A win isn't just a win for U.S. soccer.
By: Kevin Eubanks (Bakersfield Sports Examiner).
Three points and all was well with the United States, or at least that’s what many in the American media are quick to point out after the Americans’ 1-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago which, with some help from El Salvador, moved the U.S. to the top of the CONCACAF table with just two matches remaining in qualifying.
But it was three points and all wasn’t quite well in Port of Spain, to be honest. It was another sloppy, uninspiring performance from the Americans who were once again just able to pull out one piece of brilliance to edge yet another not-so-great opponent in qualifying.
The best news of the night came from San Salvador where Costa Rica fell 1-0 to El Salvador, giving the Americans some breathing room with two matches remaining in qualifying for FIFA World Cup 2010. But a win might still be necessary to get the U.S. to South Africa and a win isn’t going to come easy in the final two matches of qualifying. First comes a trip to San Pedro Sula where Honduras is 4-0-0 in this cycle of qualifying while outscoring its opponents by a combined 12-2. Then it’s back to Washington D.C. for the final qualifying match against Costa Rica, which might have struggled of late, but did dominate the U.S. in San Jose in January 3-1.
It’s been five matches since the U.S. found this amazing level of mediocrity beginning with that loss at Costa Rica, followed by three 2-1 results – wins against Honduras and El Salvador sandwiched around the 2-1 defeat at Estadio Azteca to Mexico. The latest was Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago in Port of Spain, and while any road victory should be cherished in World Cup qualifying, this was anything but a thing of beauty.
Landon Donovan made sense of the match: "I know people like to look at teams on paper and say, 'This should be an easy win.' These games are not easy anywhere in the world. There are a lot of teams that struggle to get through these games. We played well, we didn't play perfect, but we got the result we needed."
The term “playing well” was an overstatement, but Donovan is right: Traveling in CONCACAF is not easy and the U.S. did get the full three points out of the match. But it was how the U.S. earned the win that was troubling. It was another treacherous opening half-hour allowing the opposition to completely control the match. It has been the American mantra that opposition in CONCACAF come out with high energy before the home crowd, but that excuse is beginning to wear thin, especially when the U.S. gets dominated on home soil in the first 30 minutes of matches.
A quality side can expect that high energy and take the bite out out of the opposition by holding possession and forcing the opponent to chase instead of simply allowing the other team to build momentum by giving the ball away in the midfield time after time. But in the end, that’s the problem with the Americans – they can’t possess the ball. It’s why they haven’t been able to get out to quick starts in World Cup qualifying and it’s why they couldn’t hold a 2-0 lead over Brazil. If you give Brazil an entire half of possession, it’s going to score a lot of goals.
It’s a head-scratcher why Bob Bradley continues to run out Clint Dempsey match after match when he continually loses possession, is the opposite of Donovan when it comes to work rate, and sometimes doesn’t seem to care how the team is fairing. Some might overlook Dempsey’s poor form of late because of a goal here and there, but despite an occasional goal, his production is actually counteractive to the good of the team.
And there were other negatives. Charlie Davies wasn’t his disruptive self up top, Michael Bradley disappeared after a successful first half, Ricardo Clark – despite the goal – was otherwise a non-factor, and it’s becoming clear that Carlos Bocanegra’s better days are behind him.
Focusing on the negatives is something that goalkeeper Tim Howard won’t do: “You get into halftime and all the things that went on in the first half, you try to talk about. You can’t fix every problem but we felt we didn’t play nearly as well as we could have. But we still came in 0-0. That was a positive and we wanted to build on that. We also wanted to reiterate the importance of getting a victory and not letting this one slip.”
Howard might have been the top positive for the U.S. in this match. Along with Oguchi Onyewu, Howard did his best to keep the defense organized, and when it did break down, his vision and reaction were brilliant. Besides his unusually poor performance on set pieces, Donovan was his typical, hard-working self. Jozy Altidore might not be world class yet, but he showed more strength on the ball and ripped a 30-yard blast that T&T goalkeeper Clayton Ince did well to deflect. Even Jonathan Bornstein wasn’t a disaster, something that can always be looked at as a positive.
So it was far from brilliant, but no one will remember how the U.S., or any other team for that matter, gets to South Africa. The goal is to just get there, and the U.S. now has many different scenarios in October to make that happen. In short, any American win or Costa Rica loss ensures the U.S. a spot in South Africa. Even a loss to Honduras and a draw with Costa Rica would get the U.S. through (U.S. would finish with 17 points, Costa Rica could only get to 16 in that scenario).
Obviously, it was a big win for the U.S. on Wednesday and it would take a disaster to not reach the World Cup at this point. But after its performance at the FIFA Confederations Cup last summer, American soccer fans expect – and deserve – a higher level of play from their team.
All is well – for now.
