USA vs. Guatemala Recap

[bullets13]

This game was a joke.  Guatemala might be the dirtiest team I've ever seen.  Carlos Ruiz might be the dirtiest player I've ever seen.  The ref was terrible.  For every foul he called against Guatemala, he missed two more.  Anytime the US committed a hard foul, they got a yellow.  Then the Guats tried to start a fight after the game.  It was ridiculous.

USA won 1-0.  They dominated the first half, and were on their heels the second, but pulled it out in a game that finished 10 vs. 10.  The USA was hindered by an extremely wet field, and an extremely dirty opponent.  Everytime they got any rhythm at all, the nearest Guatemelan would push, kick, or hit the person controlling the ball.  More often than not, the ref did not call it.  There were very few offensive opportunities for either team in the first half.  Steve Cherundulo got a second yellow card in the 59th minute to take the US down to 10 men.  He deserved both cards, but he picked up both cards in frustration after blown calls by the ref.  Just a minute later the Guatemalens went down a man as well, when one of their players took about a 10 yard run up and speared eddie lewis in the face about a second and a half after Lewis had gotten rid of the ball.  With all of the blood spouting out of Lewis' face, the ref would've looked too suspicious had he not given the red.  Shortly there after, Bocanegra headed a corner into the bottom corner to put the US up 1-0 (Gooch was essentially tackled on the play, leaving a pretty big hole for Carlos to run into).  After that, the US did a solid job of holding their backline and keeping the Guats from having too many chances.  Towards the end of the game a shot was deflected in, and after Howard slid over to collect it, Ruiz reached backwards with his left foot and brushed his cleats across howard's face, who dropped the ball.  Guatemala scored, but it was called back for the foul.  Not surprisingly, Ruiz did not even get a yellow card (much less the red he probably deserved), but Howard was quickly awarded a yellow for yelling at Ruiz when came over and tried to make nice.  Ahh... i hate games like this, but it is the States' first every win at Guatemala in a qualifier, so that's a dang good start in their quest to make WC 2010.

[MAN U 16]

wow thats fantastic not no one really cares win they do something that actually matters then post it if they win the world cup then will have something to say about the u.s

[bullets13]

wow thats fantastic not no one really cares win they do something that actually matters then post it if they win the world cup then will have something to say about the u.s

that's one hell of a run-on sentence.  there are plenty of folks who care about US soccer games. 

[Bon_Mot]

Did you see Dempsey give Big Bradley attitude when he was subbed out?  Clint either needs to mix in more naps or drink more coffee.  While his heel flicks and step-overs are great for the YouTube generation, his work rate is  garbage.

I had a hard time watching the game.  Literally and figuratively!  What did they use for the stadium lights?  Glow sticks?  Fire-flies in jars?  It was way too dark.  Carlos "El Pescadito" Ruiz is by far my least favorite player on the planet.  What's sad is that supposedly the guys at KC said that off the pitch, he's a super guy.  Honor and integrity are not a part of his soccer vocabulary though.  The official was out of his depth, too.  He was blowing calls both ways all night. 

Getting three points in Central America is HUGE!  Good job guys... eventhough we still can't score from the run of play.

[reccosdog]

A great win on the road. The conditions were horrible and the referee wasn't much better. I agree totally about Ruiz, he's a bum, the kind of player I love to hate. Yes I saw Dempsey sit on the bench, fold his arms, push out his bottom lip and stare at Bradley. Reminded me of my Pee Wee League coaching days when a player got subbed out. I want to know when Kenny Cooper will get the call. In my opinion he is deserving.

[bullets13]

in my opinion we still don't have the skill level to keep throwing all of these big, slow, average-skilled players up top.  i'd like to see a little more speed on the pitch (altidore, adu, beasley, etc).  i just don't think our midfield is good enough yet to consistently get these big guys (ching, cooper, and the likes) enough chances for headers and redirects near the goal.  at least give us one fast creative guy up front to go along with whichever brian mcbride impersonator that we're going to field.  with donovan in the midfield, and dempsey playing like he didn't really care about scoring, we had very little speed and creativity up front.  without a dominant midfield, we're going to continue to struggle to score in the run of play, unless we let some of these faster players have the chance to make long runs and get opportunities to beat defenders one on one for breakaways. 

[RonBurgundy68]

IMO, I think Brian Mullan needs to be given a shot at the national team level... Great speed and hustle on the wing, fantastic work rate, and always finds a way to get the ball where it needs to be...

[Newcastle]

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