The United States got a first-half goal that stood into halftime, but couldn't hold up over the second 45, losing 3-1 to Denmark on Wednesday in Aarhus. Jeff Cunningham scored from the top of the arc in the 26th-minute for the opener.
For Denmark, the story of the game was making three changes to start the second-half, Johan Absalonsen got too much space in the US box and scored a 47th-minute equalizer - 70 seconds after coming into the game. It was Absalonsen again setting up another sub, Soren Rieks, in the 52nd-minute. Martin Bernburg became the third Denmark substitute to score, converting in the 55th-minute.
“I thought the first half tonight was solid," US coach Bob Bradley said. "We stayed organized and got an opportunistic goal. Denmark as expected picked up the pressure early in the second half. The six minute stretch really teaches us some lessons in terms of our reactions and our ability when a team really comes after us. That's something we can really look at closely and try to use down the road.”
On the hour mark, the US made three substitutes of their own, bringing on Ed Johnson, Robbie Rogers, and Edgar Castillo and taking off Stuart Holden, Michael Bradley, and Cunningham. In the 69th, Jimmy Conrad and Clarence Goodson came on for Jonathan Spector and Carlos Bocanegra. Bradley used his sixth sub and his final field player to bring on Dax McCarty for Jozy Altidore in the 80th-minute.
Unlike Denmark, the US substitutions didn't spark the offense.
“I think coming back is something we’ve shown we can do and obviously it takes guys being committed and willing to turn the game around," US midfielder Michael Bradley said. "Tonight clearly wasn’t a good night for us so I think in that sense we let ourselves down a little bit.”
Match: United States vs. Denmark
Date: Nov. 18, 2009
Competition: International Friendly
Venue: NRGi Park – Aarhus, Denmark
Kickoff: 8:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. ET)
Attendance: 15,172
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 46 degrees
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
USA 1 0 1
DEN 0 3 3
USA – Jeff Cunningham 26th minute
DEN – Johan Absalonsen (Simon Kjær) 47
DEN – Søren Rieks (Johan Absalonsen) 52
DEN – Martin Bernburg (Søren Rieks) 55
Lineups:
USA: 18-Brad Guzan; 22-Frankie Hejduk, 2-Jonathan Spector (15-Jimmy Conrad, 70), 3-Carlos Bocanegra (capt.) (25-Clarence Goodson, 70), 12-Jonathan Bornstein; 7-Stuart Holden (19-Robbie Rogers, 61), 13-Ricardo Clark, 4-Michael Bradley (33-Edgar Castillo, 61), 5-Benny Feilhaber; 17-Jozy Altidore (28-Dax McCarty, 80), 32-Jeff Cunningham (36-Eddie Johnson, 61)
Subs not used: 35-Marcus Hahnemann
Head Coach: Bob Bradley
DEN: 1-Thomas Sørensen; 6-Lars Jacobsen, 3-Simon Kjær, 4-Per Krøldrup, 5-Michael Lumb; 7-Daniel Jensen (18-Johan Absalonsen, 46), 2-Christian Poulsen (13-William Kvist Jørgensen, 46), 8-Jacob Poulsen; 10- Martin Jørgensen (capt.) (19-Jesper Bech, 80), 9-Morten Rasmussen (17-Martin Bernburg, 46, 20-Thomas Enevoldsen, 90), 11- Jesper Grønkjær (15-Søren Rieks, 46)
Subs not used: 12-Anders Møller Christensen, 14- Leon Jessen,16-Kim Christensen
Head Coach: Morten Olsen
Stats Summary: USA / DEN
Shots: 7 / 8
Shots on Goal: 3 / 5
Saves: 2 / 2
Corner Kicks: 3 / 4
Fouls: 9 / 14
Offside: 3 / 1
Misconduct Summary:
none
Officials:
Referee: Craig Thomson (SCO)
Assistant Referee 1: Alan Cunningham (SCO)
Assistant Referee 2: Gordon Middleton (SCO)
Fourth Official: Michael Svendsen (DEN)
