Brad Evans' late winner rescues all three points for the United States

By Money Mike





With just under two minutes to go plus stoppage time, it appeared that Jamaica was on route to its third straight World Cup Qualifying defeat and the U.S. were on its way to its first ever World Cup Qualifying win in Kingston (believe it or not). But after the Reggae Boyz equalized late in the match, it appeared the Americans were gonna walk away with a disappointing result going into the match against Panama on June 11th, which of course will take place here in Seattle. But an unlikely hero stepped up in stoppage time. Brad Evans, who was making his second straight start at Right Back for the U.S., came through with one of the biggest goals of his career as he scored the game winner to salvage all three points for the U.S. in a 2-1 victory of Jamaica. The American are now sitting in a three way tie for first place with Mexico and Costa in the Hexagonal table with seven points. Costa Rica is currently sitting on top of the group with a +2 goal difference while the U.S. sits in second by virtue of goals scored. Again the top three teams will automatically qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. While the fourth-placed team will face New Zealand (winner of the Oceania qualifier) in a home and away playoff for one of the final spots in the World Cup.



USA came out attacking right from the start and they should've been 1-nil up in the 2nd minute. Graham Zusi's cross sailed over the head of Clint Dempsey, but it was cleared poorly by Alvas Powell. Jermaine Jones stepped up and hit it first time and it hit his own teammate and fell to Michael Bradley who his it on the half volley, right on the sweet spot, had goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts beat but it comes off the post and Jamaica dodge an early bullet.



Two minutes later, Jermaine Jones played a good long diagonal ball to Fabian Johnson on the near side. Johnson cut inside of Power and got the shot away before one of the Reggae Boyz had any chance to slide in and break up the play, but Donovan Ricketts got down and made the save.



Now we're gonna fast forward to the 30th minute, when the United States continued to press and this time would make it count. Graham Zusi got around O'Brian Woodbine and whipped in a very good driven ball into the six-yard area where he had two blue shirts and getting on the end of it, unmarked was Jozy Altidore with a snap header to put the U.S. ahead 1-0 in Kingston. It was Jozy's 15th international goal and his second in as many caps after only recording one goal in the Klinsmann era, which of course came from the penalty spot in USA's 3-2 win over Slovenia back on November 15, 2011.



In the 38th minute, USA nearly got pegged back. Ryan Johnson lifted the ball over the head of Omar Gonzalez and found Rodolph Austin, who brought it down and tried to slot it inside the far corner with the outside of his foot, but the post saves the Americans. Shortly after, Jermaine Johnson had a go but he missed well wide of goal.



In the 49th minute, Jamaica continued to push for the equalizer. Jermaine Johnson cut inside of Fabian Johnson and drove one low and hard, but wide as well. Johnson's been causing a lot of havoc on the right hand side for Jamaica and made life really difficult for the U.S. even though they've dodged a lot of bullets from him. I think one of the big mistakes that Jamican coach Theodore Whitmore made was replacing 'Jermaine' Johnson with Theo Robinson in the 68th minute because they lost some creativity on the right hand side since that move.



In the 50th minute, nearly got burned with a long distance effort. Garath McCleary played the ball back to Rodolph Austin, who was given so much room to take a touch and crank from well outside and he didn't miss by much. Michael Bradley tried to close him down, but he was too late. That's why you can not give the opposition that much room, especially Austin because he really can hit em' from outside with a lot of power.



Moving on to the 89th minute, the Reggae Boyz came through with the equalizer. After Graham Zusi committed a foul in his own half, which also resulted in a yellow card, Rodolph Austin curled his free kick to the six yard area and found an unmarked Jermaine Beckford and all he needed to do was get a head to it and that's exactly what he did as he snapped it inside Tim Howard's left hand post and the U.S. appeared to have let two points slip away with a minute to go plus stoppage time. I don't know how the linesman didn't see it and obviously none of the U.S. players had their hands raised, protesting to the officials, but it looked like when the ball was chipped into the box, Beckford was in an offside position. But the linesman didn't see it, the goal stood and Jamaica leveled things up at 1-1. By the way, that yellow card on Zusi will keep him out of USA's next qualifying match on Tuesday against Panama.



