Honduras comes to the United States hobbled, and will need a victory on Tuesday to climb into an automatic qualification spot. Los Catrachos are in decent shape in CONCACAF following their home win over Jamaica during the last round of games, but will likely head into the fall in fourth place or lower if they can't pull off an upset in Salt Lake City.
USA vs. Honduras, 2014 World Cup qualifying: Preview and TV schedule
The United States will be all but into the World Cup with a win over Honduras on Tuesday. A victory will put them within three points of what it took to finish third in CONCACAF last time around with four games to go.
Mike Ehrmann
Victor Bernardez, Maynor Figueroa and Luis Garrido are all out for Honduras, while Oscar Boniek Garcia and Emilo Izaguirre are battling for fitness. Jerry Bengston won't play after a dispute with coaches that saw him leave camp after he was benched. Honduras has a starting XI that can trouble almost any team in the world, but they don't have an exceptionally deep squad, and will likely struggle against the U.S. without their stars.
The USMNT are a bit better off on the injury front. Jermaine Jones, who sat out last week's game with a concussion, has been cleared to return to action. Kyle Beckerman has been called into the squad to replace the injured Danny Williams -- who is no longer first choice for Jurgen Klinsmann -- but will probably not play.
DaMarcus Beasley is suspended and the United States will probably have to re-arrange their lineup to make up for that absence. Expect to see Fabian Johnson move from left midifeld to left back with Beasley out, though there's certainly a possibility that Edgar Castillo could get the nod, with Klinsmann looking fairly committed to playing Johnson in midfield.
Match date/time: Tuesday, 9 p.m. ET
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, Utah
TV: ESPN
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