Brazil routs U.S., 3-0, in soccer
Michael Bradley committed a foul and Brazil scored.
DaMarcus Beasley failed to trap the ball and Brazil scored.
Jonathan Bornstein was late in making a tackle and Brazil scored.
In three sentences, that was the story of the United States’ 3-0 loss to Brazil at the FIFA Confederations Cup in Pretoria, South Africa, on Thursday.
The Brazilians -- bigger, faster and vastly more soccer-intelligent -- easily defeated a U.S. squad that again gave up an early goal, again appeared intimidated, again had a player ejected and again showed no sign of being able to play at the level of soccer’s international powers.
Fortunately for the Americans, Egypt came to their rescue, shocking world champion Italy, 1-0, on a goal by Mohamed Homos and some stellar goalkeeping by Essam al Hadary in Thursday’s later game in Bloemfontein. That result kept the U.S. at least mathematically alive in the eight-nation tournament that is the dress rehearsal for the 2010 World Cup.
If Brazil can defeat Italy by a handful of goals and the U.S. can defeat Egypt by a handful of goals in Sunday’s final two first-round matches, the Americans can reach the semifinals.
However, given the woeful performance by the U.S. in a 3-1 loss to Italy on Monday and its equally weak showing on Thursday, odds are that the team will be heading to the airport and not to the semifinals come Sunday night.
“We had a very nervous, tentative start to the game,” U.S. Coach Bob Bradley said in trying to explain the loss. “An early goal off a set piece really put us in a difficult situation right from the start.”
Bradley can blame his son, Michael, for that. Swiss referee Massimo Busacca -- who had charge of the European Champions League final in May -- ruled that Michael Bradley had fouled Brazil’s Ramires and awarded the Brazilians a free kick.
American television commentators and U.S. Soccer’s website called it a “phantom foul,” but the younger Bradley did grab or push Ramires on the shoulder and the Brazilian fell despite the minimal contact.
On the ensuing free kick, Maicon swung the ball into the box and Felipe Melo headed it powerfully past goalkeeper Tim Howard for a 1-0 Brazil lead in the seventh minute.
The second miscue came in the 20th minute and with the U.S. on the attack. Beasley failed to trap Landon Donovan’s short corner kick, allowing the ball to roll under his foot, and Brazil intercepted and swept down the field on a fast break involving Andre Santos, Kaka, Ramires and Robinho.
The entire sequence, from when Donovan played the corner kick to when Robinho scored at the other end of the field, took 14 seconds.
“The ball just went under my foot, there’s no other way I can say it,” Beasley said. “I was stunned because that’s never happened to me before.”
The U.S. started out a little more positively in the second half, but again came unstuck when Sacha Kljestan was red-carded for a late tackle that took down Ramires in the 57th minute.
“He played the ball before I got there and I got him in the foot,” said Kljestan, who plays for Chivas USA. “I don’t know if it was a red or not, but the end state is that I let my team down today.”
Said Bob Bradley: “A red card in the second match in a row is very disappointing. At times, players are trying to push harder but in the end make a rash decision and it ends up hurting the team for the rest of the game.”
Five minutes after Kljestan was sent off, Maicon scored, beating Bornstein (another Chivas USA player) to the ball and firing it from an acute angle over Howard and into the net.
Brazil ended up outshooting the U.S., 16-8, as it improved its all-time record against the Americans to 13-1. Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar did not have to make a save, although a shot by Benny Feilhaber and a header by Conor Casey both crashed against the crossbar in the dying minutes.
“We simply just didn’t execute,” said Howard, who called some of his teammates “naive in certain instances.”
“Sometimes you just come up against Goliath and David doesn’t win,” he said.
Jones reported from Los Angeles
--
