U.S. in unfamiliar World Cup role: favorite

IRENE, South Africa - The Americans returned to the practice field Tuesday, not only to prepare for their upcoming match with Slovenia, but the new role they've been cast in at this World Cup. Favorites.

Yes, that's right. The good, ol' underdog Yanks are favored for a change - and therein lies the problem.

"In all likelihood, if we lose we're out of the tournament," Landon Donovan said of Friday's match with the Slovenians. "That's the reality of the situation. A tie means we're still in the tournament. You have to be aware of that. That being said, we understand very clearly that if we win the game, we've got a very, very good chance of getting through. So that will be our focus."

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the Americans don't want to be in the position of having only one point through two matches while Slovenia has six and England may have four.

"Going into a game as possible favorites will be different for us," defender Jay DeMerit said, "to know you're under pressure to get three points or to get a good result instead of saying, 'Let's go out and try our best and make sure we work well together and see what happens.' "

Coming off an opening 1-1 draw against England, a victory against Slovenia would put the U.S. in prime position to advance going into its Group C finale against Algeria June 23. Slovenia beat Algeria, 1-0, in its opener. And even though the U.S. is a 2-1 favorite, according to betcris.com., players don't see it as much of an advantage.

"They're going to be a tough team," said Clint Dempsey, who scored the tying goal against England. "They keep the ball well. They have players who can cause you problems. So we're just going to have to play our best game to get something out of it."

It will be a different type of game against Slovenia, which won its opener on Robert Koren's 79th-minute goal when it bounced in off the arm of goalkeeper Fawzi Chaouchi.

Central midfielders Michael Bradley and Ricardo Clark were pinned in defensive positions against the English, while Donovan and Dempsey were pinched in, forcing attacking wingers to go wide.

Slovenia likely will rely on counterattacks. For that reason, there has been speculation U.S. coach Bob Bradley might consider starting Jose Torres in place of Clark in an effort in improve possession.

DeMerit expects Slovenia to be "very organized, very willing to work together to try to make our day difficult. Teams like that can be very dangerous because you don't have the major superstars that you can really get yourself up for, to say, 'Well, if I stop him and I do that job, then I'll have success.' It's a collective when it comes to teams like that," he said.