In the second minute of stoppage time, just when you thought all was lost, Brad Evans stepped up and came through with a late winner. Michael Bradley played a short corner and got the return pass from Graham Zusi. Bradley cut to his left foot, slid the ball into the area for Evans and here's what happened.....







Big win for the U.S. in Kingston in the first of three qualifying matches in June. Many people believe the U.S. need to get seven points out of these three matches. So far they have three, now it's time to get ready for the Panama match on June 11th here in Seattle. And of course, I'm gonna be there....





Scoring summary:



United States - Jozy Altidore (Graham Zusi) 30'



Jamaica - Jermaine Beckford (Rodolph Austin) 89'



United States - Brad Evans (Michael Bradley) 92'+





Misconduct summary:



United States - Graham Zusi (caution; foul)* 89'



United States - Brad Evans (caution; excessive celebration) 91'+



* - Will miss USA's next match on June 11th against Panama





Lineups:



United States - Tim Howard; Brad Evans, Omar Gonzalez, Matt Besler, DaMarcus Beasley; Graham Zusi, Jermaine Jones (Geoff Cameron 59'), Michael Bradley, Fabian Johnson (Edgar Castillo 14'); Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore (Eddie Johnson 83')



Jamaica - Donovan Ricketts; Alvas Powell, Daniel Gordon, Adrian Mariappa, O'Brian Woodbine; Jermaine Johnson (Theo Robinson 68'), Rodolph Austin, Marvin Elliot, Jermaine Hue (Jermaine Beckford 70'), Garath McCleary (Omar Daley 75'); Ryan Johnson





Hexagonal table:



1. Costa Rica; 2-1-1 (7 points), GF 5 GA 3 GD +2

2. United States; 2-1-1 (7 points), GF 4 GA 3 GD +1

3. Mexico; 1-0-4 (7 points), GF 3 GA 2 GD +1

4. Panama; 1-0-3 (6 points), GF 5 GA 3 GD +2

5. Honduras; 1-2-1 (4 points), GF 4 GA 6 GD -2

6. Jamaica; 0-3-2 (2 points), GF 2 GA 6 GD -4

"NOT AGAIN": Yes again..... Sounders snatch one late against Sporting Kansas City

SKC left standing with their heads in their hands

after conceding yet another late goal to the Sounders.

By Money Mike





Coming off a 2-2 draw in Philly, the Seattle Sounders closed out their three game road trip in Kansas City. Many exports expected SKC to come away with an easy victory. The Sounders had other plans like eh, I don't know........ scoring another late goal. That's exactly what happened. It looked like the match was going to end scoreless, but deep into stoppage time, Sporting whiffed on an attempted clearance and Djimi Traore made them pay as he scored the winning goal to give the Sounders a 1-0 victory. After an 0-3-2 start, the Sounders have picked up 7 points during this road stretch and are starting to turn things around in this early part of the season. The Sounders return home for a Saturday afternoon match against the San Jose Earthquakes. The Rave Green have a major score to settle with them, having lost the last four meetings between the two.



In the opening seconds of the game, Michael Gspurning was immediately put to the test. Zach Scott failed to clear the ball out of his own half and Jacob Peterson looked to take advantage by hitting one inside the far post, but Gspurning got down, made the save and held on before C.J. Sapong had any chance at a rebound.



In the 13th minute, Sporting tried to catch the Sounders off guard. Peterson Joseph took the corner and rather than swinging the ball into the box, he elected to play it short to Josh Gardner who slid the ball through to Graham Zusi. The idea was right, but Zusi took a heavy touch which allowed Brad Evans to get a foot to it, but Peterson Joseph stepped up and tried a curling shot to the far corner, but he didn't quite get enough bend on it.



