USA 2-0 El Salvador: 3 things we learned
The USMNT defeated El Salvador 2-0 in a chippy Gold Cup Quarterfinal. Let’s take a look at what we learned.
The U.S. Men’s National Team overcame sloppy play and a shameless opponent to book their trip to the Gold Cup semifinals. Goals from Omar Gonzalez and Eric Lichaj gave the Yanks the 2-0 win.
The USMNT will meet Costa Rica on Saturday with a trip to the final on the line. Here are a few things we learned from this quarterfinal match.
Bringing in six new players is rough on team chemistry
To say that the USMNT were a bit off in the first half is a gigantic understatement. For the first 35 minutes it looked as if they wouldn’t ever string more than a few passes together. They were failing to connect on the simplest of passes.
The Yanks couldn’t connect the midfield to the forwards. Darlington Nagbe and Michael Bradley were passing back and forth at the top of the circle in the defensive half of the field. It was bad.
While it was clearly the right move — if winning the championship is the main goal — to bring in six new players, it made for a bumpy ride. It took most of the first half for the U.S. to develop any kind of rhythm. Even after they started to connect, there were long periods where they appeared disjointed.
The defense, however, didn’t have the “replacement players” excuse: they have all been here since the beginning of the tournament. Eric Lichaj and Matt Hedges were atrocious for most of the match. Lichaj essentially put El Salvador through on goal early in the first half but was bailed out by a phenomenal save by Tim Howard.
Hedges, former MLS Defender of the Year somehow, made numerous mistakes in the form of terrible passes, bad positioning and giving the ball away in bad areas of the field. Lichaj made up for most of his transgressions by scoring a nice goal. Hedges appeared to play his way out of any future call ups for the remainder of this World Cup cycle.
El Salvador are a bunch of chumps
Any CONCACAF match has a high probability of getting chippy, and the ref on Wednesday was awful, but El Salvador were a flat out embarrassment. In addition to the late and dangerous tackles — they deserved two red cards for tackles alone — they also resulted to childish and pathetic tactics off the ball.
The main target of the abuse was Jozy Altidore. El Salvador defender Henry Romero, during back-to-back U.S. corner kicks, pinched Altidore’s nipple and then bit him on the shoulder. The incompetent referee didn’t see anything.
A few minutes later, another Salvadorian defender punched Jordan Morris, who had just come on for Paul Arriola, in the stomach as the Seattle Sounders man made a run into the box. The referee again didn’t catch it.
These actions were horrible and infuriating. You would hope CONCACAF will retroactively punish these players, but basic competence is a lot to ask from this confederation. I wish the USMNT would’ve won by 10 goals.
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Clint Dempsey has a lot of magic left in him
Dempsey may be slowing down, and he certainly doesn’t play any defense or apply pressure to ball handlers, but holy hell does he still pop up with game-changing moments of magic. It’s the reason he will be a key part of Arena’s plans for the 2018 Wold Cup.
On Wednesday, the Yanks were struggling to create offense. They found the breakthrough in the 41st minute on a beautiful set piece ball from Bradley to Gonzalez, but, in the run of play, they weren’t challenging the El Salvador back line enough.
But then, in first half stoppage time, Dempsey received a pass at the top of the box. He proceeded to execute a wonderful turn and find a streaking Lichaj, of all people, who five-holed the keeper to give the U.S. a two goal cushion. With the exception of maybe Christian Pulisic, no one else in the USA pool makes that play. Long live Deuce.