I have watched 10 futbol matches so far in the 2010 Worl Cup, and the two most frustrating games so far have easily been the two games featuring the United States.
The US team played an abysmal first half of futbol today against Slovenia, a team that US midfielder/striker Landon Donovan said "if we can't beat Slovenia we don't deserve to be in the World Cup".
Donovan's team went down 0-2 at the half, came out and played a much better 45 minutes of futbol and not only tied the game but had the game-winning goal taken away from them.
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Click the link for video highlights and the espn.com recap of the game)
I have neither the time nor attention span to go research the names of the Slovenia players who scored goals, but the frist Slovenia goal came way too early in the match (under 15 minutes for the second time in as many games in the 2010 Cup) from a wicked, yet seemingly tame, shot from outside the top of the 18-yard line.
US goalie Tim Howard didn't even move. He knew it was past him.
And for everyone who doesn't understand how or why a goalie wouldn't bother even make a move towards a shot that was headed towards his goal has obviously never played a sport with such a big "target".
Sometimes the goalie knows he couldn't possibly cover that much ground in such a short period of time.
Which is yet another reason why futbol provides something different, not better or worse - but different, from what we here in the US are used to watching in our favorite professional sports.
The second Slovenia goal was another prime example of why watching US soccer right now is so frustrating. The defense of the US team and their lack of urgency inside the box allowed space for crisp passing and a nice run behind the back lines of the blue jerseys for a wide open shot for Tim Howard to have to stop. Howard gave good effort, but was again beaten cleanly on a nice goal.
The second goal came late in the first half, right as the US team was starting to apply pressure for the first time on the Slovenians, whose population is about that of Houston, TX.
The US came out and scored very quickly in the second half, on a gorgeous, f*ck-you style goal from the team's best player, Landon Donovan. Donovan scored from only a few feet away but at an awkward angle, after taking the ball some 35 yards playing the ball of a bounce much better than the Slov' defenseman who allowed it to skip by him.
Donovan's goal was enough to ignite the US team to steady pressure on the Slov's for much of the second half, but the goal didn't come easy. After many attenmpts to push the ball into the Slovenian penalty area, and muchos missed calls by a referee in his first World Cup game, the US seemed to begin to fade when a ball played of the head of US striker and 20yr old Jose Altiodore and on to the foot of Michael Bradley, who buried the ball in the back of the net, after a one-hop off the 10-yard line.
Bradley, who is the son of US team coach Bob Bradley, sprinted towards the sideline, sliding out of bounds in celebration as he was mobbed by his teammates after tying the game with less than 10 minutes to play.
And only minutes later, Maurice Adu, who was the first US substitution of the game (Edu replaced the in-over-his-head Robbie Findley) scored a beautiful goal on a Landon Donovan set piece (aka free kick) from 20+ yards out, that went off the head of Altiodore (again), only this time bouncing to Edu who was crashing the net and pushed it past the Slov goalie.
3-2 US!!!
Not.
Donovan, who said he felt "gutted" in a post-game interview, was still confused about what the actual reason the ref had for blowing the whistle and disallowing the goal.
"We asked the ref many times what it was or who it was on and he wouldn't or couldn't explain it," Donovan said. "I don't know what to think of the call because I didn't see any foul, just a normal free kick and a goal."
This wasn't just a bad call. This was a Joyce-like screw-up. And it cost the US team the game.
The US earned 1 point from their second tie of the tournament, which puts them in second out of the four teams in their group...for now.
England is facing off against Algeria now, and the group's seeding will be more clear after that match.
The US will in all likelihood be in a must-win mode when they face off against Algeria later next week.
More to come from South Africa, as we follow a US team that may be exiting the biggest stage in soccer much earlier than they expected.
