El Salvador 2-2 USA
Let me start by saying that the referee, Benito Archundia of Mexico was terrific! Referee's get ridiculed too regularly when they screw up, so it's time we give them praise when they get it right.
My love/hate with Frankie Hejduk has reached yet another new high mark. I thought it peaked at the MLS Cup final last fall, but he again upped the standard against Mexico in February, only to blow that out of the water in San Salvador. The hate comes from stupid crap like giving Cristian Castillo a free header to grab ES's 2nd goal, and being one of the worst crossers of the ball in modern football history. But after giving away the goal in ES Frankie seemed to take the entire team on his back and carry them to a point. His usually crossing was replaced by a perfect floater that was dead-on-the-mark for Jozy Altidore's nice header goal. Then Frankie does the unthinkable and literally shoves Altidore out of the way to head home the tying goal. Fantastic stuff from the dude.
Three Stars of the Game
3. Eliseo Quintanilla
2. Cristian Castillo
1. Frankie Hejduk
Heath Pearce, Sacha Kljestan, DaMarcus Beasley and Clint Dempsey were particularly bad for the USA.
My cries to see Run DMB at left back sure took a beating on El Sal's second goal. He really got burned to the endline and let the guy put in an easy cross that Hejduk didn't bother defending.
Where was the USA wide play? It looked to me, especially late, that the sidelines and corners were completely unmarked by the ES blockade, yet Hejduk’s late run was one of the few times the USA tried to abuse this area of the field. Especially Beasley.
El Salvador's fake injuries were very embarrassing to the game. And they paid the price too. ES had that game until they started playing "sick day" and lost all of the momentum. It also seemed to piss the USA off and finally awake them from a deep slumber. The Americans poured it on after that and nearly stole all 3 points. It's also sad to read so many excuses from El Salvador that the team suffered from "fitness" issues. Mental fitness maybe.
The USA had not conceded a goal to El Sal since 1997. It should have stayed that way. But both their goals were executed perfectly.
CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Hexagon Standings After 2 Matches Played:
4 USA
3 Costa Rica
3 Mexico
2 El Salvador
2 Trinidad & Tobago
1 Honduras
Matchday 3
-Wed Apr 1
USA v Trinidad & Tobago - 6:30pm Central on ESPN2
Honduras v Mexico
Costa Rica v El Salvador
See all you Twin Citians at the Sweetwater for Wednesday nights game.
Let me start by saying that the referee, Benito Archundia of Mexico was terrific! Referee's get ridiculed too regularly when they screw up, so it's time we give them praise when they get it right.
My love/hate with Frankie Hejduk has reached yet another new high mark. I thought it peaked at the MLS Cup final last fall, but he again upped the standard against Mexico in February, only to blow that out of the water in San Salvador. The hate comes from stupid crap like giving Cristian Castillo a free header to grab ES's 2nd goal, and being one of the worst crossers of the ball in modern football history. But after giving away the goal in ES Frankie seemed to take the entire team on his back and carry them to a point. His usually crossing was replaced by a perfect floater that was dead-on-the-mark for Jozy Altidore's nice header goal. Then Frankie does the unthinkable and literally shoves Altidore out of the way to head home the tying goal. Fantastic stuff from the dude.
Three Stars of the Game
3. Eliseo Quintanilla
2. Cristian Castillo
1. Frankie Hejduk
Heath Pearce, Sacha Kljestan, DaMarcus Beasley and Clint Dempsey were particularly bad for the USA.
My cries to see Run DMB at left back sure took a beating on El Sal's second goal. He really got burned to the endline and let the guy put in an easy cross that Hejduk didn't bother defending.
Where was the USA wide play? It looked to me, especially late, that the sidelines and corners were completely unmarked by the ES blockade, yet Hejduk’s late run was one of the few times the USA tried to abuse this area of the field. Especially Beasley.
El Salvador's fake injuries were very embarrassing to the game. And they paid the price too. ES had that game until they started playing "sick day" and lost all of the momentum. It also seemed to piss the USA off and finally awake them from a deep slumber. The Americans poured it on after that and nearly stole all 3 points. It's also sad to read so many excuses from El Salvador that the team suffered from "fitness" issues. Mental fitness maybe.
The USA had not conceded a goal to El Sal since 1997. It should have stayed that way. But both their goals were executed perfectly.
CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Hexagon Standings After 2 Matches Played:
4 USA
3 Costa Rica
3 Mexico
2 El Salvador
2 Trinidad & Tobago
1 Honduras
Matchday 3
-Wed Apr 1
USA v Trinidad & Tobago - 6:30pm Central on ESPN2
Honduras v Mexico
Costa Rica v El Salvador
See all you Twin Citians at the Sweetwater for Wednesday nights game.
Labels: diving Italian wankers, Inadequate USA Attitude, Quality Mexican Ref
posted by brucio at 9:57 AM
3 Comments:
To be fair to Hey Dude, the two centerbacks left him out to dry on the 2nd goal. Where were they?? One of them should have been covering the center of goal. Not Hey Dude.
go watch the video again
one centerback had to bail out beasley
and the other was covering a second runner
its the fullback on the weak side of the fields job to cover the back post, and frankie was right on his man, he just got beat plain and simple
Is it time to think about Hejduk as a possible (not exactly ideal) answer at LEFT back? He's done it before, right? With Cherundolo healthy, I think he's a better option than Pearce or Bornstein. And he's certainly proven himself in the last two games as an indispensable talisman for the U.S. squad.
Post a Comment
<< Home