By Andrew Dixon -- MIAMI, FL (Nov 21, 2008) USSoccerPlayers --
What's up, Grown Man?
Um, not much. Have we met?
You don't remember me? We talked after the last US-Guatemala match?
Oh, yeah. You. How are you?
I'm great! US is headed to the Hex, top of the group. Well played match the other night. It's all good.
I imagine you're psyched about the Guatemala game the other night, huh.
Of course! Oh wait, you're going to tell me that was nothing to get excited about, aren't you.
Eh, it was a solid win but...
Oh here you go again. What was there not to like about this win The US dominated from start to finish. Did you ever get the sense that US wasn't in control? Unlike what we might have seen in Guatemala?
No not really, but...
That's because they were on their game. The back line was allowing absolutely nothing Wednesday night and snuffed out what few chances Guatemala created. Consider who played in the back: Michael Parkhurst, Clarence Goodson and John Thorington, none of whom have played much on the senior level and Jonathan Bornstein who hasn't seen much time since last year. All told, Guatemala only had three shots on goal out of six ALL NIGHT! Do you even remember Guatemala looking like they were giving the back line any problems?
Well no, but...
Heck, Thornington should have had a penalty! And how good was the midfield? Did you see how composed they were? How confident Sacha Klejstan played? Did you expect Adu to put someone on his personal highlight film every time he got the ball? His free kick? How varied and imaginative the attack was? The midfield had Guatemala on the back foot the entire time with their through balls and the passes over the top. Ricardo Clark had could have had a couple of assists on the those passes alone and still did his job clogging up the middle. The only negative was Mastroeni's yellow card. You see that, right?
I do but...
And how good was Jozy Altidore. He played about as well as a forward could play without scoring. He out ran defenders, out muscled them, and the dribbling sequence to set up Cooper's goal was brilliant. The attack overall showed a better dynamic than most of what we've seen thus far.
Won't argue that.
The best part of the win was the fact that we put an inexperienced team, (mostly from MLS, I might add) on the field, against a side that needed to win and dominated them. This is the type of depth we need to have going forward into the Hex and beyond, knowing that we have options in skill positions and cover for the back line in case of injuries, yellow cards, and the like. Yes, we may have already qualified, but our younger players came out, gave a professional, and dominating performance. What's not to appreciate?
I'm not downing anything the US did last night. In some ways it was the best performance of the round, given the relative inexperience we had out there.
So what's the problem?
Well, how can I say this... Guatemala, well they just aren't very good. You see, this is the type of display I wanted from the first team back in August. Yes, I understand that was an way game win in a place where we hadn't won. But Guatemala has no business being on the same field as us, and they showed it the other night. The creativity we showed in the passing... the way we kept possession... that's what we're supposed to do. Amazing that it took our second tier team to do what we should have done in the first place. Let's put this in perspective: where have their best players played?
Well some of them have been in and out of MLS.
Exactly. Their most famous export of the past 10 years has been one of the best players in MLS but hasn't gotten a sniff of a contract in Europe or South America. Pando Ramirez - who scored the Cup winner for the Galaxy three years ago - hadn't done anything before or since and he's wearing the #10 for those guys. Guatemala has some individual skill in certain areas, but collectively? Please, they're no match for an MLS side, much less the American all-star version we put on the field. They're supposed to challenge us when we can field a Euro-heavy squad featuring players from some of the biggest leagues in the world?
Well no....
Even John Harkes said it about three or four times: "Well it IS Guatemala." I think this side knew it was beaten before they stepped on the field. Granted, your energy level isn't going to be the same away from home but for a team that needed a win away to save their qualification campaign they certainly didn't come out ready to fight for the shirt. They were already in desperation mode having fired their coach and brought in Monterroso for this one game and hoping for a miracle.
So you're saying....
I'm saying that what we saw the other night is wasn't unexpected. But beyond that, we shouldn't get excited about winning games like this anymore. Our goal shouldn't be about dominating CONCACAF. Save for Mexico and Costa Rica, we do that. Our goal is winning the World Cup, so I looked at this match towards finding players who can help do that. It's a nice indication that we did what we did, but those same players have to be able to step in against the Mexicos and Costa Ricas and the T&T's away before I get real real excited.
I see where you're coming from but the younger guys still had to go and execute. They put on an ambitious, successful and hopeful display and they deserve their props. Just One Grown Man's Opinion.
They get props from me. All this Grown Man is saying is to keep it in perspective.
Andrew Dixon is a soccer writer based in Miami and a weekly columnist for USSoccerPlayers. Contact him at: golnoir@golnoir.net
