El Salvador 2 : 2 United States
Sunday, 29 March 09, 03:11 PM · Comments (2)
El Salvador will count themselves unlucky.
Indeed, El Salvador had the game under control for roughly 80 minutes thanks in no small part to some shambolic American defending. Danny Califf and Carlos Bocanegra committing a comedy of errors to allow El Salvador's first goal early in the first half, and it would only get worse.
Landon Donovan managed to turn in a decent first half, but him aside every other American starter displayed the touch of a bulldozer in a ceramics exhibition. Countless times balls were lost cheaply in the midfield leading to El Salvador counter attacks. Luckily for the US, the Salvadorians were unable to convert them.
Following a US change El Salvador was able to skin American left back DaMarcus Beasley (yes, Beasley was playing left back at this point) to go up 2-0. Brad Guzan should have done better, but he should've never been forced into action at all.
The game did change with the introduction of Jozy Altidore (who hasn't played since December) and Jose Francisco Torres. Both players injected life into the game, and Altidore eventually found the American's first after Frankie Hejduk redoubled his efforts and put in a leader's performance late in the match. Indeed, Hejduk's drive and energy played a large role in the equalizer, which he scored.
It was a match that left many with unanswered questions and again exploited the long-time American weakness of lacking a killer striker.
As a sidenote, it was nice to see the Miami FC ad-boards at the match. It appears Traffic Sports will make an effort to market the team this season after it was administered it's last rites barely a fortnight ago. For those that care, it seems the team will play at least some matches at Lockhart Stadium.
Bob Bradley has left himself with some big decisions to make before the team faces Trinidad and Tobago on Wednesday.
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Bobby
Charlotte, US
Random rantings about football
2 Comments · Add yours
absolutely brutal performance by usa in the first 80 mins of the match. crowd looked like it scared the shit out of them. defensively not compact and no wing play offensively. very slow combination play and mostly negative passing with the exception to the elementary long ball... 80-97th min: brilliant. wing play opened up and i loved it. got the equalizer and i basically went mental. and i swear if brian ching would have settled that ball instead of trying to bike it in the 95th min we would have won!!!.. ill be at the match in nashville wednesday, i hope we perform like the did the last 17 mins of the el salvador match. ill be singing the whole game.. EVERY ONE WEAR RED!! COME ON U.S.!
oh btw. im 6'2. fast. deadly skills. 17 years old. ive been called a "killer striker" before. just sayin. ;)