It’s O-O Canada for U.S.
Somewhere in Prague this morning, Czech soccer fans are smiling.
In less than six months, the Czech Republic will play the United States at the World Cup in Germany.
Six months, then, is how long the U.S. has to get it right.
On Sunday evening at the University of San Diego, the Americans most assuredly did not get it right. In fact, they were booed off the field after a 0-0 tie with Canada in their opening game of 2006.
It might have been a harsh judgment but it was also accurate.
There were some good individual performances, certainly -- most notably from goalkeeper Matt Reis and defender Jimmy Conrad -- but on the whole the U.S. effort was poor and definitely not up to World Cup standards.
Coach Bruce Arena admitted as much. He wasn’t even surprised by the frequent breakdowns in a game in which the lowlights included teenager Freddy Adu making his national team debut -- at 16 years 234 days, the youngest for a U.S. player -- and promptly getting a yellow card for faking a foul.
“I think a draw was a fair result,” Arena said. “Match fitness is only going to occur by playing games. We need to get a couple of games under our belt to move the players along. I think our first touch was off a little bit tonight, partly due to the field being a little bit bumpy and a little bit slick, and the pressure the Canadian team put on the ball.
“The goal is to be better next week against Norway.”
The U.S. plays the Norwegians on Sunday at the Home Depot Center in its second of 10 pre-World Cup games.
Midfielder Landon Donovan was a little more harsh in his assessment of the U.S., which outshot Canada, 10-9, and in no way dominated or even controlled the match.
“For a lot of people, this could be their last chance,” Donovan said of players striving to make the U.S. World Cup roster. “It’s disappointing. It’s hard because it’s your first game, but I expect more, frankly. But we’ll get better.”
Arena’s first starting lineup of 2006 featured goalkeeper Reis; defenders Frankie Hejduk, Eddie Pope, Conrad and Heath Pearce; midfielders Ben Olsen, Donovan and Clint Dempsey, and forwards Taylor Twellman, Josh Wolff and Brian Ching.
On paper, it looked offensive. On the field, it was offensive, but in a different sense.
Canada created a couple of good scoring chances in the first 15 minutes, its most glaring miss coming when midfielder Marco Reda headed the ball over the crossbar from close range.
The U.S. countered immediately but also squandered two chances, first when Ching headed a sharp cross from Wolff wide of the left post and then when Twellman skied the ball into the sagebrush behind the Canadian net.
In the 56th minute, Arena took out the ineffective Twellman and sent Eddie Johnson on to liven things up a bit up front. That was the theory, at least.
But Johnson, who sat out most of 2005 because of an injured toe, went down with a bruised right calf in the 79th minute and was replaced by Adu in the 81st minute.
Almost before even touching the ball, Adu received a yellow card from Mexican referee Benito Archundia for diving in the penalty area under the challenge of defender Adam Braz.
Adu said it was all a bit of gamesmanship.
“In that situation, with two minutes left in the game, you go down,” he said. “Either the ref gives you a yellow card or he calls a penalty kick. It’s one of those things where you put the ref in a tough situation and it’s either going to go your way or against you....You get contact in the box and you’re off balance, you’re going to go down. So why not?”
For the U.S., after Sunday, the only way to go is up.
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Road to Germany
Remaining schedule for the U.S. men’s national team before the World Cup:
Jan. 29: vs. Norway at Home Depot Center
* Feb. 10: vs. Japan at San Francisco
* Feb. 19: vs. Guatemala at Frisco, Texas
* March 1: vs. Poland at Kaiserslautern, Germany
* March 22: vs. Germany at Dortmund, Germany
* April 12: vs. TBA at U.S.
Note: The U.S. also will play three games in May at home against opponents to be determined.
