Young Americans drop one to T&T

After last night’s 2-1 loss in Port of Spain, I needed to take a day to take in what had happened. Initially upset with the loss, I’ve decided that it wasn’t a bad loss. The team fielded eight non-starters with the after already having advanced to the final round of qualifying.

The game actually played out as it should have. Being on the road and a lack of experience is what did the Americans in. Michael Orozco and Jose Torres Francisco were both making their first starts with senior team. Brad Guzan was in goal. Jozy Altidore was the point man with Freddy Adu playing behind him in the midfield. Maurice Edu and Sacha Kljestan rounded out the youngsters.

It was a squad that’s average age was under 24-years-old. The goal scorers for Trinidad were 40 and 36. Both played the last time T&T beat the U.S. That was 14 years ago.

Just because the U.S. lost doesn’t mean they didn’t play well. That said, there were still some weak spots.


Positives

1. Freddy Adu

I think we’re getting close to the point when all the haters can stop hating on this kid. He flat out has talent. Just let him grow. Some of his moves left T&T players dumbfounded. You just can’t predict what he’s going to do next. He is truly growing into an exciting player to watch. It was unfortunate to see him get taken off in the 69th minute, and he was none too happy, but that did lead to the game tying goal.

2. Charlie Davies

I still haven’t seen much of him, but from the short time, I’ve come to the conclusion that he should be the third striker behind Ching and Altidore. He came on as a late spark against Nigeria in the Olympics and scored the game tying goal just minutes after coming on for Adu. He’s still pretty raw, but watch out. He’s got the pace that the U.S. needs.

3. DeMarcus Beasley

He’s just been stellar throughout the qualifying process. He really thrived taking over as the team’s captain. He didn’t do as much in the second have due to an apparent leg injury in late in the first half, but I just can’t complain about he’s play lately. He appears to have really come into his own after making the move to Rangers last year.

Negatives

1. Frankie Hejduk

For being one of the elders on this squad, he sure didn’t show much. He was getting down the flanks well, but his crosses were pathetic. He may be having a good year in MLS, but I’ve grown tired of seeing him on in the national team’s starting eleven. It’s about time to find a replacement for him.

2. Brad Guzan

For as much as he has progressed over the past couple years, and the move to Aston Villa will only help, I didn’t see much out of him. The first goal was an unlucky break with the ball bouncing off the post and hitting him in the back of the head and going in the goal. I can’t fault him on the PK either, but his play during the game was sketchy at best. He just appeared to be a bit off; a little late in some situations. I’m not too worried though because he is only the team’s backup and will get better with age.

3. Maurice Edu

I love his upside and I’ve had nothing but praise for him since set foot in the professional ranks, but last night was just ugly. He just couldn’t do anything right. He at times just looked unsure of himself. His typically good distribution just wasn’t there and his defense was a bit spotty. My guess is that it was just an off-night. I still believe in him and I think he just needs more minutes with the starting eleven and last night he certainly was not playing with the usual starting eleven.

Final Thoughts

All in all, it wasn’t a bad game. We learned a lot from a young crop of players that have been wanting to see get some minutes for awhile now. It’s obvious where the talent and potential was within this squad. It was also obvious who shouldn’t be seeing the pitch in critical games. Let’s all hope that these guys can come together better and enter the final round riding high with a win over Guatemala next month.