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USA |
| 1 | - Tim Howard |
| 2 | - Chris Albright |
| 3 | - Carlos Bocanegra |
| 4 | - Pablo Mastroeni |
| 5 | - John O'Brien |
| 6 | - Steve Cherundolo |
| 7 | - Eddie Lewis |
| 8 | - Clinton Dempsey |
| 9 | - Eddie Johnson |
| 10 | - Claudio Reyna |
| 11 | - Brian Ching |
| 12 | - Gregg Berhalter |
| 13 | - Jim Conrad |
| 14 | - Ben Olsen |
| 15 | - Bobby Convey |
| 16 | - Josh Wolff |
| 17 | - DaMarcus Beasley |
| 18 | - Kasey Keller |
| 19 | - Marcus Hahnemann |
| 20 | - Brian McBride |
| 21 | - Landon Donovan |
| 22 | - Oguchi Onyewu |
| 23 | - Eddie Pope |
Qualifying star: Landon Donovan. The ex-Bayer Leverkusen player - currently at Los Angeles Galaxy - is now used more as a midfield playmaker but still scored six goals during qualifying and laid on a further six more for his team-mates.
Manager: Bruce Arena. Great name and proving himself to be a pretty handy coach as well. He took over after the team's woeful performance at France 1998 and has since guided his country into the world's top 10.
Captain: The Americans got through seven captains during their qualifying campaign but Manchester City's Claudio Reyna is first-choice skipper.
World Cup history: Although regarded as a minor footballing nation, the USA will be attending a fifth straight World Cup finals.
World Cup high: Oops. Beating heavily fancied England 1-0 in the 1950 World Cup in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. They also reached the quarter-finals in 2002.
World Cup low: Losing the clash of cultures. The 2-1 defeat to Iran at the 1998 tournament did not go down well at home.
World Cup legend: Goalkeeper Brad Friedel was awesome as the USA reached the quarter-finals in 2002.
Stars of the team: More future star really. The big hope for US soccer is 16-year-old Freddy Adu. Raised in Ghana, Adu has pledged his future to the US and while there outside hopes he would make the squad he will have to bide his time until 2010.
Strengths: The US are a vastly experienced team and have three good goalkeepers in Kasey Keller, Tim Howard and Marcus Hahnemann.
Weaknesses: A useful team but one that does not play against genuine world-class opposition often enough. Were able to field a reserve team for their last two qualifiers and still top their group.
Did you know? Bruce Arena's only full cap as an international footballer came as a substitute in the USA's 2-0 defeat to Israel in November 1973.
World ranking: 5
| Year | Country | Placed |
| 1930 | Uruguay | Semifinals |
| 1934 | Italy | First Round |
| 1938 | France | - |
| 1950 | Brazil | 4th, pool 2 |
| 1954 | Switzerland | - |
| 1958 | Sweden | - |
| 1962 | Chile | - |
| 1966 | England | - |
| 1970 | Mexico | - |
| 1974 | Germany | - |
| 1978 | Argentina | - |
| 1982 | Spain | - |
| 1986 | Mexico | - |
| 1990 | Italy | 4th, group A |
| 1994 | USA | 2nd round |
| 1998 | France | 4th, group F |
| 2002 | Korea/Japan | Quarterfinals |
Odds supplied by William Hill.
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