Reserving judgment

Upcoming U.S. games a barometer for World Cup

DaMarcus Beasley (left) hit his first international goal against South Korea. AP

By Ridge Mahoney, Soccer America

PASADENA, Calif. -- Much more will be known about the U.S. team in another week, after it has played a quarterfinal and -- possibly -- a semifinal in the Gold Cup.

In their group games, the Americans played poorly but scored two excellent goals to stun South Korea 2-1, and started quickly but couldn't overpower Cuba while settling for a 1-0 win.

Those wins were enough to take the top spot in Group B and set up a quarterfinal meeting Sunday with El Salvador, which advanced with a 1-0 victory over Guatemala on Wednesday night after a 1-0 loss to Mexico.

Coach Bruce Arena lauded Landon Donovan -- certainly the most impressive U.S. attacker in the two games -- for scoring one goal and triggering the second against South Korea. Donovan also worked a one-two with DaMarcus Beasley to produce a penalty kick Brian McBride converted against Cuba.

Arena has already used 17 players in the two games. Six of the U.S. players had three or fewer caps when the tournament started and all of them have played with varying success.

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Defender Dan Califf struggled through a nightmare first half while earning his first cap. He gave away a penalty to South Korea with an impulsive jersey pull and was often caught out of position.

The second half was better but far less than the composed 90 minutes that replacement Pablo Mastroeni gave against Cuba. Califf certainly had the tougher assignment while making his debut. South Korea attacked quickly and often tore through a tattered U.S. midfield.

"The Koreans push the game, they push the pace and they make it really difficult to play because of their work rate and the pressure they apply to the ball," said Califf. "They definitely don't let you settle in, that's for sure."

Beasley ended the South Korea game with a stunning strike in stoppage time, his first international goal, on a feed from Jeff Cunningham and won the penalty kick Brian McBride converted for the only U.S. goal against Cuba. Beasley's darting dribbles sparked the American attack against Cuba, and he combined well with Donovan to create chances for Josh Wolff, Brian McBride and Cobi Jones. A few giveaways in his own half reflected his inexperience and youth.

"I'm getting into the international stage and we're leading up to the World Cup," said Beasley. "Every game I play is important for me. I want to make the team. "We were more aggressive. We fought more as a team today but we just couldn't get that second goal. That was our only problem."

A lack of finishing tarnished some good U.S. moments in the first hour, after which Cuba came back into the game and threatened the U.S. goal occasionally.

Wolff hit a close-range shot over the bar in the second half and Jones squandered two good opportunities that fell to his left foot; he completely fluffed a volley and rolled a shot weakly to the keeper.

"We certainly played the game where we should have beat them four or five-nothing," said Wolff, who was playing only his third competitive match since being injured last April. "I had two or three good chances; Jeff got in a couple times. It's one of those games.

"If you get the second one it can kind of snowball, but we never got that second one and that's the way it went for us in the second half."

Carlos Bocanegra, who earned his second cap against South Korea, played both games at left back. His strength in the air is an obvious asset and the U.S. often looks for him on set plays. His decision-making must improve as the competition gets tougher. The U.S. back line scrambled to contain the Korean attackers and neither Bocanegra nor right back Frankie Hejduk could get forward much to help the attack or relieve pressure on the midfielders.

"It doesn't matter how many caps the guys back there have," said captain Jeff Agoos, who spent much of his time plugging holes and yelling at teammates. "We're all experienced players and it shouldn't take us 20 or 30 minutes to figure things out."

Against Cuba, had they figured out how to score a second goal, the Americans could have rolled to an easy win.

"That hardest part of the game is creating chances," said Mastroeni, whose clean feet and quick reactions were impressive for a debuting player. "I thought we did that well and just didn't capitalize. Bruce made it a point after the last game to win our individual battles, be more tenacious in our tackling.

"Everyone in the midfield stepped up and made our job in the back a little bit easier. He definitely wanted us to get the ball off our feet quick and move for each other."

The U.S. certainly played better and quicker in the second game than it did in the first, but dreary play in the last portion of the Cuba game took the luster off a promising start. Still, it has two wins in the first two games of the year with a depleted squad. The next week will tell much more.

Ridge Mahoney is a senior editor at Soccer America magazine.

 

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