The final round of the USMNT's qualification journey began last February 11th, as the home team took on region rival, Mexico, at Columbus Crew Stadium.
Not really unexpected was the chilly weather, after all, that's one of the reasons U.S. Soccer chose to play the match in that venue, where the team had a distinct advantage over a Mexican team, which really doesn't like to play in cold weather. What was a bit unexpected, were the lines of severe thunderstorms moving through the area, both before, and immediately after, the match. The photo illustrates the pre-match prep necessary by the grounds crew after one line of rain dumped well over an inch in the area.
After an exceptional job by the Crew Stadium staff, the match went on, as scheduled, and the national TV audience was treated to typical U.S.-Mexico showdown, the winner of which, would have an early advantage in the CONCACAF group.
The match didn't really suffer as a result of the soggy pitch, and as usual, there were some hard hits from both sides, setting up both injury stoppages, and potentially dangerous restarts. The first break in the home team's favor came a couple minutes before halftime. American defender Frankie Hejduk worked hard well up the field, from his post at right back, to earn a corner kick. Midfielder DaMarcus Beasley lofted a looping serve to the back post, which captain Landon Donovan headed back across goal to towering U.S. defender, Oguchi "Gooch" Onyewu, who drove a header with net intent towards goal. A reaction save by the Mexican goalkeeper was not possessed cleanly, leaving a ball on the doorstep for midfielder Michael Bradley, who pounced on the gift, and buried it for a 1-0 lead right before intermission. The goal sent Sam's Army in that end of the stadium, as well as the rest of the stadium, into a celebratory frenzy. In Mexican minds, it was 'here we go again'.
American netminder Tim Howard, of England's Everton in the Premier League, then took the early lead in the second half. After stonewalling a point-blank Mexican shot, a few minutes later, in the 65th minute, Howard was maliciously spiked in the thigh by a frustrated Rafael Marquez, who was immediately sent off with a red card.
Playing a man down, and using all three of their allowed substitutes, the Mexicans kept fighting to equalize, and there were several other hard tackles that drew yellow from the Guatemalan referee's pocket. Another example of the intensity of the match is the attempted tackle on forward Jozy Altidore's dribble into the final third, pictured below. Not much ball, and a lot of cleats, amigo.....
In the end, however, the weather, the long stretch of playing short-handed, and the inevitability of the outcome caught up to the visitors. As the U.S. maintained possession of the ball well into stoppage time, a flashing run off the left side by Donovan was rewarded by an Altidore pass, the American captain slid the ball across the top of the box, into the path of a hard-charging Bradley. The young midfielder ran onto a hard shot, which ended up in the back of the Mexican net, and finalized the 2-0 scoreline, securing the first three points of the final round of qualifying for the home team. For his two-goal performance, Bradley was named 'Man of the Match'.
As with all the content of this blog, written and photographic, Copyrighted 2009-10, All Rights Reserved, Perry McIntyre, Atlanta, GA - USA.
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