Hex Games 7 & 8 Recap

I had been dreading these two matches since the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) swept the June fixtures earning the full nine points.  I figured there was no way we were winning at Costa Rica and then beating a Mexican side in complete disarray, even in the fabled confines of Crew Stadium in Columbus, OH.  As it turns out I was only half right.

Things got off to an UGLY start at Estadio Nacional in San Jose when Michael Bradley suffered a grade 2 sprain of his left ankle in warm-ups.  These pictures are kind of gruesome but you can see him plant and follow through by clicking on those links.  Couple that with Jozy Altidore (right hamstring) not being able to go and Manager Jürgen Klinsmann’s questionable decision to start Michael Orozco (I’m done with him) at right back and you could practically see what was coming.

Johnny Acosta Zamora scored in the 3^rd minute off a corner kick and Celso Borges headed home a cross in the 9^th minute and just like that we were down 2-0 before the game even had a rhythm.  We eventually started to look a little better as the half wore on but it wasn’t until Ticos goalkeeper Keylor Navas tripped Fabian Johnson in the box in the 43^rd minute that it looked like we may have a chance.  Clint Dempsey took the penalty kick (PK) very poorly kicking it straight down the middle but luckily it still went in off Navas’ body.

From there we built some momentum in the second half and it actually looked like we might earn a draw when Jozy came on in the 71^st minute for Fabian.  Altidore immediately made an impact creating two chances almost instantly but in the 75^th minute he had a shot blocked and Jose Cubero played a long ball to Joel Campbell who managed to outrun our fastest guy (Matt Besler) and then beat Tim Howard. 

Game over, but not really.  Yes the final score line was 3-1 in favor of Costa Rica but the afore mentioned Campbell managed to draw a yellow card on Besler for one of the most egregious dives you’ll ever see in the 78^th minute.  It wasn’t over there though as Mexican referee Marco Antonio Rodriguez decided to give Jozy a yellow in the 90+2 for putting his shoulder into a defender during a dead ball.  To be fair Geoff Cameron’s yellow was legitimate but as Jürgen put it “I didn’t want to say it right after the game, but two out of the three yellow cards there were not yellow cards.  Jozy’s little push; you don't give a yellow card for that in the 92nd minute.  And the foul on Matt Besler was not a foul, he faked it, Campbell.”

(Side note: Aron Johannsson was subbed in for Dempsey in the 90^th minute permanently cap-tying him to the USMNT…nicely done there Herr Klinsmann.)

So the sky was falling after the match with Bradley, Altidore, Besler and Cameron not available for El Tri and John Brooks being sent back to Hertha Berlin in a prearranged deal (he can still play for Germany if he so chooses).  To make matters worse Mexico fired their Manager Jose Manuel “Chepo” De la Torre meaning they could be in for a momentum bounce of sorts, and during the first 20 minutes it certainly looked that way.

Jürgen started the freshly called in Clarence Goodson for Besler, Eddie Johnson for Altidore and Kyle Beckerman for Bradley (the drop-off from Kyle to Michael is like jumping off a cliff without a parachute).  He slid Fabian to right back (mistake), moved Landon Donovan to left-mid and decided to give Alejandro Bedoya his first ever start in a World Cup Qualifier at right-mid.  With only four positional players in the same spots they played in at Costa Rica the USMNT looked understandably disjointed early.

The fired up Mexican side took it to us with abandon during those first 20 minutes and if it weren’t for Howard making some supreme saves (including an almost own goal from DaMarcus Beasley) we could have easily been down one or two goals.  Then a funny thing happened, with extreme support from the American Outlaws the tide started to turn.  We created a few chances over the final 25 minutes but going into the half it still looked like a toss-up.

Klinsmann inserted Michael Parkhurst at halftime for the injured Fabian Johnson (left hamstring) which turned out to be a genius move after Eddie Johnson headed home a Donovan corner in the 49^th minute.  After that multiple USMNT players said they could see in El Tri’s eyes that they had quit and really I could feel it through the TV too. 

When Mix Diskerud was subbed in for Eddie at the 76^th minute I said to my wife “You watch Mixy is going to get an assist on the next goal.”  Then in the 78^th minute BAM it happened allowing Donovan to break his own USMNT points record for a calendar year with 24 (8 goals & 8 assists).  About the only negative thing I can come up with is Dempsey missing a PK in the 90+5 but I guess he did help preserve the legend of “Dos a Cero.”

The USMNT qualified for their 7^th straight World Cup and 10^th overall, which is a feat to be respected around the world.  In the process they also set a new record for victories in a calendar year with 14 (14-3-2 overall in 2013) and they still have two meaningless (for them) Qualifiers coming up on 10/11 and 10/15.  They will likely be followed by two away friendlies in November against Scotland and Austria and then the draw for the World Cup on 12/6.

I’m interested to see how Klinsmann handles the remaining two Qualifiers since I don’t know how say Holland (who always qualifies early) does it.  I suppose he could push for wins hoping FIFA will seed us for the group stage as one of the top eight sides in the world.  Instead I think he’s going to bring in mostly “B-Team” players to get them experience (coughJOHNBROOKScough) which should be interesting for a diehard like me but won’t mean much to the casual fan. 

