In a tournament acting largely as a testing ground for coach Bob Bradley, two Confederations Cup standouts were finally able to provide the difference off of the bench, ultimately securing the team's place in the quarterfinals.
This summer's Gold Cup has allowed Bradley the luxury of evaluating a number of players normally falling just outside of his radar during the recent World Cup qualifying and Confederations Cup schedule.
With his team having the better run Wednesday's game but lacking the final touch needed to break the scoreless deadlock, the injection of a pair of his holdovers from the South Africa squad - Charlie Davies and Benny Feilhaber - proved to be the deciding spark.
"I think that both Charlie and Benny came on the field and brought good energy," Bradley told YA.
While the US attack led by veteran Brian Ching and the relatively inexperienced - on the international level - group of Freddy Adu, Santino Quaranta, Robbie Rogers and Kyle Beckerman was able to apply significant pressure around Los Catrachos' goal, a series of missed chances left the game knotted at zero past the hour mark and seemingly headed towards what could be a frustrating conclusion.
Bradley was confident, however, that the 63rd minute double-substitution of the Scandinavian league-based players would quickly up the tempo and put added pressure on their Honduran opponents.
"Benny has done well in a number of situations where he's been a sub," he explains. "He has come on and connected plays, he gets us going a little bit and gets our tempo moving a little bit faster."
"Charlie, with his physical qualities, has good ability to step on the field at a time when things are slowing down and make a difference that way. On both sides I think it was positive."
The move didn't take long to pay off, with local hero and star of the night Quaranta being the final recipient of a well-placed pass from Davies for the decisive 73rd minute winner, following a buildup orchestrated by the Hammarby star and Feilhaber.
"Charlie did very well on the goal," the beaming DC United player gushes. "He and Benny came in and changed the game for us."
"He [Davies] held the ball up and it was a great layoff. I just tried to keep it on frame."
With his place in national team picture all but assured in the final months before next summer's World Cup, Davies recognizes the importance - both to hopeful teammates and to Bradley's watchful eyes - of using the Gold Cup as a chance to put a different set of players into the forefront.
"I think everybody wants to make a difference and show coach Bradley that they deserve a spot on the team," the former Boston College star evaluates.
After starting the final three games of the Confederations cup as well as the Stars & Stripes' Gold Cup opener against Grenada on Saturday, Davies still has not lost sight of his strength coming off the bench, and was happy to use his qualities alongside Feilhaber to foster the late-game burst.
"We both knew what we wanted to do," he continued. "Benny wanted to come in to be aggressive in the midfield, to really be attacking and play deep balls since he knew that I could get in behind the back line."
"Our main focus was just go in there and really being aggressive," the former Boston College star asserts, "which I think that was the key for us and why we were able to come in and change the game."
Feilhaber is expected to return to Denmark for the remainder of Aarhus' preseason while Davies and the rest of the remaining squad face Haiti in their final group game on Saturday night. |
Friday July 10, 2009
9:21 am |
wow, folks, what we are seeing here is a contest for spots and recognition on the us mens team and it is good stuff. this all goes back to before the olympics and it is about the direction the team is going in. is it feilhaber's team or is it adu's team? i dont know about yall, but i want the cali brasilero cartel to roll us into south africa next summer. ghana can come along for the ride also, just as long as he knows who is in charge.
— dikranovich
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