The US celebrated Independence Day in style, steamrolling an over-matched Grenada team in their opening group game of the 2009 Gold Cup.
The Americans controlled play throughout the match, and out shot the Grenadines 23-3 in scoring a pair of goals on either side of halftime.
Coach Bob Bradley chose what looked like a third or fourth string lineup, but the Americans out-classed the Caribbeans from the opening whistle, and controlled play through a midfield lead by Kyle Beckerman and anchored by Logan Pause.
The home team attacked early and often and it took them only eight minutes to get on the board through Freddy Adu, who started alongside Charlie Davies at forward.
Columbus Crew winger Robbie Rogers, who terrorized the somewhat hapless Grenada right side all night, ran at his defender down the left side and then cut inside and laid off to a wide open Adu, who calmly slotted home to give the Americans the early advantage.
The American offense came fast and frequently, and the US had managed more than half a dozen shots on goal before Grenada had their first. In the 23rd minute, Kithson Bain sliced through loose marking in the US area and headed on goal, forcing Troy Perkins into his only save of the night.
The US managed its second in the 32nd minute through right side midfielder Stuart Holden. Beckerman slammed a shot on goal which Grenadian 'keeper Desmond Noel could only parry away, and Rogers collected the ball on the far side.
Unhurried, he lobbed a cross into the six yard box, and Holden, making his first appearance for the full national team, cut in between two idle defenders and easily headed past the helpless goalie.
Both Adu and Davies would miss chances late in the first half, but the Americans continued their dominance in the second stanza, in which Perkins might as well have replaced himself with a cone and gone out for drinks for the trouble Grenada caused him.
After a series of early forays, the home team extended their lead to three. It was the 60th minute before the US made good on their attacks, as Pause sent Rogers free with a long ball, and the Crewman, in alone on Noel, made no mistake.
Eight minutes later the Americans closed the scoring on a brilliant combination from two Confederations Cup teammates.
Chad Marshall sent a long ball up the left flank which an overlapping Heath Pearce managed to hit one time towards a streaking Charlie Davies at the top of the box. With his final touch before being replaced by Davy Arnaud, Davies settled the ball and poked it past Noel to provide the final scoreline.
A series of further chances came to nothing, and the makeshift American squad settled for the comfortable win in their opener.
The Americans will now cross the country for a Wednesday evening encounter with Honduras, 1-0 winners over Haiti in the night's opening match. |
Tuesday July 7, 2009
2:22 am |
While it's nice that they had a chance to play, this was more of a scrimmage than a full blooded contest... I doubt that will be the case against Honduras. I see that Bradley has brought in Benny Feilhaber for this next match, it will be interesting to see just what line-up he goes with.
I assume that if Benny has been added, that at some point he'll see the field. I certainly hope that they continue to play two forwards and not go too conservative against Honduras... I didn't get to see the Honduras v Haiti match, but I can't think that Honduras can feel satisfied having only scored one goal in that game.
This is likely to be the make or break game for both teams, so I hope we're ready for a much tougher opponent.
— Robert Kiernan
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Monday July 6, 2009
9:22 pm |
how about we get adu in there with charlie davies and jozy altidore.
— dikranovich
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Monday July 6, 2009
1:31 pm |
Hard to tell anything from this one. Probably a good time for this group to get their feet wet without too much pressure. Hopefully we'll get to see Freddy in a mid-field role, backing up Davies and Ching/Cooper up top.
— Charlie G.
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