United States coach Juergen Klinsmann is expecting to learn a lot about his team from Wednesday’s clash with Belgium in Cleveland.
The two sides meet in an international friendly at the FirstEnergy Stadium, hoping to find form ahead of a run of World Cup 2014 qualifying fixtures in June.
And Klinsmann is eager to see his charges tested by opposition who are currently top of their UEFA qualification group, which also includes Croatia and Serbia.
“We want to see exactly where the players are right now, obviously we want to win this game,” he said.
“Belgium is one of the best teams right now in Europe, they have very very good individual players you know big names but also as a nation they are doing extremely well.
“They are in first place in their World Cup qualifying group in a very difficult group and they’re probably going to show that in Cleveland so that’s what we want to compare ourselves with, we want to play the best if we want to do well against them we’ve got to play with them and hopefully beat them at the end of the day.
“So this is the next milestone and then comes one of the best teams in the world right now in Germany and then obviously what really really matters is World Cup qualifying.”
Klinsmann’s men face Germany in another friendly on Sunday before crucial qualification fixtures against Jamaica, Panama and Honduras.
And the 48-year-old appreciates that run may be difficult for his squad at the end of a gruelling domestic season.
“We want to do well in the World Cup qualifying with those three games; big big games,” he added.
“The spirit is great the guys are all excited to be in here, we have to catch up real quick it’s a bit of a tricky preparation for Belgium because some guys are still playing club, Copa Libertadores or German relegation games.
“Michael Bradley comes (into the squad) off a game a cup final in Italy so everyone’s on a bit of a different agenda but we try to get them all on the same page in a few days and then we want to do well against Belgium.”
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