The U.S. starting 11: Howard; Chandler, Gonzalez, Cameron, F. Johnson; Williams, Jones, Bradley, E. Johnson; Dempsey, Altidore
Honduras' starting 11: Valladares; Peralta, Bernardez, Figueroa, Garcia; Boniek, Espinoza, Garrido, Martinez; Bengtson, Costly
This might be the first U.S. men's national team game that the legendary Ray Hudson has commentated for. Exciting for hardcore soccer fans. Former U.S. star Cobi Jones also joins him and
1st minute-Great news already, with Chandler starting that means that now he's CAP tied and a U.S. player (not German) from here on out.
4th minute-Chandler gets burned by Martinez who whips a low cross in. Howard bobbles it but he hangs on.
8th minute-Honduras had a 3-on-1 but they screwed it up by going offside, big break for the U.S. defense. No clue where all the guys went on that play.
15th minute-Haha Honduras' head coach is wearing jeans and a Honduras polo shirt, classy.
17th minute-4th time Honduras has been called offside already, weird.
23rd minute-Espinoza has a shot from outside the box, caught by Howard.
25th minute-the 1st U.S. corner is a good one but Eddie Johnson heads it over. Gotta put that on goal.
29th minute-that was a nice counterattack by the U.S. Eddie Johnson crossed a low ball to Altidore who one touched it barely over the net. The U.S. has picked it up after a slow start.
31st minute-Chandler clears a Honduras pass off the goal line, yikes.
33rd minute-Howard with a strong punch on a quality shot from distance.
36th minute-Jones chips it beautifully to Dempsey who runs onto it and one touches it out of the air. Exquisite goal, 1-0 U.S. 33rd career international goal for Dempsey which moves him up to sole possession of 3rd place in U.S. history.
40th minute-Honduras ties it with an even more brilliant goal. It all started with a corner kick then ended with a bicycle kick by Garcia. You'll see that on highlight reels for years. Nothing you can do about that.
Halftime: U.S. 1, Honduras 1. A fair score since both teams finished their best chance with a flourish. The U.S. would have been in much better shape with a 1-0 lead but they probably didn't deserve it anyway.
No changes for either team to start the 2nd half.
50th minute-Bradley had a chance but his weak shot was deflected out.
52nd minute-Boniek is free down the wing but he puts the shot in the side netting.
55th minute-Bengtson almost takes advantage of Cameron's miscue in the back but he shoots it over.
56th minute-Haha Honduras is offside again, wiping out a goal.
58th minute-Come on Bradley, his corner kick never even went inbounds. That is unacceptable and can't happen at this level, ever. 1st U.S. sub: Maurice Edu is on for Williams.
59th minute-2nd U.S. sub: Sacha Kljestan on for Eddie Johnson.
65th minute-Bradley laid it off for Dempsey, his shot might have been trouble but it was blocked out for a corner before it got on goal.
67th minute-last U.S. sub: Graham Zusi in for Jones. So this is it, the U.S. won't have any more guys come on.
70th minute-Figueroa flashes up for a header but he can't put it on Howard. That was a good chance if he aimed it better.
71st minute-Costly shoots wide from distance.
79th minute-lazy defending leads to a tap-in by Bengtson. Gonzalez and Cameron were the culprits leaving Howard stuck in no-man's land. 2-1 Honduras, crushing goal to allow, especially in that fashion.
84th minute-And Bengtson gets carried off on a stretcher. Haha pathetic, let the stalling tactics commence.
93rd minute-Honduras makes its first sub: Welcome in for Costly.
94th minute-That's about right, the U.S. has one last chance on a corner but Gonzalez heads it over.
Final: Honduras 2, U.S. 1. That was a crappy performance by the U.S. and a blah game as well but you felt like Honduras would find the go-ahead goal at some point if the U.S. didn't take another lead. As always, the U.S. defense is a disaster and they can't find four above average players to put together. Ugh, nothing like a heartless loss by the U.S. to ruin your day. Thanks guys! They had never lost the opener during the final round of World Cup qualifying until today so they've got that going for them.
This was the first of 10 matches (2 against 5 other teams), if the U.S. can't finish ahead of Panama and Jamaica then heaven forbid lose to New Zealand in the final playoff, well then they don't deserve to be in the World Cup. That's a long way off though and a doomsday scenario. Still, the next U.S. game: March 22 vs. Costa Rica in Denver, Colorado now becomes a must-win since the next match is at Mexico and we all know how much they struggle there. Thankfully, the Costa Rica game will be on at a better time (10 p.m. EST and a real network (ESPN). Today's game in Honduras was a B-squad presentation all-around: middle of the day and week, on an obscure network.
