WC Qualifying: Guatemala 0-1 United States

A win for the US, but boy was it an ugly game.  In terms of style, this game isn’t one either team should be proud of.  The adjective “street fight” that was used by the commentators during the game is probably a very apt description.  Guatemala came out extremely aggressive, displaying what some would call gamesmanship, but what I call rubbish, hackery.  (More on that later)  On top of the scrappy play, the field was in pretty poor condition after an apparent heavy rain earlier in the day, and the quality of the lighting at the field was really bad.

All that being said, we should have dealt with it much better b/c we knew it was coming.  We’ve always had problems going down there and playing.  The game environment in Latin America is always extremely hostile and getting a result there is never easy.  We definitely didn’t show the needed discipline or composure to deal with the high pressure and needling that Carlos Ruiz and Co. pushed on the US.  Once again we required a set piece to get a win after producing very few opportunities from the run of play.  We didn’t do a very good job of keeping possession in the midfield, and we didn’t deal well with Guatemala’s flank play.  Really, about the only positives from the game we can take was a pretty solid central defense, excellent goalkeeping, and one really good set-piece.

Carlos Bocanegra and Tim Howard get my vote for man of the match last night.  Along with the goal he scored, which is obvioulsy crucial, Boca was repeatedly in the right place at the right time to help intercept balls into the box or block shots right in front of Tim Howard.  Howard, came up huge on a number of occassions with big saves when we needed them.  The one thing that did bother me about Howards’s game was his clearances sprayed out of bounds quite often, which is unusual for him.

On to Guatemala.  I got a hold of the Guatemalan national team’s training schedule and their sessions are broken down something like this.  One hour for soccer training, 20 mins for diving and theatrical acumen, 20 mins vocal coaching to improve yelling at the ref and whining, and 20 mins mixed martial arts training to learn how to be hacks and get away with it.

Carlos Ruiz is a dirty player and generally a pain in the ass, and sadly enough, he’s their captain.  I’d really like to use stronger language, but I’m trying to keep this a family friendly post.  Every time I’ve come across a player like him, I always hope to be around when someone puts him in his place.  Tim Howard, who took a Ruiz kick to the face during a save, had this to say in an interview with the AP.

“Carlos kicked me straight in my head,” Howard said. “With Carlos you expect that. He is dirty. I wish I could say it otherwise, but he’s played MLS for five years and I’ve seen him.”

“That’s what he does. I think you would rather have someone man up and say, ‘Look, I don’t like you. I am going to kick you. I’m going to do all that.’ You can almost respect it in a funny way,” Howard said. “He has this way about him. He kicks. He punches. … And he wants to come and be your friend. There is no place for it.”

I think that’s what bothers me so much about divers and hacks.  They do all that kicking, tripping, shoving, punching and then pretend they’re good soccer players as a result of it, and when they try to be friends with you right after its even more insulting.  The really evil devil sitting on my shoulder wishes I was an MLS player playing in a match against Toronto FC (Ruiz’s club) just before the US-Guatemala match.  I think I would find a way to send him a message of what kind of player I think he is.

I guess I’ll just have to try to take comfort in the fact that our chances of getting to the WC are much better than Guatemala’s, and Mr. Ruiz and his henchmen will be watching the games in South Africa from their couches instead of playing in them.  Our next match comes 6 September at 8PM in Havana, Cuba.  That should be another really interesting game to watch.  Talent wise, we should be head and shoulders above them, but Cuba should present a crazy atmosphere to play in.

As a side note, I want to mention that the US Women won Olympic gold today against Brazil.  I didn’t see the match, but ESPN’s Jen Ching did and he has a great write-up about it here.