U.S. eliminated after loss to Nigeria
An elbow thrown in anger and a header that was just a few inches too high.
That, on Wednesday, was what separated the U.S. men’s Olympic soccer team from a place in the tournament quarterfinals and instead put the players and coaches on a flight back home.
A 2-1 loss to Nigeria in front of 48,096 at the Workers’ Stadium in Beijing ended American participation in soccer in the Games, at least on the men’s side of things. The U.S. women on Friday play Canada in a quarterfinal match.
U.S. Coach Peter Nowak’s men could oh-so-easily have reached the last eight. They were 20 seconds away in their previous game but allowed the Netherlands a tying goal on a free kick.
On Wednesday, when they played some of their best soccer of the tournament, they came within the width of a crossbar of advancing.
But Charlie Davies’ last-minute header off a Dax McCarty free kick clanged off the bar and rebounded away, taking with it American hopes. All they needed was a tie to go through, and Davies’ shot would have provided that.
Those hopes had been severely dented in the third minute when U.S. defender Michael Orozco was ejected by German referee Wolfgang Starg for throwing an elbow into a Nigerian player’s midriff. The foul occurred at midfield and came in retaliation for Orozco’s being held. It caused Nowak’s side to play short-handed for 87 minutes plus stoppage time, which proved too great a wall to climb.
But the U.S. players gave it everything they had. There wasn’t a player left on the field at the end who was not completely drained of energy after the match. Former Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan, for one, was exceptional, making a handful of world-class saves that probably opened eyes at his new club, Aston Villa of the English Premier League.
“No one gave us a chance in the beginning, saying we weren’t going to advance,” Guzan said on U.S. Soccer’s website. “We improved each game, and the bond and chemistry we developed as players in such a short amount of time is something special.”
Nigeria was joined in the quarterfinals on Wednesday by the Netherlands, the Ivory Coast, Belgium and Cameroon. Argentina, Brazil and Italy had previously claimed their places in the last eight.
As well as Guzan played, there was little he could do about the two Nigerian goals.
The first came in the 39th minute, when spark plug Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi got around defender Michael Parkhurst to the right of the American net and then provided the pass that left Promise Isaac with the simplest tap-in for the goal.
The second came in the 79th minute and again Parkhurst was the unfortunate victim, this time slipping and falling in the penalty area while trying to tackle the ball away from Victor Obinna, who curled a shot past Guzan and in at the far post.
The U.S. managed to pull a goal back in the 88th minute on a penalty kick by Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan after Nigeria goalkeeper Ambruse Vanzekin had fouled Maurice Edu.
But once Davies’ header had come so agonizingly close, it was all over.
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Jones reported from Los Angeles.
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