USA 2 Costa Rica 2, Part 2: Reason

Okay, we dealt with the emotion of the last-second equalizer, now let's look at the game from a more rational context:

Another uneven performance, which can essentially sum up qualifying for the US. The offense was still too much focused on the long ball to one of the forwards (usually Altidore) who would try to possess the ball and make something happen. The fact that Altidore was a man possessed that night and made the strategy work pretty well does not take away from the fact that it was a flawed strategy. Especially for a superior team at home.

If this was part of an overall strategy to sit back and play for the tie, it failed. Miserably. Not just because Costa Rica went up 2-0, but because there were plenty of defensive breakdowns (including the ones that led to those 2 goals) and Costa Rica was able to maintain possession in the offensive half for 45-60 seconds at a time. If you're going to sit back and play for the tie, you have to choke off the attack once they get within 35-40 yards of the goal, not rely on your back 4 alone to stop the attack when it gets within 20 yards of goal.

Whatever Bradley said to the team at halftime made a difference. It would have been nice for him to have said those things to the team before the start of the game, because the US looked sluggish and lethargic. On one cross, the US defender didn't make an effort to get to the ball about 3 yards out from net, and only Tim Howard's existence as a superhuman being saved a goal on that shot (how Howard managed to get his hands up to parry that shot I will never understand). Even Onyewu wasn't immune, as the stalwart let a Costa Rican attacker get around him inside the box to lead to the first goal.

Then we come to the second goal, which was scored off of an incredible shot that even Howard could do nothing about. However, that clean shot came off of a give and goal where late-game hero Jonathan Bornstein just stood and watched the attacker go by him. I don't know what game John Harkes was watching (he said Bornstein had a great game after his goal), because he had countless miscues (both defensively and offensively) in the first half. I was hoping Spector would come out of halftime as the left back, because Bornstein was making a mess of half of his challenges and 95% of his touches.

Of course, in talking about the 2-0 defecit I'd be remiss not to point out the fact that before even the first goal, the US had squandered at least 3 chances to take the lead. None more mindboggling than Conor Casey's decision to not take a controlling touch before firing the ball at the net in the 9th minute. Altidore had laid off a perfect pass to a wide open Casey, and Casey totally missed the net in trying to one-time the shot. Terrible, terrible job by Casey. In fact, when later Donovan shot the ball from a terrible angle instead of trying to get the ball to a wide open Casey 6 yards in front of the net, I was only a little angry, because I couldn't fault him if he assumed Casey would just make a mess of it again.

But even the level of play pales in comparison with the injury situation. Charlie Davies suffered massive injuries in a car wreck 2 nights before the game, and if he plays for the national team again it will be a great story. He certainly won't be back for the World Cup. Onyewu's patellar tendon injury won't keep him out of the World Cup, but it will keep him out 2-3 months. So 1/2 of the best US forward tandem and by far their best defender are out of commission for at least the next 2-3 months, which is by far the worst news to come out of the game.

The point of this post is not to throw cold water on the good feeling the last-second equalizer brought, just to point out that there is still a ton of work to be done. As uneven as the US played throughout qualifying, they still ended up first in the region. This won't be enough to get them a seed at the World Cup, but it won't hurt their standing.

I said after the Confederation Cup that the US had to build off that in the remaining qualifying. I don't think they ever played that well in those 5 qualifying games, but they got the result they needed, so while the momentum has slowed, it didn't stall. Now all that's left before South Africa 2010 is friendlies and club games, so it will have to be individual momentum that helps bring the US to a better place than 2006.

Oh, and I hope the USSF response to AC Milan asking for money because Onyewu was hurt in US team duty is a single finger.