It's a good thing that tonight's game essentially meant nothing since the result made me want to sip some Gatorade laced with bleach.
The U.S. men's national team settled for a 0-0 draw against Canada in Toronto. It was the last friendly before World Cup qualifying starts and truthfully, the U.S. was quite lucky not to fall to a team that they hadn't lost to in 14 straight matches.
Making their first appearance in Canada in 15 years (how's that possible?), the U.S. men lacked the energy and skill that they showed against Scotland last Saturday (5-1 win) and even the 4-1 loss to Brazil on Wednesday. Maybe the combination of three games in eight days and two practices a day the last few weeks left the U.S. overly tired. Who knows? More likely, they were looking past this contest.
No excuses though, Canada is a team that they should always dominate because Canada hasn't made it to the World Cup since 1986. They actually had the two best chances: midfielder Nikolas Ledgerwood scored in the first half but the play was blown dead on a phantom foul call on Canada. That was a big break for the U.S. Not much else happened in the entire match until the final few moments.
The U.S. remained unbeaten against Canada in its last 15 matches (8-0-7) dating back to 1985 while also notching a shutout for the fourth time in its last six games (4-1-1).
Canadian forward Simeon Jackson showed the type of finishing ability you'd expect from a striker on Canada when he blew an easy tap in after a cross from Dwayne De Rosario in added time.
It should tell you how badly the U.S. played that their two best chances were from Edgar Castillo and Clarence Goodson. A last minute addition to the lineup after Fabian Johnson was hurt in warmups, Castillo nearly scored on an incredible dipping volley in the first half. Goodson's header off a corner in added time would have given the U.S. a win it didn't really deserve. Canadian goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld palmed the sharp header over the crossbar.
Tim Howard got the clean sheet for the U.S. but it was a strange one since he only made a few harder than average stops. Bottom line, the U.S. will need more from its stars when they start World Cup qualifying. Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan were both invisible except for the one combination play they had that almost resulted in a goal by Dempsey in the first half.
All of this nonsense will be erased and/or forgiven if Jurgen Klinsmann's squad shows up on Friday against Antigua and Barbuda (7:00 p.m., ESPN & ESPN3.com). The match in Tampa Bay, FL is the first of six World Cup qualifying games in the CONCACAF third round for the U.S. this year.
They have home and homes with Antigua and Barbuda, Guatemala and Jamaica. If that isn't the easiest group in the history of sports, I haven't heard it. The U.S. should beat all of those teams; yes I understand it's harder to win on the road, even against those scrubs, but come on. America will never be taken seriously when they continue to have poor showings against nobodies.
Mexico beat Brazil 2-0 in a friendly this afternoon in Dallas, further proof of how much better Mexico is than the U.S. at this moment. I'm going to guess that Mexico wouldn't have tied Canada 0-0 under any circumstances. Something to keep in mind.
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