In the 22nd minute, Seattle Sounders should've had a penalty. Zach Scott took a long throw in from the near side. His throw in just missed the head of Brad Evans and bounced off the arm of Ike Opara right in front of the goal, but nothing was given. And why not? Opara raised his arm up, the ball bounced off his arm....... Can somebody explain to me how that is not a penalty? Seconds later, play was stopped after some yelling from the Sounders bench. Referee Geoff Gamble ran over to the bench and I thought he ejected one of the Sounders assistant coaches because one of them got up immediately and argued, but it just so happened that it was backup goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann who was dismissed. Now I've never seen anything like that before. Normally if a referee goes over to eject somebody, it would be one of the coaches, but a bench player? I've never seen that. Now for those of you who are confused with the rules regarding somebody getting sent off from the bench, it's just like a player getting a red card. They're ejected from the game and are suspended for the next game. The only difference here is that Seattle doesn't have to play with 10 men because the player sent off of course, was on the bench. Another thing to add to this is now Seattle doesn't have a backup goalkeeper for the match this Saturday against the Earthquakes. So it looks like they're gonna bring in Doug Herrick who's currently contracted by the MLS League-Wide Reserve Goalkeeper Pool, which means any team can bring him up for a game if needed. Some of you remember him from last season with the Sounders U23. There's also a guy by the name of Brad Stuver who is also contracted by the MLS reserve pool, but it's likely to be Doug Herrick who will be called into the squad as an emergency backup to Michael Gspurning for this Saturday. I think this is the third time that the Sounders have had to bring in a keeper from the reserve pool. First couple weeks of the 09' season, they had to bring in Ben Dragavon to the fold when Chris Eylander was banged up and he actually came on in a match against Kansas City after Kasey Keller was sent off. The other guy they brought in was Alex Horwath in 2010. That guy didn't make an appearance however.



Alright enough talk about the goalkeeper situation, let's move to the 26 minute. The Sounders hadn't created many opportunities in this game, but they had one here. Mario Martinez chipped the ball to Brad Evans from about 20 yards out. Evans chested the ball down and tried to volley it with his left foot, but it was a weak attempt and didn't look like it was gonna test Jimmy Nielsen had it been on target.



A minute later, Nielsen nearly got caught wrong footed. Mario Martinez took the free kick from outside the penalty area, well within his shooting range. He curled the ball low and around the wall and I thought it was going in but the ball wasn't hit far enough from the goalkeeper and Nielsen got down and made the save.



Now we're gonna fast forward all the way to the 80th minute. The Seattle backline has been put under a lot of pressure all game long. Graham Zusi tried to work a give and go with Claudio Bieler, but the pass was to far for him. However, the Sounders had some trouble clearing the ball away and the attack wasn't over. Chance Myers let the ball bounce to him before he can settle and whip in a long ball into the area looking for Kei Kamara (yes, he's back from his loan stint with Norwich City). Djimi Traore got a head to it, but right to Claudio Bieler who volleyed it well wide. I think that was their first shot attempt of the second half despite all the pressure they put on the Sounders back line.



A couple minutes later, Kei Kamara took on Leo Gonzalez from the near side and sent a low driven ball into the area where he had C.J. Sapong lurking, but his cross was too close to Michael Gspurning.



Now lets fast forward deep into stoppage time. Remember the stoppage time goal by Mike Fucito in 2010? Or the one by Jeff Parke in 2011? Hell, what about the two stoppage time goals by Mauro Rosales and Lamar Neagle later on in 2011 at Sporting Park? Well, in the final seconds of stoppage time (more time was added because of an injury delay), the Sounders burn them again. Zach Scott rather than throwing it long towards goal, he purposefully threw it short to Brad Evans who flicked the ball across and after Aurelien Collin whiffed on his attempted clearance which would've ended the game there, the ball bounced to Djimi Traore who turned and smashed it home and the Sounders steal one from Sporting Kansas City yet again. There were a few appeals that Traore touched it with his hand, but if the referee called handball on that play, then he should've called handball on Opara. Also, Traore didn't touch the ball with his hand, it bounced off his knee. So if any of you think that was a handball, you better go back and watch it over and over again. Nothing was called anyway, the goal stood and the Sounders win 1-0.





