South Africa Football Hosts Friendly Match Against US

The U.S. men’s soccer team is set to face off against host South Africa in the Nelson Mandela Challenge on Wednesdayin Cape Town.

The teams have met just twice before, both resulting in U.S. victories. The Americans scored a 1-0 victory over the South Africans in Johannesburg for the 2007 Nelson Mandela Challenge. In 2000, the U.S. won 4-0 when the two sides met in a friendly in Washington.

The 18-man U.S. roster, chosen by coach Bob Bradley, includes only five players who played in this year’s World Cup in South Africa. They are defenders Jonathan Bornstein, Clarence Goodson and Jonathan Spector, striker Robbie Findley and goalkeeper Brad Guzan.

The U.S. will be playing its fourth match since the 2010 World Cup ended in July. This is the most post-World Cup games in the same year for the Americans since 1994 when they had five matches after hosting the tournament.

Five players are with the U.S. team for the first time. Two of them, forward Juan Agudelo and defender Gale Agbossoumonde, are the first two alumni of U.S. Soccer’s Development Academy. The others are Major League Soccer Rookie of the Year nominee Tim Ream – a defender – forward Teal Bunbury and midfielder Mikkel Diskerud.