Saturday afternoon (3:30 central), the United States men's national soccer team will prepare for the upcoming Gold Cup competition by taking on defending World Cup Champion, Spain, in an international friendly match at Foxborough's Gillette Stadium. The friendly comes just three days before the Americans will face Canada in their first match of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, which will be hosted by the United States throughout the month of June.
The Americans will be without star player Landon Donovan on Saturday as he has been ruled out due to an illness. Probably the most heralded player in this country's history, other players will certainly need to step up to fill the void on the attacking end. Spain will be without Xavi and Carles Puyol. Both players won the UEFA Championship last week with La Liga club Barcelona.
There will still be plenty of star power on Saturday night though as others Spainards such as David Villa, David Silva, Sergio Ramos, and of course Iker Casillas will be in Massachusetts to take on Clint Dempsey and crew.
Spain and the United States played a notable game in the 2009 Confederations Cup in which the U.S. team shocked the world, winning 2-0 over a Spain team that was ranked #1 in the world and was riding a 35 match unbeaten streak.
In the latest rankings as of May 18, Spain is still #1 in the FIFA World Rankings, while the United States is ranked 22nd.