OK, if you had to guess what team in World Cup qualification had the fewest amount of goals allowed throughout the qualifying stages, who would you pick? Italy - the team that made the "defend and counter attack" strategy world famous, and in the last World Cup only gave up one goal on an own goal? Germany - another superb defensive national team famous for their organization starting in the back and attention to detail throughout? Spain, Brazil, the Netherlands - the three most dominant teams during qualification? Maybe a team like South Korea or the Ivory Coast or even the U.S. - three teams that have dominated the three weakest continents?
In fact the actual answer - Australia. The Soccer-Roos only gave up one goal in their final match with Japan. And yes I was shocked too when I read it in Four Four Two magazine earlier today, however, if you look at Australia's recent friendlies leading up to yesterday's match with the U.S. they have some impressive results - a 3-0 win over a good and unlucky Ireland last August, a 0-0 tie with my pick to win it all the Netherlands in October, and wins over World Cup squads New Zeland (2-1) and Denmark (1-0) in the last month.
So how good was the Men's National Team's 3-1 win over Australia Saturday - I would give it a solid "B" grade. Australia is a team that very well may come out of the second toughest group in the World Cup - Group D with Germany, Serbia, and Ghana.
There was plenty to be happy about - namely the play of each of the forwards that entered the pitch - and at the same time there was also plenty to worry about before the U.S. take on England next Saturday - namely how slack the marking was inside the box throughout the game from all of the defenders.
Man of the match: Without question Edson Buddle.
The LA Galaxy forward - named after the great Brazilian Pele's real name - recently turned 29 and was making just his third appearance for the MNT continued his great run of form. Finally paired with a forward that could compliment his ability - Robbie Findley this game versus Eddie Johnson in the Czech Republich game - Buddle, who had been leading the MLS in scoring when he left for the U.S. camp - struck twice against Australia both class goals.
Buddle's first goal occurred less than four minutes into the game. After a bad give-away in the Australian back-line in their defensive zone, the U.S. found Buddle with one quick pass, he dribbled the ball with a couple of quick touches letting a couple of frantic Australian defenders go by him before he unleashed a cannon of a shot into the near-side right netting by keeper Mark Schwarzer, who only reacted after the ball was piercing the net. Buddle bulged the onion bag again in the 30th minute on a play made by Steve Cherundolo. The right back took a pass from Ricardo Clark, dribbled down the right flank, made one step-over move before going to the end line and crossing the ball to the waiting Buddle on the far side of the six-yard box for the easy header.
Buddle was continuously dangerous throughout the second half making excellent runs, and nearly found Findley on a beautiful combo that started with a good find from Donovan to Buddle in the left-side of the box, who then crossed to Findley who smashed it off the crossbar. The Galaxy man definitely seemed to tire late in the game as Findley tried to find him near the 60th minute after Findley made a ridiculous 60-yard run, but Buddle clearly had no legs to track down the final pass. However, it was important for him to play late in the game to get his match fitness at or near full strength because it seems likely now that he will be Jozy's partner up top or his replacement if Altidore can't go.
I could talk on and on about Buddle because I love talking forwards, but Findley was terrific again as well and did everything but find goal. He made terrific runs, and for all intents and purposes should have had two goals except he missed a wide open net in the first half and hit the cross bar in the second half. Look for him to be a super sub if the U.S. need to stretch the field to get a goal.
Gomez also scored again making it two goals in two matches that he has come on as a second half sub and found net. This time though he only had approximately 10 minutes to do his work instead of an entire half, but Donovan picked him out in injury time with a terrific feed that Gomez made a brilliant touch on to keep and slot on the ground in the left netting.
Trouble spots: This one gets a big "Ewwwwwwww" and not in a good way, the defense.
Our main man Jay Martin does not think Oguchi Onyewu is ready - I'm not clear as to why yet, but I will find out soon in our email exchanges. Guch came on in the 61st minute as a sub after the U.S. defense had already been exposed time and again for very slack-to-at-times-no-marking inside the box.
At fault and the most guilty party on most occasions was unfortunately my main man Jay DeMerit. The Watford man looked a ghost of what made him great in the Spain game in the Confederations Cup last summer when he was diving all over the pitch to make athletic blocks on shots and stopping everything in his path. Forced to mark off the ball runs throughout most of the match Josh Kennedy probably should have had at least 3 goals missing several point blank shots because his marker - most of the time DeMerit - left him wide open inside the six-yard box.
Tim Cahill, however, did find the mark in the first half getting free on a corner to volley/tap-in a goal at the back post when DeMerrit had let him slip away. Cahill more so than any other forward I know has the instinctive "6th sense to find free space in dangerous areas," which is why he is such a terrific forward. Look for him to have a big tournament.
I can't completely blast DeMerit though, Clarance Goodson was nothing special, Bocanegra has been better, and a couple of times Cherundolo was beaten far too easily - a problem why he may not start in the England game and instead hand the post to Jonathan Spector.
And Onyewu was not exactly lightning in the bottle or a calming influence when he entered the game. The U.S. still had several break downs with Guch on the pitch.
This sums up my thoughts on the U.S. defense - fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me, fool me over and over and over again and now we've got a big problem.
I thought the defense was the area where we had the most depth entering the U.S. camp in early May, but after watching this friendly and the past two against Turkey and the Czech Republic, I have to nix that thought and say we have definitely much more depth in the midfield and up top, which was a big revelation to me.
A couple of other quick thoughts:
1. The U.S. has the ability to counter attack in a heart beat as well as any team in the world and against any opponent. In the 25th minute they unleashed a 5-pass 8-or-9 touch counter that took them from the heart of their own defense all the way to a near goal for Dempsey on the left side of the box. It was a thing of beauty, and something the U.S. did against both Spain and Brazil in the Confed Cup last summer. The U.S. also had 7 crisp passes before Gomez capped the day with his goal. Yes this is U.S. soccer.
2. John Harkes may sound like he knows what he is doing, but as Rich said he is just another bozo in a long line from his generation of players like Alexi Lalas and Marcello Balboa. Remember Harkes was the guy who had an affair with Eric Wynalda's wife right before the 1998 World Cup and completely destroyed the fabric of that team's chemistry.
But back to my original point, Harkes is a bozo as an announcer. If you listen closely and pay attention he often contradicts something he said earlier in the game or even moments ago, and he definitely has a little Tim McCarver in him - meaning he states things that are completely obvious. Now I know most soccer fans in this country are new to the sport, but we don't need to be treated like we are learning arithmetic again - I know 2 + 2 = 4.
Here was one of my favorite Harkes lines during the Australia match that he said after Dempsey and an Australian player got in a little scuffle literally going head-to-head and both picked up yellow cards in the first half.
"You mess with the horns and you get the bull," just Harkesie being Harkesie. Don't worry John we know what you meant.
3. Martin Tyler is the soccer play-by-play equivalent of Sean McDonough, and yes that is a very good thing.
Like McDonough, Tyler has the ability to call things as he sees them in a cool and collective manner but as the play builds and the emotion takes over, Tyler rises to the occasion with a genuine conveying of the moment.
Tyler is one of the go-to English Premier League announcers and trust me you want this guy doing as many games as possible during the World Cup he is fabulous.
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