearance for the American squad. The 2002 outfit — featuring a young Landon Donovan, now the team’s best player — reached the quarter-finals, but failure to advance from the group stage in 2006 hurt the country’s claim as a growing soccer power.

Strengths
As the U.S. showed during their run to the finals of this summer’s Confederations Cup, when the team stays compact, hustles, and scraps, they can beat anyone — including Spain. The squad boasts few names that a European football fan would recognise, but their heart and desire compares favourably with the world’s best sides.

Star Men
Tim Howard (Everton)
Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)
Carlos Bocanegra (Stade Rennes)
Onyewu (AC Milan)
Altidore (Hull City)