Bradley and Beasley (95th CAP but still only 29-years-old) are on to start the second half for the U.S. I wholeheartedly approve of that. Spector and Agudelo are also on. Edu, Shea, Altidore and Cherunodlo all off.
Ecuador wins the first corner of the second half but can't do much with it.
Howard makes an easy stop on Arroyo.
Agudelo wins the U.S.' first corner kick in the second half.
Dempsey almost gets sprung for a good chance but he can't get the shot off.
Beasley's pass gets deflected out for a corner. Dempsey gets blocked in the box. Beasley has brought some energy early in the second half since coming on. He won a free kick right outside of the box. Bradley curls it wide and over.
Dempsey drops back into the box and blocks a shot out for an Ecuador corner. Jefferson Montero shoots wide for Ecuador, their best shot so far. It just skipped wide by a few feet.
First sub for Ecuador, Montero out for Jamie Ayovi.
Beckerman with a terrible giveaway leads to Bocanegra being forced to take down an Ecuador's Benitez, he gets the yellow card he deserves.
Second Ecuador substitution, Christian Suarez on for Antonio Valenica.
Edson Buddle in for Williams. I liked what I saw from Williams in his second appearance for the U.S.
Begging for the U.S. to take some shots and Beasley obliges by hitting one way wide with his right foot. Now I see why he never uses it. Minutes later, he has a better shot with his favored left. Beasley hasn't scored for the U.S in three years.
Last U.S. sub with Tim Ream on for Bocanegra. Thierry Henry was shown at the game with a hooded sweatshirt on and more interested with his phone than the action in front of him.
Chandler with a nice run down the left side, he wins a free kick outside the box. Bradley with a perfect ball in, deflected out by Ecuador for a U.S. corner (sixth of the game). Haha it drops to Onyewu who turns (good) but shoots it about as badly as you'd expect.
Ream gets beaten to a header by Jaime Ayovi (from his brother Walter) who puts it in for Ecuador. He was right on top of Howard so he had not chance to stop it. 1-0 Ecuador in the 79th minute.
Two U.S. corners lead to a nice save on Spector's redirect and a header out of bounds.
Wasteful cross by the U.S. goes over the net. 2 goals in previous 4 games under Klinsmann. John Harkes rightly points out that when Dempsey gets the ball right now, nobody is giving him a target or making a run.
Another Ecuador sub: Paredes on for Arroyo.
Pathetic dive by Ecuador, Onyewu goes up for a 50/50 ball, bumps the other guy and gets a yellow card. Ecuador's player was holding his head (which wasn't touched) even before he hit the ground. Ugh.
Four minutes of stoppage time. The U.S. wins a corner but Bradley hits it too long for Dempsey.
In 2011, the U.S. is 5-6-3 with 13 goals in 14 games. Not so good.
Gooch plays a nice ball to Dempsey, his shot is deflected into the side netting. Gotta be the last U.S. corner. Dempsey crosses it but it's no trouble to Banguera, that should do it.
Final: Ecuador 1, U.S. 0
Klinsmann falls to 1-3-1 but the U.S. played well, especially in the first half. One glaring defensive mistake cost them dearly and they still are really struggling to find a way to score goals. Onyewu and Beasley were pleasant surprises. Ecuador is a good team too, no shame losing to them.
Follow @RichSlate
Tweet
No comments:
Post a Comment