So there you have it! Team USA will be going to the World Cup in Brazil next summer after a 2-0 win against the struggling Mexico side. On first glance it seems like the perfect night for the Men’s National team but the truth is that there are still a lot of questions to answer for Klinsmann before next summers tournament kicks off.
Courtesy: Examiner.com
The early going saw the Mexican team press the final third of the pitch much better than the US. It seemed that the USA were playing a high line and too many players went missing early on to give the Mexican wingers free reign down the US flanks. Good saves from Howard combined with poor finishing from the Mexicans allowed the US to weather this early storm and come out the other side unscathed.
Kyle Beckerman would have been better served had he stayed in front of the back four, chose when to go forward and busting a gut to get back into position. The truth was he too often wandered forward when there wasn’t really a need and on a couple of counter attack occasions failed to get back to his defensive position forcing one of the two Centre backs to go to the attacking player. This split the two CB’s which then had the back four out of shape. To point the finger at Beckerman alone would not be fair though as no one dropped back to cover the wing backs when they got forward and too often it was hard to decide what formation the US were actually playing. At one point I saw a 2-0-3-5!
At the other end when the USA did get forward down the wings it is important to have two factors to your cross to the center: 1) You must at least beat the first man and 2) Have someone gamble and make a run into the area. Too often one or both were not checked off and the one shot on goal the US had was a header straight at the keeper, Corona.
First half ended at 0-0 and that must certainly have given the US confidence with the fact they were still level. A forced substitution saw Parkhurst replace Fabian Johnson due to an injury. The second half started in a more positive way and after four minutes the home side were ahead. A corner, which resulted from one of those Landon ‘cannot-get-it-past-the-first-man’ Donovan crosses, was sent in by Landycakes himself. The keeper came out to get nothing but air and Eddie Johnson headed into an essentially empty net.
The home side should then have increased the pressure but instead seemed to go back into their shell. In fact it seemed we were actually replaying the start to the first half again, not the dangerous game you should play against Hernandez and company. The game was back to it’s scrappy, misplaced pass best before Donovan scored the second with twelve minutes left. The goal gave the US a cushion and from there you couldn’t see Mexico get back in. If that was Donovan’s best then the last ten minutes saw his worst and the frustrating part of his game. With six minutes left, 2-0 up against Mexico and deep in their half, it is stupid to receive a yellow card for time wasting. It could have been worse on the 90th minute when he brought down a Mexican player down while running away from the US goal and in his own half. It could, and probably, should have been a second yellow but the LA Galaxy man was lucky and finished the game.
The only other point of discussion would be the penalty won and then missed by Captain Clint Dempsey. Maybe he learnt a few bad things while in England who notoriously are bad at penalties, either way it wasn’t the best attempt, but also wasn’t a crucial kick. An hour or so after the full time whistle in Columbus the game in Honduras finished in a 2-2 draw which was all the US needed to secure qualification.
