US Olympic Soccer Qualifying: US 3-0 Canada
A much improved match last night from the US, and obviously a favorable result. The win advanced us to the finals of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament and secured us a spot in the Olympics in Beijing, even if we don’t win the finals against Honduras on Sunday night.
A couple of thoughts on the US performance. The showing from the team in general was a notch above anything we’ve seen from them in the first three games. Everyone was ready to step up and fight for a win tonight, which was encouraging. There have been times when I felt like US teams have played games going through the motions, but there was a true sense of purpose in us last night. High pressure all over the field made it difficult for the Canadians to maintain possession, and they barely made it out of their half of the field during the first half of play.
Our possession was excellent through the defense and midfield, and I really liked some of the dynamic movement I saw from the midfielders. All of the midfielders seemed to fluidly interchange as the flow of the game demanded, with Adu, Holden, and Kljestan appearing on either side of the field and up the middle as needed. Movement like that can make it difficult for the defense to settle in and get comfortable. The possession and movement led to a noticeable increase in threatening play around Canada’s penalty area, and we were more willing to take some long range shots that kept the Canadian keeper on his toes.
The two goals by Adu were beautiful, though for different reasons from my perspective. The first goal was created as much by the confusion Kljestan’s run into the box caused for the Canadian keeper as the actual strike by Adu. The second goal was simply a thing of beauty from Adu, and there’s really nothing to say about it just watch the video. The third was initiated by Adu’s ability to recognize and exploit the opening up of play resulting from Canada pushing more numbers forward, and was finished off by text book play and composure from both Holden and Kljestan.
In a quality match like this there weren’t a whole lot of negatives, though I did see two. We still weren’t threatening enough from the run of play, in my opinion. We took more shots from outside of the box and some of them were dangerous, but our crosses from the wings definitely need some work. Also, I don’t think Altidore has lived up to his billing yet. I’m cautiously optimistic about Altidore’s future and I’m not one to jump on the hype train surrounding him, but comparing his play in this tournament to what I saw in the U-20 World Cup last year, I’ve been a little disappointed. I’ll grant him that he hasn’t had very many opportunities in front of goal, but if you’re going to be a great striker and an impact player, you have to find a way to make your presence felt in the game on a consistent basis. His play did lead to Adu’s free kicks, and perhaps he would have made more of those opportunities had he not been taken down. I felt that he should have done better with the ball crossed to him in the box early in the match, which was one of our best scoring opportunities. I’m not suggesting he’s playing bad, I’m just hoping to see more from him in the final on Sunday.
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