After A Rough Week, U.S. Men's National Team Woke Up & Earned A Huge 4-1 Win At Honduras

 

    Let's be real, it had not been a fun time to be a fan of the U.S. men's national team. Qualifying for the 2022 World Cup had hit a major bump in the road as they had a scoreless draw last Thursday at El Salvador, followed by a 1-1 tie with Canada in Nashville on Sunday. Couple that with injuries to some of their best players (Gio Reyna and Sergino Dest) not to mention a shameful temporary exit from the team after violating Covid-19 protocols (Weston McKennie) and you can understand why angst was growing by the hour. Tonight in the first half at Honduras, they looked like a mess as striker Brayan Moya used a diving header (when he was left completely unmarked in the middle of the box) to give the home team a 1-0 lead in the 27th minute. Thankfully, the second half was a revelation as the United States looked like a different team as they scored four times to come away with a much-needed 4-1 victory. 

    Nobody is probably more thankful for the win than U.S. head coach Gregg Berhalter since it is not hyperbole to say that his job was on the line if they had lost and come away with two out of a possible nine points this week. If you think that is being a little too dramatic, Jurgen Klinsmann was fired in a similar spot (after two matches in their ill-fated 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign). Also, former USMNT forward Taylor Twellman said as much on ESPN this evening after the U.S. vs. Honduras match. So where has this team been? Good question since three of the four goals for the Americans came from substitutes which shows how poorly Berhalter's strange makeshift lineup performed in the first half. 

    Fulham defender Antonee Robinson scored the biggest goal of his life in the 48th minute after he came on to start the second half. With a loose ball bouncing around in the box, he was there to calmly finish with a measured volley into the side netting. Making his first ever start for the U.S., 18-year-old striker Ricardo Pepi of FC Dallas made Berhalter look brilliant as he scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal in the 75th minute. Midfielder DeAndre Yedlin served a perfect cross to Pepi who headed the ball strongly into the corner. After playing great in the first half, Honduras crumbled late in the second half with another sub-forward Brenden Aaronson of Red Bull Salzburg-finishing a give-and-go with Pepi in the 86th minute. Finally, defender Sebastian Lletget of the LA Galaxy was able to clean up a rebound of a shot by Pepi for the final tally in the 93rd minute. 

    Besides the nightmare first half, the only real negative for the U.S. was that their best player Christian Pulisic of Chelsea fame went off in the 62nd minute with what looked like a pretty serious ankle injury. The good news in that regard is that he has nearly a month to heal up since the next window of World Cup qualifying games is in October starting on the 7th in Austin, TX vs. Jamaica. Three days later, the Americans go to Panama followed by an October 13 date with Costa Rica in Columbus, Ohio. After matchday three, the U.S. is tied with Canada for second-place (out of 8 countries) while Panama also has five points. Not surprisingly, Mexico is on top with seven points while Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador are all struggling with two points then Jamaica is last with only one point. Besides that performance, the best thing for this group is some time away from each other for a bit. They can focus on their club seasons for a few weeks before reconvening hopefully with a different mindset next month. The upcoming portion of their schedule does not sound too daunting at least on paper but the last week should prove that they cannot afford to take any opponent for granted right now and every point is precious to them because they simply have to qualify for the 2022 World Cup by any means necessary.

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2013 Gold Cup Update: Landon Donovan Is Earning His Place In The 2014 World Cup

This is coming from someone who spent money on a ticket to last week's the U.S. men's match vs. Costa Rica in East Hartford, CT: By and large the Gold Cup is pretty pointless. Yes, I have paid attention to all the U.S. games and even some that didn't have much bearing on anything but that's only because it's smack dab in the middle of the summer when the lack of choices in the sports world is dire.

I would compare the Gold Cup to preseason games in other sports, the best players either don't play at all or not as much as usual leaving the contests up to the B-squad players. You know, the has beens, never weres and never will bes. Oh and it's against mostly garbage squads from CONCACAF, many of whom don't have a prayer to beat the U.S. (hello Belize). To make my point clear, the U.S. men beat El Salvador 5-1 this afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore but probably all people will talk about is Landon Donovan's re-emergence. The U.S. advanced to the semifinals (for the seventh consecutive time) on Wednesday in Dallas, Texas against Honduras (a 1-0 winner over Costa Rica) at 7 p.m. on Fox Soccer Channel. Mexico plays Panama in the other semifinal.

After his sabbatical from soccer and the U.S.' A-squad, he seems to be returning to form in MLS with the Galaxy (or so I hear) and in this tournament. I believe this makes him a lock to go to Brazil with the U.S. next summer, assuming they reach the World Cup. I also think he could find himself back in the starting 11 after this journey of self-discovery. He still isn't finishing at a very high level but he managed to put up a goal and two assists today, giving him 55 career goals and 54 career assists for the Red, White and Blue.

The funny thing is that this could have been even more of a blowout, the U.S. easily should have scored another goal or two but who can worry about such things after 4-goal victories? Goodson got forward and one-timed Donovan's cross in the 21st minute. Joe Corona, who might have the best name ever, made it 2-0 with a pretty little move then shot from the top of the box in the 29th minute.

El Salvador's only highlight came via a penalty kick in the 39th minute earned by their lone star Rodolfo Zelaya. He chipped it in slow motion down the middle to beat U.S. goalkeeper Nick Rimando.

A 2-1 halftime lead only motivated the U.S. to put their cleats on the gas more as Eddie Johnson (sporting bleach blonde hair like Sisqo or Cisse, Gus Johnson called him "Demolition Man"-Wesley Snipes movie in 90s-which hopefully catches on) came off the bench and scored seconds later in the 60th minute with a powerful header on Donovan's corner. Johnson returned the favor by finding Donovan for a breakaway in the 78th minute then Mix Diskerud completed the scoring with another header-this time from Donovan in the 84th minute.

We always root against Mexico but I am openly hoping for a U.S.-Mexico Gold Cup Final, that would be a rematch of 2007 (the last time the United States won this dinky competition). The U.S. is currently riding a nine-game win streak, the longest in the team's long history.

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U.S. Men Set To Dominate in 2012 Olympic Qualifying Next Spring In Nashville

Let's be honest, the path to the 2012 Olympics in London is pretty easy for the U.S. men's team.

It was announced yesterday, the U.S. men's under-23 team (aka the Olympic squad) will face Canada, Cuba and El Salvador next spring in Nashville, TN for regional qualifying. They are coached by Caleb Porter, also the head coach at the highly successful University of Akron.

I'm not predicting 5-0 wins in each game but come on, the U.S. should roll over each of those garbage teams. Sorry, this isn't hockey (Canada) or baseball (Cuba). El Salvador isn't known for anything else, they just blow.

These games should serve as a sort of a warmup for the Olympics not to mention the World Cup qualifiers that some of the more talented team members will also participate in.

Striker Juan Agudelo is on the U-23 team and other guys eligible include goalkeeper Bill Hamid, defender Timothy Chandler, defender Alfredo Morales, midfielder Danny Williams, midfielder Freddy Adu, midfielder Brek Shea and striker Jozy Altidore. They have all been invited to the senior national team's camps and in some cases, they are already some of their top players.

The team can also call in three overage players for the Olympics, something to keep in mind as next summer approaches. As I said last week with the Euro 2012 draw, next summer is going to rule. Between Euro 2012, London Olympics, Champions League and World Cup qualifying, there is going to be plenty of world-class soccer around every corner.

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