Scoring summary:



Seattle Sounders FC - Djimi Traore 1 (Unassisted) 94'+





Misconduct summary:



Seattle Sounders FC - Marcus Hahnemann (dismissed; dissent) 24'



Sporting Kansas City - Ike Opara (caution; foul) 45'



Sporting Kansas City - Aurelien Collin (caution; foul) 91'+





Lineups:



Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Gspurning; Zach Scott, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Djimi Traore, Leonardo Gonzalez; Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Servando Carrasco, Mario Martinez (Alex Caskey 93'+); Eddie Johnson, David Estrada (Mauro Rosales 85')



Sporting Kansas City - Jimmy Nielsen; Chance Myers, Aurelien Collin, Ike Opara, Josh Gardner (Seth Sinovic 75'); Benny Feilhaber (Claudio Bieler 66'), Oriol Rosell, Peterson Joseph; Graham Zusi, C.J. Sapong, Jacob Peterson (Kei Kamara 73')

USA gets a huge World Cup Qualifying victory in a blizzard

By Money Mike





Despite all the heavy snow late in the night in Denver, the match went on and it was the USA who came away with the three points they so desperately needed. On Friday night, the U.S. defeated Costa Rica 1-0 in front of a sellout crowd at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. With the win, the U.S. moves up two second place in the hexagonal table. Remember, the top three teams in the group qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the fourth placed team will play New Zealand in a home-and-away playoff for one of the final spots in the World Cup. New Zealand clinched the top spot in the OFC Qualifier with a game to spare after coming away with a 2-1 victory over New Caledonia in their match on Friday. The U.S. have another Qualifying match on Tuesday as they head down to Mexico for a clash against their arch rivals.



In the 15th minute, the U.S. pressured the Costa Rican backline early as the visitors struggled to clear the ball out of their own area. Michael Umana got over Jozy Altidore trying to head the ball clear, but he headed to right to Clint Dempsey who decided to have a go from about 30 yards out, but it was always going high and wide.



A minute later, the Americans took advantage of a poor goal kick from goalkeeper Kaylor Navas and climbed out to an early lead. Graham Zusi picked up the loose ball and fed it to Clint Dempsey, who then turned and found Jozy Altidore from about 19 yards out. Jozy had a go which was blocked by Roy Miller and right there to poke the ball into the empty net was Clint Dempsey to give the United States a 1-0 lead. It was Dempsey's seventh goal of this Qualifying campaign and his fourth in the last three World Cup Qualifying matches. The Costa Rican defenders were claiming offside, but that wasn't even close. Dempsey was well onside on the shot from Altidore so there's no way the linesman would raise his flag on that play.



Five minutes later, the Costa Rican's nearly caught the Americans on the break. Geoff Cameron was looking to feed the ball out wide to Herculez Gomez, but it was cut out by Bryan Oviedo who continued his run and chipped ball toward the back post which took a deflection and bounced off the foot of Christian Bolanos and into the hands of Brad Guzan.



In the 38th minute, Costa Rica had another opportunity to pull level. Bryan Oviedo once again jumped in from the back and worked a 1-2 with Christian Bolanos and looked to square the ball across for Alvaro Saborio, but it took a deflection and once again landed in the arms of Brad Guzan who of course was making his first start in the Klinsmann era, replacing Tim Howard who was out with a back injury.



Now moving on to the 42nd minute, USA should've had a penalty. DaMarcus Beasley curled the ball in the box with his left foot for Jozy Altidore. Kaylor Navas made a dumbass decision coming off his line and try to punch the ball away and he didn't get a finger to it. The ball bounced to Clint Dempsey, who made a cut and was clipped by Roy Miller. The referee was right there and he does not call a penalty. Why? I do not know, but it should've been called.



