United States 2 - El Salvador 1
by Steve Davis on Sep 6, 2009 9:18 AM EDT
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Landon Donovan showed why he continues to be the most important man in a
(Sooner or later, all the Donovan bashers -- and they are legion -- will simply have to give the man his due.)
Who else played well in the 2-1 win over
Charlie Davies made a lot happen with energy and fearless drive. Tim Howard didn't do anything wrong.
Otherwise, there were a bunch of "just OK" nights for the
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I agree with you about Donovan
another superb performance. Great service, good decision making, the fitness to track back on D for 90 minutes.
I think Howard could be called out for drifting off his line on that first goal. Sure, the ball should have been cleard properly, rather than lobbed into our own box by Bornstein, and the header was fantastic, but…
At any rate he made up for it with that stellar save late in the 2nd.
Sure did give me a fright to see Davies go down with an injury. Glad it is not his knee.
SB Nation Engineer
refs
I’d love to know why i scour the internet and barely see anything from soccer writers or the federation or anywhere about the continual pathetic officiating on the field for qualifiers. When will FIFA adopt the policy of having refs from outside the region. It is an absolute joke and as the US has slowly improved over the last 20 years the officiating has certainly not improved at all. I’d like to see some commentary from someone about the garbage we see every game. It makes watching soccer here a joke compared to watching EPL and Serie A refs who
Re: refs
I thought that the ref was OK most of the game, with the exception of the 20 minutes or so centered around Altidore’s disallowed goal. That one was inexplicable. The only thing I can figure is he called something on Dempsey or Altidore. He also seemed to get really picky about US challenges after the disallowed goal. The assistant on that side also was having a rough stretch during that same period.
But credit must also be given to the referee, and especially to the other assistant referee, on Dempsey’s goal. If this ref had something against the US, that was the goal to disallow. Dempsey was clearly not offsides; but about 4 other US players were, and it wouldn’t have been difficult for the AR to get confused, or rationalize that one of those players interfered with play. But to his credit he did no such thing. He got it right.
And please, to the other commenter who says the refereeing in the EPL is better: I’ve seen plenty of boners by EPL and UEFA refs. And I don’t even watch that much EPL or Champions League (just check into the Eduardo controversy for some of that).
Good point about the Dempsey Goal
That was a confusing play.
SB Nation Engineer
by Pablo Mercado on Sep 7, 2009 2:02 PM EDT up reply actions
Bornstein?
I write about soccer for my school paper and did a preview of this game. I literally spent a whole paragraph describing in great detail how this man does not deserve to step foot on the pitch and will almost certainly contribute to at least one El Salvador goal. Sadly, my prediction was true. A four at best.
Donovan and Altidore were fantastic.
Question for anyone please, I was watching the game at a bar with no sound. What happened with Jozy’s goal in the 2nd half that got called back? Nobody could figure out what went wrong.
I watched the game with sound (unfornately. not a fan of the commentators)
and the speculation was that a foul was called on Dempsey as he followed through with his tackle.
SB Nation Engineer
by Pablo Mercado on Sep 6, 2009 1:16 PM EDT up reply actions
What is Kyle Beckerman doing on that team?
I completely agree about Donovan. I was once a detractor, but not after South Africa. The US badly needs someone else who can hold onto the ball like him. His second assist was sheer brilliance.
Bocanegra was just great.
Howard, I would fault some for the goal. He may have been anticipating something else. Whatever it was, he seemed to react late to the header.
The one I really don’t get is Beckerman. What is he doing there? I don’t recall one single good touch. The 4 rating you gave him is way too generous. He even gave El Salvador one good opportunity with a hare-brained pass back into the defensive area that went to a player in blue. Why doesn’t Bradley cap Clyde Simms? The guy is an excellent defensive midfielder.
P.S. Jose Francisco Torres
I thought he was a breath of fresh air. While technically he did “miss” on his header late in the game, that was a very well taken header that required a sharp save from Montes. I’d like to see more of this young man. I think he rated a 6.
Hopefully Beckerman was only there for the RSL fans.
Insanity is just a state of mind.
by KTJ on Sep 6, 2009 3:29 PM EDT up reply actions
You were too kind to the starters
I don’t understand how you can rate Tim Howard a 7 or say he “didn’t do anything wrong.” His positioning on their goal was truly horrendous. He made a nice stop late to save the game, but his night was no better than average.
Although Bocanegra had a solid night defending, he certainly didn’t deserve an 8. You’re telling me he played better than Jozy and Charlie and just as well as Donovan? No way. As I said, he defended pretty well, but his distribution was really terrible (as was the rest of the backline’s). El Salvador had many unnecessary second chances because Boca or Bornstein couldn’t clear the ball properly.
Both CMs had average games, although I felt like Bradley slipped in the second half. Neither did near the good of Clint Dempsey, who was up and down but scored and assisted a goal during his ups. That the goal was disallowed is both absurd and irrelevant.
Torres and Holden both played well in limited time. Although Torres didn’t score, I can’t see how his shot could’ve been any better. It required a save just as good as Howard’s late save. Holden had a couple very dangerous crosses and at least two clearances of dangerous balls in the box (one out of bounds, one up the field). I’d give them both 6’s.
I agree with the assessment of the outside backs, strikers, and Donovan.
by Incipient_Senescence on Sep 6, 2009 4:32 PM EDT reply actions
Refs
I was watching the game at the same time i was watching the fc dallas dc game and both refs in the middle were horrible. the goal by altidore should have counted and then watching the fc dallas game supposedly daniel torres fouls someone in the box and gets a red card torres didnt even touch the guy he tripped over his own feet and they get a pk and dallas gets the draw when we really deserved the 3 points im sick of the refs by now this season in mls and qualifying
Ratings
Spector and Marshall had a much better second half than they did first half. The looked incredibly shaky to start, but hey, they were only in there because of injuries and suspensions.
I thought Fielhaber played better than a 6. He was solid in possession and distributed the ball well.
Donovan set up both goals (I’m probably one of those Donovan-haters), but he disappears for LONG stretches of the game.
Kyle Beckerman should not be ANYWHERE NEAR the US Men’s national team. And he needs a haircut.
According the Altidore’s Twitter stream, they were given no explanation about the reversal of the third goal. Corrupt officiating? Maybe, maybe not.
re Altidore
that’s correct … in the post-game interview area, Bradley and Altidore both said they attempted to gather information about this phantom foul, but we not provided with an explanation. my best guess: Dempsey did sweep through with his back leg and get the Salvadoran defender pretty good. but as the ball was well away, it’s certainly a foul that should never have been called.
