The United States went into Commerce City, Colorado on Friday night in a must win situation. After losing their first game to Honduras, they sat at the bottom of their World Cup Qualifying group. Another loss could not be afforded. Costa Rica were the opposition who made the journey to Colorado and were met with a big surprise. A blizzard.
As the fans packed into the sold out stadium, the snow was coming down pretty good. The temperature was a chilly 29 degrees Fahrenheit. Grounds crews shoveled up as much snow as they could before the game, making sure to highlight the 18 yard box, midfield, and the out of bounds lines. The US were in there brand new centennial jersey. The only problem with that was, they're white. But oh well most people could see them. Remember when Nike made that awesome new match ball for this season? Well they forgot one thing. To make an orange one. The brightest it comes in is yellow. Which from the TV screen looked very difficult to track. Even the commentators at the game had trouble seeing the ball. I would thing a huge company like Nike could make an orange ball. Anyway lets get to the action.
The US started the match off with a lot of control. Their passes were not as sloppy as we have seen in previous games. In the 16th minute Jozy Altidore (who I hate) took a shot from outside the box, or just in it, which deflected of a Costa Rican player and fell to the newly named captain Clint Dempsey. It was an easy finish for the him and it put the Americans up 1-0. I actually couldn't see the goal on my tv, I just saw Altidore's shot then heard the crowd go wild. It was a good thing the US scored early, because the conditions of the pitch got worse as the game when on. Every time the ball went out a person would shovel as much snow as they could off the field before the match resumed. The ref, at any moment, could pause the game if he wanted to, or stop it for good. Luckily the game went with no interruptions through half time.
In the second half Costa Rica came out with the upper hand. They kept it in the US half of the field. As the blizzard got worse and worse, the ref stopped the game. Juergen Klinsmann, the United States head coach, was furious. All the US players went over and talked to the ref. More surprisingly, so did the Costa Rican players. Costa Rica felt they had control of the play at the time and they wanted to keep playing. After a 2-3 minute conversation the game got underway again. The US soon picked up control again. They kept it that way most of the game. At the 90 minute mark, 5 minutes were added on. Costa Rica had a few set pieces in the time, but could not convert. The game ended 1-0. The United States taking the needed 3 points.
Brad Guzan had a solid game. Not many tough saves were needed though. Tim Howard has a few broken bones in his back, so Guzan was called up. Geoff Cameron did not have the best game and had a few cheap giveaways. Jermaine Jones also had a solid game and left with snow in his hair.
No comments:
Post a Comment