One nation under Jurgen Klinsmann with dreams of goals for all



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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

U.S. vs. Belgium 2nd half live blog



Two U.S. subs to start the second half: Agudelo is on for Altidore and Beckerman is on for Rogers.

Beckerman gets a chance with a bouncing ball at the top of the Belgian box but he shows why he'll always be Mr. MLS by skying it well over the goal. If he didn't have his dreads, you wouldn't even recognize him he's so anonymous.

Shea beats two defenders to the endline but his cross his caught by the Belgian goalkeeper.

Good defending by Cherundolo, nice to see him back in action. He's underrated and the U.S. defense really misses him when he's out.

Mertens wins a corner kick for Belgium.

Lombaerts hits a great long shot through traffic, off a long throw, and it goes in. Howard got a piece but it certainly wasn't his fault. 1-0 Belgium. His second goal for Belgium in 16 games.

Harkes describes the U.S. penchant for getting scored upon first as "a comfort zone you don't want to be in." Yeah, he gets paid for analysis like this.

Chandler shoots but it's deflected out by Agudelo's defender, U.S. corner kick on the way.

Crappy cross from Cherundolo, right to the Belgian goalkeeper. Too bad, the U.S. had numbers in front for once.

Lukaku, Hubert (Fellani) and Ugunjimi (Hazard) are the first three subs for Belgium. Lukaku is a talented teenager who was recently signed by Chelsea.

In the last 20 international matches, the U.S. has scored two goals or less in every game. The last time they scored three was against Australia right before the 2010 World Cup.

Chandler dribbles to nowhere by himself and it goes out of bounds. That's about right.

Shea's cross to Agudelo knocked out for another corner. Let's go! Time to challenge Belgium and I don't know, score a goal.

Dempsey with a nice move but he shoots it right at the goalkeeper. Ugh. Not a good sign when you're best offensive player does something like that.

Agudelo takes a nasty bump on a foul from behind.

Jeff Larentowicz makes his second career CAP (Chile in January) by taking out Torres.

Ah yes, Stuart Holden. Almost forgot about him. The U.S. desperately needs him and Michael Bradley back in the fold. Not enough talent on this squad right now.

Belgium almost scores another goal as Lukaku lays off for Witsel (aka Baby Fro) and his shot is deflected almost past Howard. Belgium corner kick but the U.S. clears it out.

Edu scores on a header off a free kick but of course, it doesn't count for some unknown reason. For what's it's worth, the U.S. didn't protest much after the call. The U.S.' twitter feed said it was offside but don't ask me how that happens that soon after a free kick and a loose ball in the box.

Lukaku finds himself wide open at the top of the box with space to move but he shoots over. He hasn't shown me anything in his brief appearance.

Final: Belgium 1, U.S. 0

Just like the Costa Rica game (minus the first 30 minutes) on Friday, the U.S. had no energy. At least that night, they didn't have an excuse. Rough travel makes for an easy alibi but they have to be better than that. Belgium is not very good and didn't do anything impressively. Boring game, another miserable result no matter how anyone spins it. Klinsmann (0-2-1) is still looking for his first win. October 8th vs. Honduras is the next opportunity.




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