By Graig Carbino - ALBANY, NY (July 12, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- The United States Men’s National Team finished Gold Cup group play on Saturday night with a 2-2 draw with Haiti. Davy Arnaud scored for the US in the 6th minute before early second half goals from Vaniel Sirin and Mones Chery put Haiti in the lead. Stuart Holden saved US blushes with a 91st minute drive to bring the match even right before the final whistle.
Haiti proved a worthy adversary in a game that the US chose to use as a live audition for their lesser used players. Luis Robles got the start in goal making his first international appearance while Jay Heaps did the same at left back. Jimmy Conrad came in for his first start of the tournament and was given the captain's armband by Bob Bradley.
In midfield Colin Clark started his first match for the United States on the left wing while Santino Quaranta kept his place on the right after an inspiring performance in DC on Wednesday. Holden shifted into the middle and partnered with debutant Sam Cronin to make up the United States central core.
Kenny Cooper and Arnaud paired up front to complete a young, experimental US eleven. All things considered, it would have been a significant surprise had Bradley not made changes in this game. Opportunities to test players in games that do not really mean much points wise are rare and need to be utilized properly when they do come up.
“I think when you look at everything, it is a good experience for these players” Bradley said. “After the fact you can look at things and understand that it will help them down the road.”
This was a match that certainly stamps home the fact that any team, in need of a result, can be dangerous. As Haiti demonstrated that fact is not just left to elite teams. They played hard, survived a bunch of scares from the first minute until the last whistle, got a little bit of luck and took their chances. Sounds sort of similar to how the US played in many of their Confederations Cup games last month.
Everything looked to be going right for the United States early as Arnaud took a nice through ball from Stuart Holden and slotted home into the Haitian net. In the 28th minute Holden uncorked a blast from a full 35 yards out that smashed off the crossbar and down onto the goal line. Unfortunately for the Houston Dynamo midfielder it didn’t quite have the spin to make it across the chalk.
Jay Heaps and Jimmy Conrad each had a chance to head home from first half corners but weren’t able to keep their efforts on frame. Haiti shots were few and far between in the opening 45 minutes with Fabrice Noel testing Robles on two occasions, once from distance and another from inside the penalty area. The Kaiserslautern net minder was up the task each time.
To say things changed at the beginning of the second stanza wouldn’t quite do Haiti justice. Les Grenadiers came out of halftime flying and had the lead inside three minutes. Sirin lost his mark inside the box and headed home from only a few feet out to bring the score line even in the 46th.
Chery corralled a poor clearance two minutes later, took one settling touch, and hammered a half volley into the top corner before Robles could react. Two blinks of an eye and the US had not only lost the lead but they now found themselves behind.
The remainder of the second period went about how you would expect it to go. Haiti sat behind the ball with as many as eleven players and looked to desperately hold on to their new found lead. You know what? It almost worked too. They were seconds away from claiming their most famous international victory before Stuart Holden stepped up and ruined their fun.
Brian Ching was working back for the ball thirty yards from goal before being disposed by Judelin Avesk. The loose ball rolled right into the path of Holden who cracked a first time shot into the top corner of the goal leaving Haiti goalkeeper Jean Dominique Zerpjirin with no chance to get near it.
Giving the full squad a chance is one thing. Seeing which of them rise to the occasion and stake their claim for meaningful minutes is the real game here. With his performance against Haiti, Stuart Holden seems to have given Bob Bradley something to think about for the rest of this tournament and beyond.
In the end this result means that Haiti qualifies for the quarterfinals and the United States avoids a Canada team that really looks to have their ears pinned back for this competition. They will await the results of Group C before learning which team to prepare for on July 18th in Philadelphia.
Graig Carbino writes a weekly column for USSoccerPlayers. Contact him at graiger11@yahoo.com
