this just come out on the
www.socceramerica.com
By Ridge Mahoney
The best thing that can be said about the first of three warm-up matches before the U.S. team leaves for Germany is that it's over. Conceding a late goal to lose, 1-0, is just the slap in the face the players deserved for this performance.
Coach Bruce Arena cited heavy legs as a contributing factor and no doubt the players will be fresher and sharper when they step on the field June 12 against the Czech Republic, whose coach Karl Bruckner won’t be intimidated on the evidence this game presented.
Still, an appalling lack of cohesion plagued the Americans for much of the match. Speed and work rate are among the team's attributes, but they aren't the only attributes, and while the spirited Moroccans chased and worked willingly, all too rarely were the Americans operating in sync to create and cover for each other.
A encouraging first half from John O'Brien and a stalwart performance by midfield mate Pablo Mastroeni, who replaced Claudio Reyna after a quarter of an hour, were the brightest performances.
An MRI scan of Reyna's right hamstring on Wednesday revealed there was no muscle damage, but the team staff did not put a time frame on when he will return to training.
A few chances were squandered, such as an Eddie Johnson header over the bar and a pair of Landon Donovan efforts: he just failed to make significant contact with a clever O'Brien chip and later drilled a hard shot the goalkeeper parried. Josh Wolff also fired a ball that Tarek El Jarmouni handled.
In terms of possession, the Americans did enough to score, but score they didn't, and punishment came in stoppage time when Steve Cherundolo, who'd moved from right back up into midfield when the U.S. changed to a three-man back line at halftime, foolishly turned the ball over in his own half and Morocco turned the miscue into a goal.
Cherundolo, who was obviously fatigued, was trying to keep the ball in play, to his credit, and readily admitted the safe recourse was to boot it out of play. A few seconds elapsed after Bouchaib El Moubarki stripped away the ball, yet Cory Gibbs and Eddie Pope were gassed and none of the subs got back in time either. Moubarki's square pass ran to a wide-open Mohamed Madihi, who stabbed it high into the net.
Had the U.S. imposed its skill and guile on Morocco during the previous 90 minutes and scored a goal, Madihi's strike wouldn’t have tasted so bitter, or seemed so unjust. Yet of the two teams, Morocco was the craftier, and created and converted the best chance of the game to decide the outcome. Many World Cup matches follow the same course.
SA REPORT CARD
USA 0 Morocco 1
May 23, 2006 in Nashville, Tenn.
(1=low; 5=average; 10=high)
PLAYER (CLUB/CAPS)
STARTERS:
5 Kasey Keller (Borussia M’Gladbach/GER, 92)
3 Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96/GER, 34)
5 Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege/BEL, 13)
6 Eddie Pope (Real Salt Lake, 79)
5 Cory Gibbs (ADO/NED, 19)
nr Claudio Reyna (Manchester City/ENG, 109)
6 John O'Brien (Chivas USA, 30)
4 DaMarcus Beasley (PSV Eindhoven/NED, 56)
4 Josh Wolff (Kansas City Wizards, 46)
5 Landon Donovan (Los Angeles, 79)
4 Brian McBride (Fulham, 91)
SUBS:
6 Pablo Mastreoni (Colorado Rapids, 47)
5 Bobby Convey (Reading/ENG, 37)
4 Eddie Johnson (Kansas City Wizards, 16)
5 Clint Dempsey (New England, 20)
nr Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo, 18)
USA 0 Morocco 1
Goal: Mohamed Madihi 90.
USA - Kasey Keller, Steve Cherundolo, Oguchi Onyewu (Clint Dempsey, 74), Eddie Pope, Cory Gibbs, Claudio Reyna (Pablo Mastroeni, 16), John O'Brien (Bobby Convey, 46), Landon Donovan, Josh Wolff (Eddie Johnson, 60), Brian McBride (Brian Ching, 83), DaMarcus Beasley
MOROCCO - Tarek El Jarmouni, Hicham Mahdoufi, Abdeslam Ouddou (Ahmed Ajeddou, 76) , Talal El Karkouri, Aziz Ben Askar, Walid Regragui, Moubarek Boussoufa (Bouchaib El Moubarki, 70), Soufiane Alloudi, Zakaria Aboub (Hassan Alla, 87), Adil Ramzi (Nabil Mesloub, 60), Sektioui Tarik (Mohamed Madihi, 60).
Stats: USA-Morocco
Shots: 13-5
Saves: 1-4
Corner Kicks: 4-5
Fouls: 10-15
Offside: 3-3
Yellow cards: USA - Steve Cherundolo 31; Morocco - Adil Ramzi 5, Hicham Mahdoufi 37, Abdeslam Ouddou 66.
Referee: Mauricio Navarro (CAN)
Att.: 26,141.
USA Sendoff Series
Tuesday, May 23 USA 0 Morocco 1
Friday, May 26 USA vs. Venezuela in Cleveland, Ohio (TV: 7 pm ET/4 pm PT on ESPN2)
Sunday, May 28 USA vs. Latvia in East Hartford, Conn. (TV: 7 pm ET/4 pm PT on ESPN2)
(Telemundo will carry all the games on same-day delay)
) But anyways, I personally would stick the US right in the Japan, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ireland group area, I'd have Sweden ahead and Mexico below us (we have made them our bitch recently its not even funny, okay it is cause its fun to see the mexicans whining on the spanish channels in the US when they lose to us...repeatedly).
