The result (though gifted to the US from England) was a good one. How the US got to that result...not so much. For about the 37th time in the past 2 years, the US put themselves very behidn the 8-ball by giving up a goal in the first 5 mintues of the match. Ricardo Clark fell asleep and Oguchi Onyewu got caught in no-man's land on a defelcted pass which led to a goal for England.
At that point, England played a pretty cautious game, putting a couple of sustained attacks together but not putting much pressure on the US midfield. The US put some quality offense together, but nothing that resulted in a shot on net. Then, in the 40th minute, Clint Dempsey put a couple of spin moves on his defender, getting enough space to let loose a shot from 20-25 yards out. English keeper Robert Green didn't get his body behind the ball, and it bounced off of his hand and behind him into the net, giving English tabloids fodder for at least the next 4 years, depending on how far England advances in this tournament. The US weathered England's pressure until halftime and went in to the half all square.
In the 2nd half, the US competed well with England for the first 10 mintues, culminating in Jozy Altidore's bout of brilliance that was saved by Green off of the post. Up until this point, the US was playing with England, England was better, but it wasn't a huge discrepancy. From this point on, England started attacking the US in the midfield more, and the US wasn't handling it well. England was carrying possession, getting the only close chances. Luckily Tim Howard was equal to the task.
With 20 minutes left, the US went into full-fledged survive with the tie intact mode. This made for lots of nerves on the part of their fans, but they did get the job done. The US now has to transition to carrying play against Slovenia and Algeria, especially with Slovenia's 1-0 win this morning.
Bottom line, the result was good, but if the US does not improve its play in its next 2 games, they will not get out of their group.
Grades:
G - Tim Howard: Made some very strong saves, though was caught by Wayne Rooney's shot in the 2nd half that went just wide. Add in his likely bruised ribs suffered around the 30th minute, and he was the man of the match for the US. Grade: A
D - Steve Cherundulo: Played well both defensively and when he went forward. Was single-handedly responsible for England's 1st half sub as their midfielder on his side could not handle Cherundulo and could only resort to fouling him to stopping his pushes forward. Once that substitution was made, Cherundulo's forward pushes were effectively kiboshed. Grade: B
D - Jay DeMerit: Was assigned to make Wayne Rooney's life miserable, and succeeded greatly, as Rooney had to keep going further and further back towards the midfield to get the ball. His comunication with Onyewu wasn't always great and led to some freeze-ups that could have been deadly, and got caught out of position and was forced to handle the ball to avoid a break on his goal in the 2nd half, which earned him a yellow card. Grade: B+
D - Oguchi Onyewu: A tale of 2 halves, as Onyewu needed some time to shake off the rust. Got caught in no-man's land on England's goal, but by the end of the game he was ruling the air against lanky giant Peter Crouch and inserting himself into English attacks to break them up. By the end, he was even taking chances that only a fit and confident Onyewu could take and be successful with. Very good sign going forward for the USA. Grade: B-
D - Carlos Bocanegra: Bocanegra played very well. There was some concern over his lack of speed being take advantage of by England's wingers and possibly Rooney, but Bocanegra played a strong game. Not much for going forward, but I'm guessing that was more by design as Clint Dempsey spent most of his time on the left, and for all of Dempsey's positive qualities, he's useless as a defender. Grade: B-
M - Landan Donovan: Donovan didn't pull his disappearing act from 2006, but he also wasn't really leaving a definite stamp on this game. He had bouts of good play, but nothing that really freed up teammates for runs at the goal. His performance on set pieces was fine, but again, no moments of real brilliance. This grade will sound harsh, but for top talents like Donovan, much is expected. Grade: C
M - Michael Bradley: Did a great job defensively against England's midfield, busting up attacks and forcing England out wide. Did a pretty good job with the ball as well, maintaining possession. Quite a few times when the ball was advanced to the forwards, there was no support from the midfield in time, leading to turnovers. How much of this was by dictation from his dad (the coach) I don't know, but all 4 midfielders share some blame for it. Grade: B+
M - Ricardo Clark: Fell asleep on England's goal as his man notched it. Was uneven defensively, at times combining very well with Bradley to clog the middle of the field and at times seeing his man help generate decent chances on Howard. Did not offer much offensive support, which is not altogether unexpected. I will be surprised if he is starting in the next 2 games, as the US will need to press on the atack more and that is not Clark's game. Grade: C-
M - Clint Dempsey: His goal was a gift but he was also the first US player to actually force England's keeper to actually do anything. Given that England's goalkeeping has been an ulcer on their team for at least 12 years, the lack of tries on net was disappointing. Dempsey made a couple of things happen, but like Donovan, there wasn't much generated. His effort on defense was higher than I've seen in awhile, but liek I said above, his usefulness on that side of the ball was only marginally affected. Grade: B-
F - Jozy Altidore: Caught offsides too often, but generated the nicest chance on goal of the night, taking it right at and blowing by his defender. His shot was a good one, and his decision to shoot and not try to make the extra pass should be commended (that has been a problem for the US team). Did a pretty good job with possession, but was letdown by his midfield support often. Didn't work great with Findley, I think more of the blame lies with Findley but Altidore gets some too. Grade: B
F - Robbie Findley: His speed didn't generate enough problems for the English defense to compensate for his rustiness and inability to play off of Altidore, Dempsey, or Donovan well. I believe we'll see him as a sub when offense is needed late in the game going forward. Grade: D+
Sub - Edson Buddle: Unfortunately, by the time he came on for Findley, the US had decided to stay back in a shell to try and preserve the tie, so there wasn't much to see from Buddle. Grade: INC
Sub - Stuart Holden: Came on later than Buddle, taking Altidore out and pushing Dempsey up to forward. Missed on 2 or 3 passes that could have set up an offensive chance (or at least given the defense a breather with some possession). Looked like he took to long to get up to the pace of the game. Grade: C-
Coach - Bob Bradley: Got the result he needed. The US keeps coming out of the gates slow and he has to find a way to change that going forward, as it's enough of a pattern to reflect on him. The way he used Bradley and Clark was excellent, and if Clark doesn't fall asleep on Gerrard's goal, the US could have stolen one. Must adjust his tactics for Slovenia and Algeria, though, as this type of effort against those 2 squads will yield no advancement. His jedi mind trick on England's keeper was a nice touch though the lack of tries on target from anywhere close to the box was disappointing. Grade: B
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