U.S. soccer team listless in loss to Netherlands
When the respective World Cup coaches of England, Slovenia and Algeria get around to watching the videotape of Wednesday night’s 2-1 soccer loss by the U.S. to the Netherlands in Amsterdam, one conclusion will be inescapable.
Unless someone pokes a sharp stick in them, the Americans remain a team that can be taken, a team that all too often sleepwalks its way through games.
This is especially true when it plays in Europe, where the U.S. has won only four of 26 games in the last dozen years.
More was expected from the Americans on a chilly Wednesday night at the Amsterdam Arena.
Despite the fact that several starters were playing for the opportunity to make the final U.S. World Cup roster that will go to South Africa in June, far too many players failed to rise to the challenge presented by a Dutch side that itself did not appear especially interested in the game.
The Netherlands did just enough to ensure that it won, accomplishing the feat on a penalty-kick goal by Liverpool’s Dirk Kuyt five minutes before halftime and a second goal by AC Milan’s Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in the 73rd minute.
With Inter Milan’s Wesley Sneijder orchestrating things from the center, the Dutch controlled play, maintaining possession with apparent ease and leaving the U.S. to chase shadows.
It was only after falling two goals behind and — notably — after Landon Donovan was yanked from the match by U.S. Coach Bob Bradley after 75 strangely anonymous minutes, that the U.S. showed any spark.
A well-taken header by Carlos Bocanegra off a free kick by DaMarcus Beasley cut the U.S. deficit in half in the 88th minute, and Jozy Altidore came agonizingly close to tying it up in stoppage time, only to see his stinging shot punched away by diving goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg.
The U.S. does not have a player like Sneijder. Donovan, who turns 28 on Thursday, has similar vision, technical skills, stamina and soccer intelligence, but for whatever reason he fails to consistently perform the way Sneijder did for the full 90 minutes on Wednesday.
Bradley paired Altidore with Robbie Findley in attack, but Findley has neither the experience nor the speed of the injured Charlie Davies and probably will not be going to the World Cup.
In addition to missing Davies, the U.S. on Wednesday was also without the injured Oguchi Onyewu, Ricardo Clark, Clint Dempsey, Steve Cherundolo and Benny Feilhaber, and the team does not have sufficient depth to overcome that many absent starters.
Then, too, Jonathan Bornstein had a nightmare of a game in defense for the U.S. It was the Chivas USA player’s foul on Sneijder that gifted the Dutch their first-half penalty kick and it was off Bornstein’s chest that Huntelaar’s second-half shot deflected past U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard.
In between, Bornstein clearly handled the ball in the penalty area but Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir ignored the infraction and Dutch appeals for a second penalty kick.
On the positive side of things, Beasley showed flashes of the speed and guile that once made him an automatic starter for the U.S. until he failed miserably at the Confederations Cup in South Africa last year. He might well have played his way back into roster contention.
Jose Torres and, later, Maurice Edu, also did well enough to stay in the hunt. Too little was seen of Eddie Johnson and Clarence Goodson to make a definitive judgment.
The disappointing thing from the perspective of U.S. fans was Donovan’s failure to lead by example and the team’s overall timidity until the final few minutes.
When it comes time for the U.S. to play England, Slovenia and Algeria in the first round of the World Cup, the approach, attitude and performance will have to be a lot different or three-games-and-out is very much in the cards.
Jones reported from Los Angeles.
