Two Islands, One Soul

Enormous qualifier tonight for the US men's soccer (aka US nats). For those with ESPN Classic, the game supposedly starts at 6:30pm EST, though I predict there will be some pre-game discussion. The US takes on Trinidad & Tobago, who currently reside in last place in the Hex. The two islands with one soul are not mathematically eliminated, so they will be desperate.

Returning for the US team is Oguchi Onyewu, who missed Saturday's match against El Salvador due to yellow card accumulation. His absence was noticeable. I didn't get to watch the match live, so I was forced to watch streaming updates on my computer. I had live streams from ussoccer.com, espn.com, and bigsoccer.com. It was a truly pathetic display, and Mrs. Thatballdontlie silently pitied me as she watched the Tigers come from behind to beat the Rays.

Last night, I finally saw the replay. It wasn't quite as bad as I was led to believe. The fan reports on bigsoccer led me to believe El Salvador ran rough-shod over the US defense. That wasn't exactly the case. In the first half, the US actually played quite well. Bradley used an offense-minded lineup, featuring Benny Feilhaber at center mid. Altidore and Charlie Davies were the strikers. On defense, Chad Marshall replaced the suspended Onyewu, pairing with Boca in the middle. Jonathan Bornstein was the left fullback, with Spector on the right.

No doubt the gameplan was to attack. It was an extremely exciting first 45, with the US regularly pressuring the El Salvador goal. Charlie Davies almost opened the scoring by fending off two defenders and narrowly shooting wide. Dempsey also had an excellent chance in front of net off a cross, but his shot went wide. Later, after some great one-touch passing by Feilhaber and Donovan, Altidore had the ball in the box. He slid the ball across the goal to Charlie Davies who's shot was cleared off the line by a defender. Meanwhile, El Salvador played their counter-attack perfectly. Thanks to regular US turnovers, the Salvadorans had plenty of opportunities to score, and that's exactly what they did in the 32nd minute. Bornstein, facing his own goal, tried to clear the ball over his head. The clearance went right to the middle of the field, where a Salvadoran player crossed to a well-marked Castillo. Castillo out-jumped Spector and headed home the ball slightly over Howard's arms. Poor efforts by Bornstein, Spector, and, especially, Howard, who was uncharacteristically out of position. While this wasn't the first El Salvador chance, it was definitely against the run of play. Prior to the goal, the US did seem destined to win, but the awful gaffes (often by Spector and Bornstein) gave El Salvador confidence.

Credit the US players for rising to the occasion. They didn't take long to capitalize. Nine minutes later, Dempsey finally converted on his third golden attempt. Off a restart from Donovan, Dempsey headed a shot into the corner. The Salvadoran defense was trying an off-sides trap, and a few yanks were in an offsides position. But not Dempsey. The refs must've felt the other yanks weren't involved in the play, as they let the goal stand. I recall that same situation in the US's world cup match against Italy in '06. That time, they did say the US was offsides (McBride). So, this rule is entirely subjective. Yay.

The US continued to pressure. After some excellent work by Donovan and Bocanegra, Donovan sent another cross into the box. An unmarked Altidore calmly headed the ball into the net. 2-1 US. Halftime.

In the 2nd half, the Altidore scored another. Dempsey won the ball at midfield and fed Altidore for a breakaway. Altidore easily beat his man and scored. Yet, the ref disallowed the goal, claiming a foul on Dempsey. Replays showed it was an absolutely horrendous call. If the US received a gift from the ref on that first goal, the ref quickly took the gift away on this call. The US had another breakaway from Dempsey later in the game, but his shot went right at the keeper.

The final minutes were desperate for both teams. Two American subs, Stuart Holden and Jose Torres, made an immediate impact. Holden sent a sharp cross to Torres who sent a wicked header toward the net. The keeper made a sprawling, highligh-reel save. Minutes later, El Salvador had an excellent opportunity after the ball spent an eternity in the US box. From about six yards out, a Salvadoran player shot low toward the net. Howard dove right and smothered the ball to preserve the lead, and the game. 2-1 US final.

While the game did produce some ulcer-inducing moments, the US did eventually prevail. While not playing particularly well, they dodged a bullet. Offensively, the US was strong. Feilhaber added quite a bit to the attack. But Michael Bradley seemed out of sorts. The midfield regularly left a ton of space for El Salvador. With Spector and Bornstein not sharp, the defense was exposed. Boca and Marshall played well overall, as did Charlie Davies and Altidore. And Donovan was simply superb. He showed he's as good as any other player in Concacaf. Yet, Coach Bradley needs to address that defense. Perhaps part of the problem is the lack of a strategy. What sort of team is the US? Possession? Counter-attack? Bradley has a different gameplan for each game. With super-talented players, that shouldn't be a problem. The US is not super-talented. My hope is that Bradley imposes a more possession oriented attack. Keep the Latin American teams from controlling all the space.

Tonight, if the US does not play solid defense, T&T could easily put up 3 goals. Winning on the road in the Hex is rare, but the US did win in Trinidad during the last qualifying campaign. The US will be confident, and it'll be nice having Gooch back. Charlie Davies nicked his calf during the El Salvador match, so he may be unavailable. Ching may get the nod, and that's a pretty severe drop-off. I also bet Feilhaber will see the bench in favor of defense-minded Ricardo Clark. I'd prefer to see Michael Bradley sit, as he's not in great form. Will the coach bench his own son? One can hope, since Feilhaber is truly coming into his own as an attacking midfielder. He's also the best dribbler of the lot.

The current standings of the Hex are extremely tight. A mere 1 point separates the first team and the team in fourth. Mexico has a weak schedule the rest of the way, and should breeze into the top two spots. The US has a tougher road. Normally a draw on the road would be acceptable. Not this time.