Captaincy a ‘tremendous honor’ for Bradley

Captaincy was a “tremendous honor”

Analysis: Late goals once again doom the USMNT

by Sean Maslin

If soccer is a sport of habitual behavior, then the United States Men’s National Team have developed a pretty bad addiction. In Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to Denmark the USMNT continued their recent trend of poor form late in matches, conceding two goals late and leaving Aarhus with more questions than answers.

While it would be easy to say that Nicklas Bendtner’s goals in the 83rd and 91st minute were isolated incidents, the USMNT’s recent history tends to suggest otherwise. In the past year, the senior national team have given up 24 goals. Of those 24 goals, 20 of them have have been scored in the second half.

Perhaps what is most disturbing is that the USMNT have conceded 16 of those goals in the last 15 minutes of the match.

“Obviously, what you don’t like is late goals,” said USMNT coach Jurgen Klinsmann. “Maybe it’s just losing focus for a second, losing your mark or because of heavy legs getting tired a little bit.”

Beyond the late goals, the USMNT struggled to put together sustained possessions for the better part of the match. Part of that is due to the team that they are up against; the Danes, led by midfielder Christian Eriksen controlled the speed of the match by working passes in and out of the center of the pitch. Bendtner’s first goal was a result of stretching the USMNT defense then the ex-Arsenal man finding a gap to exploit.

Defending, as a whole, was once again an issue for the United States. Wednesday’s match was the first time that the back four of Greg Garza, John Anthony Brooks, Timothy Chandler, and Michael Orozco had all played with one another. The Danish attack took advantage of this, getting Brooks and Chandler out of position on several chances.

Klinsmann though seemed pleased with their efforts. ” I think the back-line overall did a very good job. From the left to the right, they were all on top of things as much as they could be.”

Although the end result will understandably leave a bad taste in their mouths, this was not a one-sided affair. A cracking goal by Jozy Altidore gave the USMNT the lead just 19 minutes into the match. The shot that went past Danish goalkeeper Stephan Andersen was his 27th international goal.

“It was a great ball from Timmy [Chandler],” said Altidore. “It looked like the defenders were confused a little bit, and I just tried to kind of stay with the play.”

Wednesday’s match was also a big moment for midfielder Michael Bradley as he donned the captain’s armband for the first time for the USMNT.

“It was a tremendous honor. Obviously Clint’s [Dempsey] the captain and he’s done an incredible job, but for me to have the opportunity to be captain on the night that he’s not here was very special and not something that I’ll soon forget.”

Their second goal from Aron Johansson, who made his return not just to the USMNT but also to Aarhus where he played for three years. ““Obviously it’s great for me that they still know my name back here and they still cheer for me,” Johansson said. “It’s a great city and I’m very happy to be back, but on the other hand, the result kind of killed it.”

But despite these achievements, Wednesday’s match at Aarhus will still be seen as yet another opportunity where the USMNT could not finish off an opponent.

“I thought we handled things for the most part pretty well, but if you don’t see the game out, if you don’t take care of things in the last few minutes then you’re not going to ever get what you deserve,” said Bradley.

The USMNT will next travel to Zurich where they will take on Switzerland (noon EST, Fox Sports 1).