Three Big Storylines:
- Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) are good. Riveting analysis there, but it needs to be said that this is not going to be an easy game. T&T had a solid Gold Cup campaign topping their group that included Mexico before losing via penalties to Panama in the Quarterfinals. They have two draws with Mexico in the last four months and the Soca Warriors are coming in off a 2-1 victory in Guatemala to open their World Cup Campaign.
- The USMNT enters this match healthy after beating Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 6-1 in Saint Louis on Friday. Tim Howard makes the start in net and will be the 10th USMNT player with 30 World Cup Qualifying Caps, only one behind Kasey Keller for most all time for a USMNT Goalkeeper. And since we are talking history, this is the same stadium where in 1989 Paul Caligiuri hit The Shot Heard Round the World (33 seconds on YouTube worth your time) sending the USA to World Cup Italia '90 and essentially starting modern US Soccer's run.
- Let's talk about the TV deal. This match is on beIN Sports. The local confederation owns the rights to their home World Cup qualifiers. That means that T&T sold their rights to beIN Sports. It looks like every away match in this cycle will be on beIN Sports except away games in Mexico and Canada. beIN Sports is available on DIRECTV (Ch 620 in HD), and since DIRECTV owns the NFL Red Zone commercial rights it means almost every bar has DIRECTV. Also NBC Universo owns the Spanish rights, since Comcast owns NBC Universo it will likely be on your Comcast cable package as well. It is not ideal distribution, but as recently as October of 2009 a USMNT World Cup clinching away qualifier in Honduras was on Closed Circuit television.
From a Sounders Point of View:
DeAndre Yedlin earned the start on Friday against St. Vincent and the Grenadines in his preferred right back position and should be in line for another start. Sounders Academy product Jordan Morris came off the bench for his first World Cup Qualifying Cap, also Yedlin's first even though he had those three World Cup appearances.
Clint Dempsey is not on the roster, much to the delight of the T&T manager, and Brad Evans was not included because he was injured.
Cordell Cato features in attack for T&T and was a Sounder in the 2012 season.
TV and Streaming Listings:
USA v Trinidad and Tobago
Tuesday, 3:25 PM (Kickoff is at 3:36 Pacific)
Location: Hasley Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
TV: BeIN Sport & NBC Universo
Streaming: BeIN Sports Connect & NBC Universo
Additional TV Note: Honduras v Mexico (1 PM) and El Salvador v Canada (5:30 PM) surround the USMNT game and are on the same TV channels with the same streaming options.
Here is your Sounder at Heart USMNT World Cup Qualifier Gamethread. Watch with us