The US got the result they needed last night, 3 points on the road. However, rather than calling this match the jump start they need to get to and make noise at the World Cup, instead, it's like breaking a losing streak by taking 2 of 3 from the Washington Nationals.
For a half, the US looked exactly like the team that's given up early goals in the majority of their last 5 qualifiers. Slow, sluggish, terrible decision making, heck, Dempsey looked like he either had swine flu or put money on T&T. And they came about 3 inches from getting burned, as T&T hit the crossbar after beating Tim Howard with a looping floater of a shot. It looked almost like the US was playing for a draw in the first half, looking to shorten the game before they stepped on the gas. I saw Altidore come back within 35 yards of his own goal multiple times from his forward spot, something I haven't seen in the last 5-6 games.
Whatever Bob Bradley said to them in the 2nd half, it worked. The US team post-halftime was a different beast. There was sustained possession, there were attacks developed over a period longer than 15-20 seconds, and there was pressure on the ball starting more than 25 yards from the goal. It all culminated in Ricardo Clark's first offensive contribution of the first 62 minutes. Luckily, that contribution was a beatufiul bending shot that beat T&T's portly (but agile) keeper.
The US certainly looked better holding this lead, but a) consider the opposition and b) they still were unable to add to it despite creating a few good chances over that last 30 minutes.
I was disappointed that Bradley didn't yank Dempsey earlier. Dempsey was listless in this game, almost looking as if he'd rather lose possession than help launch a sustained attack so he could rest quicker. Even at his best Dempsey is going to ignore the defensive part of the game, which means someone has to cover for his responsibilities since he's an outside mid (in this game it was frequenctly Bradley). What that means is he has to give a lot on the offensive end to be valuable. To put it in baseball terms, he needs a Manny Ramirez like contribution on offense, otherwise he's a net minus on the pitch with his Manny-like defense. Once the goal happened, I thought Dempsey needed to be pulled to send a message of, "You're not guaranteed a full 90 every match."
Even though it wasn't pretty (heck, even Onyewu looked rusty after missing the last match due to yellow card accumulation), the US got the result they needed and achieved their 6 points in 4 days. What does it mean for the standings?
1) US - 16 pts - +5 diff, @ Honduras, vs Costa Rica
2) Mexico - 15 pts - +3 diff, vs El Salvador, @ T&T
3) Honduras - 13 pts - +6 diff, vs US, @ El Salvador
4) Costa Rica - 12 pts - -4 diff, vs T&T, @ US
5) El Slavador - 8 pts - -2 diff, @ Mexico, vs Honduras
6) Trinidad and Tobago - 5 pts - -8 diff, @ Costa Rica, vs Mexico
Bottom line: A draw with Costa Rica at home in their final game puts the US into the World Cup.
As much as the US has been picked apart by the media and blogosphere recently in qualifying, the situation could be far worse. They could be Costa Rica.
Costa Rica led CONCACAF with 12 points halfway through qualifying. Then they went into Honduras and were smoked 4-0. Honduras is playing very well in this round of qualifying, so the loss wasn't necessarily a cause for concern, but the lopsided score was a little unnerving.
Then Mexico came to Costa Rica 5 days ago. They were a hot team, but Costa Rica hadn't lost in their first 3 home qualifiers. Mexico throttled them 3-0. All of a sudden Costa Rica had dropped from 1st to 4th place in 2 games (though only 1 point separated 1st from 4th).
Then they went to El Salvador, licking their wounds and needing a positive result. They give up a goal in stoppage time for El Salvador's 2nd win in 8 games. Now Costa Rica are alone in 4th place, and looking like they're headed for a home-and-home playoff against also-tanking-at-the-worst-possible-time Argentina for a World Cup berth. Not an enviable position.
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