by The GM on June 16 at 1:18PM
World Cup 2010 qualifying is in full force now. Yesterday, the US Men's team defeated Barbados by a ridiculous score of 8-0!
While Barbados is clearly not a high level of competition, you have to like how the US came out and executed like they were supposed to. They stayed aggressive all afternoon long and were rewarded several times in the second half.
With a 3-0 lead at the half, they came out and scored 5 times in the second half. Three of those goals came after the 80th minute.
Clint Dempsey scored right off the bat in the first minute of play, then Michael Bradley broke through the defense with a nice goal in the 12th minute. Brian Ching's goal in minute 20 rounded out the first half scoring. Ching ended up recording a hat trick (3 goals), Dempsey finished with two goals, and Bradley, Landon Donovan, and Eddie Johnson (Donovan's substitute) all scored a goal each.
Speaking of Landon Donovan, he recorded his 100th cap for Team USA. This is quite a milestone for the young man. Donovan and teammate DeMarcus Beasley were supposed to be the first wave of talented, American players coming up and they have been as good as advertised. It would be nice for this team to get into the semis in the 2010 World Cup, but what they really need to do is work on qualifying as high as possible in CONCACAF and then worry about making it out of group play come Cup time.
The US has a lot of talent on the field AND on the bench, they just really need everyone focusing on their role for the team and for all of those roles to click together. My favorite player on the team is probably Eddie Johnson. His attitude and temperament are not always the best, but he has a ton of potential and could be one of the best players the US has ever had. If he can check his ego at the door, he could be a great asset to this team, as displayed by scoring a goal just a couple minutes after coming into the game.
The next qualifying match is next Sunday (June 22nd) against the same Barbados team. I would expect another win, but probably not as lopsided as the game yesterday was.
While Barbados is clearly not a high level of competition, you have to like how the US came out and executed like they were supposed to. They stayed aggressive all afternoon long and were rewarded several times in the second half.
With a 3-0 lead at the half, they came out and scored 5 times in the second half. Three of those goals came after the 80th minute.
Clint Dempsey scored right off the bat in the first minute of play, then Michael Bradley broke through the defense with a nice goal in the 12th minute. Brian Ching's goal in minute 20 rounded out the first half scoring. Ching ended up recording a hat trick (3 goals), Dempsey finished with two goals, and Bradley, Landon Donovan, and Eddie Johnson (Donovan's substitute) all scored a goal each.
Speaking of Landon Donovan, he recorded his 100th cap for Team USA. This is quite a milestone for the young man. Donovan and teammate DeMarcus Beasley were supposed to be the first wave of talented, American players coming up and they have been as good as advertised. It would be nice for this team to get into the semis in the 2010 World Cup, but what they really need to do is work on qualifying as high as possible in CONCACAF and then worry about making it out of group play come Cup time.The US has a lot of talent on the field AND on the bench, they just really need everyone focusing on their role for the team and for all of those roles to click together. My favorite player on the team is probably Eddie Johnson. His attitude and temperament are not always the best, but he has a ton of potential and could be one of the best players the US has ever had. If he can check his ego at the door, he could be a great asset to this team, as displayed by scoring a goal just a couple minutes after coming into the game.
The next qualifying match is next Sunday (June 22nd) against the same Barbados team. I would expect another win, but probably not as lopsided as the game yesterday was.
|