In the 51st minute of the match, the U.S. had an opportunity to double the lead. Clint Dempsey whipped in a good cross for Herculez Gomez, who flicked the ball to Jozy Altidore, but the momentum carried him away from the goal. Altidore chased the ball down near the end line, cut inside to the top of the penalty area turned and struck the ball near post with his right foot, but it rolls wide of net. It was a nice bit of play though from Altidore. We've seen him do that a couple of times during his early days with the New York Red Bulls. I thought Altidore was lively all game long, making some good runs in the box, getting a couple of good looks at goal.



In the 60th minute, Costa Rica began to push forward and they had another opportunity to pull level. Michael Barrantes played a good long ball for Alvaro Saborio who volleyed it low from a tight angle, but Brad Guzan read it perfectally.



10 minutes later, the Costa Rican's thought they had an equalizer. Not so fast. Michael Barrantes curled the ball out with his left foot and it sailed over everybody in the box. However, Ariel Rodriguez was there to track the ball down and play it back in and the U.S. back stuggled to clear the ball away and Roy Miller poked the ball back to Barrantes who curled the ball to the far post for Joel Campbell who headed the ball off the post and into the back of the net, but the flag was up for offside so the goal did not count. It was the right call as well because when the ball was played in, there were two Costa Rican's in an offside position, including Campbell. If Campbell wasn't in an offside position, then the goal would probably stand, but it wasn't and the U.S. were able to hold on for a big win.





Scoring summary:



United States - Clint Dempsey (Unassisted) 16'





Misconduct summary:



Costa Rica - Roy Miller (caution; foul) 49'



United States - Jermaine Jones (caution; foul) 69'



Costa Rica - Giancarlo Gonzalez (caution; foul) 90'





Lineups:



Costa Rica - Kaylor Navas; Cristian Gamboa (Juan Diego Madrigal 81'), Michael Umana, Giancarlo Gonzalez, Roy Miller, Bryan Oviedo (Diego Calvo 73'); Ariel Rodriguez, Michael Barrantes, Christian Bolanos (Joel Campbell 62'); Bryan Ruiz, Alvaro Saborio



United States - Brad Guzan; Geoff Cameron, Omar Gonzalez, Clarence Goodson, DaMarcus Beasley; Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones (Maurice Edu 83'); Graham Zusi (Eddie Johnson 76'), Clint Dempsey, Herculez Gomez (Kyle Beckerman 94'+); Jozy Altidore

Looking ahead to USA's two upcoming World Cup Qualifying matches

By Money Mike





We're only one match into the Hexagonal Round of the CONCACAF Qualifier for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and already it feels like the United States need to get a result in one of these two matches. The U.S. are coming off a 2-1 defeat down in Honduras in the first match of the Hexagonal round and now for the two upcoming matches tomorrow against Costa Rica at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Colorado and Tuesday at the Estadio Azteca against Mexico, they're going to be without a few key players including their goalkeeper. Tim Howard is out with a back problem, so Brad Guzan will be called upon to fill in for the injured Howard. Now Guzan does have experience playing in big games like these. He's appeared in five WCQ matches and has registered a clean sheet in three of the five. He's done well in goal lately for Aston Villa, so we'll see how he does. Howard's not the only one ruled out, as I just said earlier. Steve Cherundolo is still not fully recovered from his knee injury, Timmy Chandler suffered a hamstring injury during a match last Saturday, Fabian Johnson has been out for two weeks with a hip problem and Danny Williams has been dealing with an illness. Another player that isn't on the squad is their leader Carlos Bocanegra, who was left out due to the fact that he hasn't seen any playing time for his club for over a week and a half now. Other players that haven't been getting any playing time...... the ones that you'd consider as a possible replacement in the back of course. Oguchi Onyewu has made only 1 appearance for Malaga this season (what the hell is going on with this guy?). Michael Parkhurst has lacked playing time since his move to FC Augsburg in the Bundesliga. And here's one that I don't recall anyone mentioning, Eric Lichaj. He's had a good run of form up to December 23 and then he's only appeared in two matches since then. So the inexperience in the back has led to concerns for the entire week now.



