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Closer Look Eddie Lewis' ejection works to U.S. favor
By Jeff Green, CNNSI.com WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Maybe it's a little bit of the English first division rubbing off on Eddie Lewis. After 65 minutes in Sunday's World Cup qualifier between the United States and Guatemala, the momentum shifted decidedly in the favor of the visitors when the U.S. left-sided midfielder headed to the showers. Seven minutes earlier, with the game tied 0-0, U.S. coach Bruce Arena made his big tactical switch, bringing on wingers Cobi Jones and Lewis on the right and left, respectively, for defender Tony Sanneh and midfielder Earnie Stewart. With the insertion of Lewis and Jones, Arena sought to add punch to the U.S. offense. Had the game ended in a scoreless draw, it would have been treated as a victory by the underdog Guatemalans. "We needed to get a goal," said Arena, whose team badly needed the victory after previously tying Guatemala and losing to Costa Rica on late scores. "The goal was to get a little bit more width in the attack and throw an extra player in the attack." Eight minutes later, however, Lewis was already done for the day. On the play, Lewis lost possession of the ball to Fabricio Benitez near midfield. Scrambling to recover, Lewis' forearm made contact with Benitez's face. The Guatemalan midfielder crumbled to the ground, and Mexican referee Ulises Rangel wasted no time in brandishing his red card. "It happened so quick," Arena said. "I thought Eddie was maybe putting his elbow up to shield the player, but there was contact. It's a judgment call by the referee. There's nothing I can do about it." Lewis said he was "astounded" by the call. The television replay, he said, would show that "I have my arm out but I'm not throwing an elbow. I'm not trying to hit him in the face or anything like that. I'm just sort of shielding him from the ball." Regardless, the ejection changed the face of the game.
"It changed the game dramatically," Lewis said. "I'm brought on to change the game offensively and help our team win and now all of a sudden we're down a man, still looking for a goal. And a guy with fresh legs has been nullified." But the U.S. seemed to be re-energized by the incident. After the U.S. defense cleared a Guatemalan attack, Jovan Kirovski found Jones open on the right, who beat the offside trap, advanced the ball to the 18 and lofted a cross to the far post. Brian McBride met the ball with a left-footed half volley inside goalkeeper Edgar Estrada by the near post. Rather than celebrating the eventual game-winner, the only goal of the game, McBride remained on the ground after a collision with Estrada left him with a broken shinguard. "Thankfully, that thing was there," McBride said, adding that the ejection might have actually had a positive effect on the U.S. "We actually played the ball quicker," he said. "It wasn't that we were playing bad before, but it might have meant we had a little more space to move the ball, and we actually had to do it." McBride might not have rejoiced after his goal, but Lewis certainly did when he saw it on TV in the locker room. "You can understand my relief when we scored," he said. "I was thrilled." After the goal, the U.S. retreated into penalty-kill mode, and unlike their two previous qualifiers in Central America, they were successful. After the game, Lewis was asked if his foul would have been called in the more physical English first division, where he transferred to Fulham last season from the San Jose Earthquakes. "[Benitez] would have gotten a red card for diving," Lewis said with a laugh. "Believe me, it wouldn't have been called. No chance." Nevertheless, the effects of Lewis' red card will continue to be felt in the next U.S. qualifier, when he will serve a suspension against Costa Rica on Oct. 11 at Columbus Crew Stadium in Ohio. Stewart will also be unavailable after receiving his second qualifying yellow card Sunday.
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