Source: Team_Talk
Howard relishing Australia warm-up
United States goalkeeper Tim Howard views Saturday's friendly with Australia as the ideal warm-up for their World Cup opener against England.[LNB] Both Everton stopper Howard and USA head coach Bob Bradley see the Australians, whom the Americans will face at the 7,000-seat Ruimsig Stadium in the Johannesburg suburb of Roodepoort, as offering a similar challenge to that which will be posed by Fabio Capello's England in their Group C clash in Rustenburg seven days later.[LNB]"They're very good and also very physical," Howard told ussoccer.com. "They can get up and down the field quite well and they're athletic and those are all the things we're going to see against England.[LNB]"Although it's not a carbon copy it's still going to be a good exercise."[LNB]With England captain Rio Ferdinand already ruled out of the tournament through injury and USA striker Jozy Altidore nursing a sprained right ankle, Howard said a good, clean game was in the interests of both sides, as was a display to lift the players ahead of the final push towards their opening fixture.[LNB]"We're looking for a really good performance and no injuries," the US goalkeeper said.[LNB]"I don't think the result really matters too much to either team but obviously we want to go out and win.[LNB]"Both teams will want to implement a format that they'll be playing a week after this in their opening games.[LNB]"So it's about just getting the details right in our performance and if you can come out of that game feeling really good about the way you've played, then that will help us in the week's training leading up the England game."[LNB]Bradley is expected to field a starting XI against Australia close to his first-choice line-up to face the English, although Altidore is unlikely to start as he continues to recover from the mild ankle sprain he suffered in training on Wednesday.[LNB]A team spokesman said that the Villarreal striker, who spent last season on loan at Hull, missed training today but continued "to make favourable progress, and his status remains considered day to day".[LNB]Bradley will also continue to ease AC Milan defender Oguchi Onyewu back to full match fitness following seven months out with a ruptured knee tendon.[LNB]Onyewu played in both of the USA's send-off home games against the Czech Republic and Turkey last week and Bradley said: "We will certainly use him more against Australia, and try to assess exactly where that fits in as we make the decisions for the starting XI versus England.[LNB]"We're still determining how to balance it out. Certainly a week before the match, we want to continue to move our team forward, but that sometimes involves different plans for different guys.[LNB]"So we look at each individual, try to sort out what's best, and at the same time keep in mind the group and how to be ready for a big match next week."
