U.S. continues winning ways

Wednesday night, the U.S. earned another three points and opened up a five point lead in the group with three matches to go after a 3-0 win over Trinidad & Tobago at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill.

Controlling the game from whistle, the U.S. imposed their will early on against a sub-par T&T team without their best scoring threat in Dwight Yorke. They opted to go defensive in hopes of stifling the U.S. attack, but Michael Bradley’s right-footed flick into the back of the net opened up the scoring in the 10th minute. Clint Dempsey linked up nicely with DaMarcus Beasley on a 1-2 that Dempsey buried easily in the low left corner. It was Dempsey’s fourth goal in as many games during World Cup qualification.

After looking flat in the first half, and dealing with one wave after another, T&T came out with visibly more energy in the second half. In the 57th minute though, Brian Ching put the game all but out of reach with a rebound off the T&T keeper that he put away to give the U.S. a 3-0 lead. After that point, the game considerably lost its pace as the U.S. was content to just keep the game where it was at.

Even with it being the U.S.’s best game scoring wise, the second half left questions lingering. Can they actually play hard for a full 90 minutes? Can they really play like they did and beat a team like Mexico? The only game they have played even close to a full 90 was in the 1-0 win in Guatemala, where the home side was backed by a raucous crowd that was hostile beyond the final whistle.

A look back at the first half of the semifinal round

The Good: The U.S. defense.
They haven’t allowed a goal yet in qualification, dating back to two quarterfinal matches against Barbados. Including a 0-0 draw in a friendly against Argentina on June 8, they have recorded six straight shutouts, a new U.S. record.

The Bad: Lackadaisical play.
The team just has not played up to its potential for reasons unknown. The game against Cuba was a bore at best and they just didn’t finish off the T&T game. It would have been a good opportunity to show how superior they were, but it didn’t happen.

The Outlook: Bradley needs to call up Jozy Altidore and Freddy Adu.
With qualification to the final round all but assured, Bob Bradley needs to bring in his young talents and give them significant playing time. I mentioned this after the Cuba game, and I’ll be saying it after every game until it happens. Bradley is playing for the now rather than for South Africa in 2010. Sven-Goran Eriksson, Mexico’s manager, has already brought up rising stars Giovanni dos Santos and Carlos Vela to his national team to give them valuable preparation time before the World Cup in two years. Bradley needs to do the same or else he is simply just holding U.S. soccer back and that’s the last thing this country needs. Claiming that he let them stay in Europe to get acclimated with their new clubs was nothing but a cop-out.


(Photo by Brian Kersey/Getty Images)