Now if you hadn't read anything regarding the critics of this U.S. team, you might want to do that. There was a piece on Sporting News about 11 anonymous players criticizing Jurgen Klinsmann's coaching methods (which were pathetic as of last match), but there criticism was a step too far. Not even Michael Bradley appreciated any of it.....



“It’s shameful, and it’s embarrassing. I think for every guy who has ever played on a team, you give everything you have … and on every team in the world, not every guy is going to be happy. There’s going to be guys who go back to their room and talk with their roommate about things they wish were different. But that’s normal.



…But you cross a line when you take those thoughts and you take your disappointments outside of the team, outside of the inner circle."



And Bradley's 100% right. We hear about shit like this every year. Players not being happy, wondering why they're here, etc. But when you spread this crap outside the system, you're taking it a step too far (I don't know, I can't explain). Here's a look at the squad. You can see the lack of experience in the back. DeMarcus Beasley is back in the side along with Terrence Boyd and of course Brad Guzan will be back in net for the Red, White and Blue.....





U.S. squad by position (caps/goals):



Goalkeepers:



Brad Guzan (Aston Villa; England) - 20/0



Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake) - 6/0



Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire) - 3/0





Defenders:



Clarence Goodson (Brondby; Denmark) - 34/3



Geoff Cameron (Stoke City; England) - 12/0



Omar Gonzalez (Los Angeles Galaxy) - 4/0



Tony Beltran (Real Salt Lake) - 1/0



Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City) - 1/0



Justin Morrow (San Jose Earthquakes) - 1/0





Midfielders:



DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla; Mexico) - 97/17



Michael Bradley (AS Roma; Italy) - 73/11



Maurice Edu (Bursaspor; Turkey) - 43/1



Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht; Belgium) - 39/4



Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04; Germany) - 27/2



Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake) - 24/1



Brek Shea (Stoke City; England) - 15/0



Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City) - 8/1



Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo) - 6/0



Joe Corona (Tijuana; Mexico) - 3/0





Forwards:



Clint Dempsey (Tottenham Hotspur; England) - 92/31



Jozy Altidore (AZ; Netherlands) - 53/13



Eddie Johnson (Seattle Sounders FC) - 46/14



Herculez Gomez (Santos Laguna; Mexico) - 19/5



Terrence Boyd (Rapid Vienna; Austria) - 7/0





USA vs Costa Rica prediction:



So for this one, I'm gonna break everything down and go from there. I mentioned that the U.S. lacks experience defensively, Costa Rica brings in a good attacking side with Alvaro Saborio (who last I heard, may not play due to injury). They also have Bryan Ruiz who struck twice against the American's the last time these two teams met in a World Cup Qualifier. Then there's young Joel Campbell and of course Jairo Arrieta. But as good as their attack is, Costa Rica is not that good at defending. I mean, they are not a physical team and when it comes to that. Whether it's from open play or on set pieces, they are just not that good. I mean, the American's are a physical team. Eddie Johnson's an aggressive player, Herculez Gomez, Michael Bradley and Omar Gonzalez are aggressive players. So I kind of draw this to who's the more physical side, and it's definitely the U.S. If they can hold their ground defensively and on put the Costa Rican backline under a ton of pressure, I think they can put in a couple of goals and come away with a result. The U.S. has a 24-match home unbeaten streak in World Cup Qualifying play, and I've been wrong before, but I think they'll get a result and extend it to 25.



USA - 2

Costa Rica - 1





USA vs Mexico prediction:



Last time the U.S. visited Mexico, they defeated them 1-0 on an 80th minute goal by Michael Orozco Fiscal. However this is not going to be the same Mexico side we saw in the last visit. Mexico is off to a slow start themselves after drawing at home to Jamaica in their first match of the Hexagonal round. But again, the El Tri has had their number against the American's in this stage and I don't see why the match on Tuesday would be any different. I just hope I'm wrong with this one, but I have to go with a loss.



USA - 0

Mexico - 2