What is it with the U.S. team lately? Giving up goals in the first 5 minutes on a regular basis isn’t really a good tactical approach. Sure it makes a victory that much sweeter – but it also leads to 3-1 blowouts on the road. And Dempsey? One of my favorite U.S. national team players and one of my favorite Revs players? What the heck were you thinking? That was quite the gaff. Still, where were Clark and Mastreoni? When Clint turned the ball over, the whole midfield was basically empty. Luckily unlike the game in Saprissa though, the U.S. didn’t fold up their tent and quit. They had the better of the play the rest of the half and should have gotten the penalty when Clark was taken down in the box. The Mexican ref basically was forced to call the handball penalty in the second half – to ignore that would have been to make his allegiance all too clear. Although to be fair, I have to say he is one of the less biased refs in CONCACAF when doing U.S. games. Unlike the infamous Peter Pendergast. Still, I don’t understand why CONCACAF doesn’t get CONMEBOL or UEFA refs for the qualifiers. It might cost more, but you avoid the whole suspicion of refs influencing results to benefit their home country.
Anyway, after that initial gaff, Dempsey played one of his better games for the Red, White and Blue. He sprang Spector on a couple of nice runs (one a clever backheel), earned fouls in dangerous positions and whistled a couple of 30 yard shots over the crossbar. And of course he rose up to knock Donovan’s corner back into the mix for Bocanegra to hammer home with a diving header. Then he helps kill off the match by making runs to the corner to kill the clock. A lot of folks think he whiffed on the past from Feilhaber in the second half, but he had to stretch for that ball. It was just a little too far. A little closer to him and he puts in the back of the net like he did he his first in the brace he scored against Chelsea during his premier league season.
And I think we may have found a left back. Jonathan Spector also had a very good game. The contrast between him and Wynne was like night and day. He was dangerous coming forward and was solid on defense. Clark was also excellent. I don’t know why Mastreoni got the start after his dreadful game against Costa Rica and I looked in vain for him on that initial Honduras goal. Alitdore and Casey were o.k. Altidore clearly shows the effects of not playing. His first touch was seldom controlled and as a result he was never able to turn on his defender and make a run towards goal. Casey missed an open look in the first half (off a Dempsey header) and although he did a better job holder the ball with the first touch, was unable to make connecting passes. Donovan had a much better game than against Costa Rica and hammered home the penalty with authority. Why he still takes all the free kicks is beyond me though. He makes maybe 3 out of 10 good free kicks. Most of the time he doesn’t get it over the first defenders and as a result free kicks in dangerous areas are wasted. This should be our strength. With our height and the number of players who can score off the header (Casey, Altidore, Onyewu, Bocanegra and Dempsey against Honduras), we have to take better advantage of those opportunities. With better free kicks, I think the U.S. gets another goal or two. Bornstein while much better then Beasley had a couple of giveaways in the defensive half that could have been disastrous.
They showed a lot of heart and grit against Honduras and this was the first comeback victory for the U.S. since 1985. I want to see that heart and grit for a whole game on the road. I am no longer as nervous about qualifying and clearly the tie at El Salvador looks a lot better after Mexico’s loss there – but it was a game we could have and should have won. If we roll over against Mexico at Azteca like we did against Costa Rica, then I don’t see how we can even pretend we could make a run to the quarters (or beyond) like we did in 2002.
No comments:
Post a Comment