With that said this will be the last time I write about soccer until the ramp up to the World Cup in June so I have to leave you with one of the coolest sports moments you’ll ever see.  After Honduras and Panama drew 2-2 and the USMNT officially qualified the players came back out on to the pitch and celebrated with the fans.  First with my favorite USA chant and then with a hearty version of “We are going to Brazil” while they sprayed champagne everywhere and drank beer the entire time.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
United States	8	5	1	2	10	6	+4	16
Costa Rica	8	4	3	1	11	5	+6	15
Honduras	8	3	2	3	10	10	0	11
Panama	8	1	5	2	7	9	−2	8
Mexico	8	1	5	2	4	6	−2	8
Jamaica	8	0	4	4	3	9	−6	4

  Team has qualified

  Team cannot qualify directly but can still qualify through the playoffs

Hex Time Again!

A lot has changed since I last wrote about the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT).  We collected the full 9 points in the critical June portion of World Cup Qualifying (WCQ), won the Gold Cup without losing a match and beat Germany, Guatemala and Bosnia-Herzegovina (on the road) in friendlies.  Add it all up and the USMNT is riding a record setting 12-match winning streak (the longest current streak in the world) where we have outscored our opponents 39-11.

It doesn’t stop there though as a few individuals have also stepped up their respective games too.  Jozy Altidore has scored in his last five matches for the USMNT, which is a first for any USMNT player.  He also moved from AZ Alkmaar in the Dutch Eredivisie to Sunderland in the English Premier League (EPL) where he already has a goal and an assist in three matches. 

Landon Donovan declared his return to the USMNT by winning MVP of the Gold Cup where he scored five goals and tallied seven assists in six matches (he also has 8 goals & 5 assists in MLS since he returned to action on 3/30).   

Oh, it doesn’t stop there though as Manager Jürgen Klinsmann convinced two more dual-nationals to join the USMNT.  The biggest coup is center back John Anthony Brooks (Dad from Chicago) who is only 20 years old, stands 6’4 and has already played for Germany’s U-20 team.  Against Bosnia he looked raw defending but his deft passing touch out of the back line is something the USMNT has never had (it goes without saying that he is very dangerous in the air). 

Alabama born and Icelandic raised striker Aron Jóhannsson is 22 and has the innate ability to be in the right place at the right time to score goals.  He replaced Altidore as AZ Alkmaar’s striker and has four goals and an assist in seven matches to go along with his uncanny resemblance to Kevin Bacon.

It’s not all roses for the USMNT though as Stuart Holden (right) and Josh Gatt (left) both tore their ACLs and are unlikely to be ready for the World Cup in 2014.  Jozy is also currently nursing a sore right hamstring but apparently will be ready to go on Friday and Michael Parkhurst was called in to replace Brad Evans (calf strain).  The most troubling news to me however is Clint Dempsey’s transfer from the EPL to MLS. 

I understand that Clint will be the highest paid player in MLS at $5,038,566.50 guaranteed per year (fourth highest paid player in MLS history) but why move in a World Cup year when you need to be at your best?  Truth be told Dempsey was practically invisible in the three June WCQs and he has not had a goal or an assist yet in four matches with Seattle.  You never want to see a player’s form regressing with the World Cup on the horizon, and as much as it pains me to type this, Clint’s best days as an international might be behind him.

The USMNT has never won a competitive match in Costa Rica and is on a seven match losing streak there (0-7-2 all time) but we did beat Los Ticos 1-0 in the Gold Cup group stage (East Hartford, CT).  The 35,000 strong in San Jose at Estadio Nacional are undoubtedly still mad at us for the “Snow Clásico” back on 3/22 in Commerce City, CO so I expect the atmosphere there to be extremely hostile. 

Making matters worse the USMNT currently has a whopping eight players on a yellow card.  Meaning if any of Altidore, Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Tim Howard, Fabian Johnson, Jermaine Jones, Matt Besler or Geoff Cameron gets a yellow they can’t play against Mexico in Columbus, OH on 9/10 (5 PM Pacific on ESPN).  Oh yeah and the referee on 9/6 in San Jose (7 PM Pacific on beIN) will be Marco Antonio Rodriguez from, you guessed it, Mexico.

Klinsmann has a chance here to deploy my current starting XI of choice with Altidore up top and Fabian, Clint and Landon behind him with Bradley and Jones behind them in a 2-3-1 formation.  The back line from left to right should be DaMarcus Beasley, Besler, Omar Gonzalez and Cameron with Howard as the keeper.  I suppose Jürgen could be stubborn and leave Donovan on the bench in favor of Graham Zusi but that would be just plain silly given the current form of each in MLS. 

Assuming Landon is in the XI again and the offense needs a jump start the three substitutes I would consider in order are Eddie Johnson, Mix Diskerud and Alejandro Bedoya.  If the match gets out of reach either way it would not surprise me to see Klinsmann sub in Brooks and/or Jóhannsson to permanently cap-tie them to the USMNT, even a late five minute appearance for each might materialize.

The USMNT can actually qualify for the World Cup on Friday if they win, Mexico and Honduras draw and Jamaica either wins or earns a draw at Panama.  That combination of events is at best highly unlikely and while the USMNT is rolling right now I have a bad feeling about these next two games. 

As a longtime fan of the USMNT I’m waiting for them to find the banana peel and make WCQ way more difficult than it has to be.  The scenario for a big American face-plant is ripe with a pissed off Costa Rica on the road a desperate Mexico at home.  I wish I could be more positive but I expect the below table to be much tighter come the final set of fixtures on 10/11 and 10/15.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
United States	6	4	1	1	7	3	+4	13
Costa Rica	6	3	2	1	7	3	+4	11
Mexico	6	1	5	0	3	2	+1	8
Honduras	6	2	1	3	6	7	−1	7
Panama	6	1	3	2	5	7	−2	6
Jamaica	6	0	2	4	2	8	−6	2