The United States had to fight back from trailing 2-0 at the half to split the points and hold onto a chance at advancing out of Group C. Valter Birsa put Slovenia up in the 14th minute and Zlatan Ljubijankic made it 2-0 in the 42nd at Ellis Park. US coach Bob Bradley only made one change from the opener against England, starting Jose Francisco Torres in place of Ricardo Clark. Trailing at the half, Bradley brought on Maurice Edu and Benny Feilhaber in place of Torres and Robbie Findley. Landon Donovan scored one of the best goals of this World Cup to make it 2-1 in the 48th. A strong run from Michal Bradley brought the US even in the 82nd. Maurice Edu thought he had the winner from a Donovan free kick, but the goal was called back for a foul. Replays showed that if there was a foul to be called, it should've gone against Slovenia.
"This team understands how to fight for 90 minutes," Bob Bradley told ESPN's Jeremy Schaap following the game. "That's something we've seen time and time again."
Match: United States vs. Slovenia
Date: June 18, 2010
Competition: FIFA World Cup
Venue: Ellis Park – Johannesburg, South Africa
Kickoff: 4 p.m. local time
Attendance: 45,573
Weather: Sunny and dry, 57 degrees Fahrenheit
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
USA 0 2 2
Slovenia 2 0 2
SVN – Valter Birsa 13th minute
SVN – Zlatan Ljubijankic (Milivoje Novakovic) 42
USA – Landon Donovan (Steve Cherundolo) 48
USA – Michael Bradley (Jozy Altidore) 82
Lineups:
USA: 1-Tim Howard; 2-Steve Cherundolo, 15-Jay DeMerit, 5-Oguchi Onyewu (9-Herculez Gomez, 80), 3-Carlos Bocanegra; 8-Clint Dempsey, 4-Michael Bradley, 16-Jose Torres (19-Maurice Edu, 46), 10-Landon Donovan; 20-Robbie Findley (Benny Feilhaber, 46), 17-Jozy Altidore
Subs not used: 6-Jonathan Spector, 7-DaMarcus Beasley, 11-Stuart Holden, 12, Jonathan Bornstein, 13 -Ricardo Clark, 17-Jozy Altidore, 18-Brad Guzan, 21-Clarence Goodson, 23-Marcus Hahnemann
Head Coach: Bob Bradley
SVN: 1-Samir Handanovic; 2-Miso Brecko, 4-Marko Suler, 5-Bostjan Cesar, 13-Bojan Jokic; 8-Robert Koren (capt.), 9-Zlatan Ljubijankic (7-Nejc Pecnik, 74), 10-Valter Birsa (14-Zlatko Dedic, 87), 17-Andraz Kirm, 18-Aleksandar Radosavljevic; 11-Milivoje Novakovic
Subs not used: 12-Jasmin Handanovic, 16-Aleksander Seliga; 3-Elvedin Dzinic, 6-Branko Ilic, 15-Rene Krhin, 19-Suad Filekovic, 20-Andrej Komac, 21-Dalibor Stevanovic, 22-Matej Mavric, 23-Tim Matavz
Head Coach: Matjaz Kek
Stats Summary: USA / SVN
Shots: 14 / 7
Shots on Goal: 6 / 4
Saves: 2 / 4
Corner Kicks: 4 / 2
Fouls: 18 / 15
Offside: 0 / 3
Misconduct Summary:
SVN – Bostjan Cesar (caution) 35th minute
USA – Robbie Findley (caution) 40
SVN – Marko Suler (caution) 69
SVN – Andraz Kirm (caution) 72
SVN – Bojan Jokic (caution) 75
Officials:
Referee: Koman Coulibaly (MLI)
Assistant Referee 1: Redouane Achik (MAR)
Assistant Referee 2: Inacio Candido (ANG)
Fourth Official: Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh (MAS)
Bob Bradley shouldn’t had started Findley. He has speed with no skills. Absolutely no contribution from him. I am glad he is not available for the next match. Buddle would be a much better selection or start Torres on the left midfield and let Dempsey play up front with Altidore.
No matter what happens with England & Algeria match, If we win the next match we shoudl be in either with points or goal differental.
Go USA.
We need to beat Algeria by two goals or more, then we are in the next round no matter what happens in today match between England and Algeria and the next match between England & Slovenia.
Andrew – sorry – but we’re looking for intelligent comment here – please refrain from obvious cliches – thank you!
John,
Your comment is anything but intelligent