U.S. overcomes weak start to defeat Turkey, 2-1, in World Cup warmup
As far as takeoffs go, this one was a bit bumpy.
Playing its final warmup match before flying to South Africa on Sunday, the U.S. World Cup team had to come from behind to defeat Turkey, 2-1, on Saturday in front of 55,407 at Lincoln Financial Field.
Goals by Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey spared the American side the ignominy of leaving for soccer’s world championship off back-to-back losses, the team having been beaten 4-2 by the Czech Republic on Tuesday night.
But the first 45 minutes on a warm and humid afternoon were dreadful. The U.S. team looking disorganized and vulnerable. Its attack was virtually nonexistent and its defense was paper-thin.
Turkey, which had tied and beaten the U.S. in the only two previous games between the countries, was in control. Quicker to the ball, more fluid in their passing, and dangerous on the counter-attack, the Turks looked likely winners.
They took the lead in the 27th minute when the right side of the American defense vanished. Winger Ardan Turan found himself with acres of space in which to operate and took full advantage, gathering a perfectly timed diagonal pass and driving a shot past goalkeeper Tim Howard.
“We were a little all over the place,” Howard said. “It’s something we have to just try to get better at, and we don’t have a lot of time to do it.
“They started running at us and we didn’t do a good job of just bottling things up, staying tight, tackling from the front, that type of thing. There was some not great one-on-one defending going on.”
The U.S., which opens World Cup play against England on June 12, managed to limit the damage to the one goal, and when the team came out for the second half, grim-faced Coach Bob Bradley had made four changes.
Bradley sent Steve Cherundolo on for Jonathan Spector at right back, Oguchi Onyewu on for Clarence Goodson in the center of defense, Jose Torres on for Ricardo Clark in midfield and forward Robbie Findley on in place of midfielder Benny Feilhaber.
The turnaround was dramatic. Torres, in particular, was outstanding, but all four substitutes did their job.
“The second half was night and day,” Howard said. “At halftime, we weren’t overjoyed, but the second-half performance was more like us.”
Suddenly, it was the U.S. playing the more attractive and adventurous soccer and the Turks who were on the back foot. It was only a matter of time before the tying goal arrived.
It came in the 58th minute as the result of a flashy bit of team play. A long ball out of the back by Jay DeMerit found Findley on the right flank. Findley delicately chipped it ahead to Landon Donovan, who drew Turkish goalkeeper Volkan Demirel out of his net and then slotted the ball across between two defenders for Altidore to tap into the net.
That made it 1-1, got the crowd back into the match and caused the Turks to wilt a bit.
“They wore out a little bit,” Dempsey said. “I don’t think they could keep the intensity that they had in the first half. In the first half, they were really fighting hard and getting stuck in on tackles, but I think they tired a little bit.
At the 75-minute mark, the U.S. took the lead. Again, it was Donovan who provided the telling pass, this one to Dempsey, who powered through the would-be tackle of midfielder Sabri Sariogulu and fired the ball into the net off goalkeeper Demeris.
“We hit them with a sucker punch,” Howard said. “I think they were out there cruising and the next thing they knew they were behind.”
The U.S. has one match left to fine-tune things. It plays Australia in Roodepoort, South Africa, on June 5. After that, England awaits.
