USA Men's Head Coach Scott Lawrence has named his squad to face Spain in the third Nations Cup match of the summer.
The Eagles come into the match 2-0 in the competition, one of the three teams, along with Chile and Georgia, with that record.
Right behind those three teams is Spain, which is 1-0-1 and has eight standings points, compared to nine for USA and Georgia, and 10 for Chile.
And while the Eagles have been talking mostly about putting in a performance, not worrying about wins and losses, winning is nice.
"We're all super-competitive and we're all here to win." said captain Jason Damm.
This week's team has some changes from the lineup that beat Zimbabwe 31-15 last week.
Kapeli Pifeleti returns at hooker in what has been a bit of a rotation at the position. Brandon Harvey comes in at lock, while Damm moves to No. 8 in favor of Makheen Alikhan. The halfback combination of Ruben de Haas and Chris Hilsenbeck returns for the third game in a row, but in the backline, Julian Roberts gets his first start for the Eagles, coming in at outside center.
Mark O'Keeffe comes in at wing in place of Conner Mooneyham, who picked up an injury last week. Tavite Lopeti is on the bench, but that decision, said Lawrence, is about building depth and bringing players into the fold a bit more.
"Julian brings an X-factor," said Lawrence. "He can make people miss. He has an experienced player like Mark O'Keeffe outside him and on the side Dom Besag has emerged as a defensive leader for us."
At hooker, Pifeleti starts for the second time, while Alex Maughan started last week. Shilo Klein has ben the guy off the bench each time. Other players such as Kaleb Geiger, Sean McNulty, and Campbell Robb are also in the mix at that position.
"Sometimes it's a matter of whether we think this will be a scrum game or a lineout game, or neither," said Lawrence.
The Eagles kick off vs Spain Saturday at 7:30PM ET at Wake Med Soccer Park in Cary, NC.
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