AYCHI-FLIPPIN'-HUAHUA:

Costa Rica Jumps On U.S. Early: Americans Lose Again at Saprissa in World Cup Qualifier: Costa Rica 3, U.S. 1 (Steven Goff, 6/04/09, Washington Post)

When the lineups were unveiled, Bradley offered few surprises. With Brian Ching out with a hamstring injury, Donovan and Jozy Altidore -- a three-goal scorer in the previous qualifier -- were paired on the frontline. Michael Bradley and Pablo Mastroeni manned central midfield, flanked by José Francisco Torres and Clint Dempsey.

DaMarcus Beasley, a midfielder who had performed so well in the back against Trinidad and Tobago in April, returned to that role, and Oguchi Onyewu and Bocanegra filled the middle. With veterans Steve Cherundolo and Frankie Hedjuk unavailable because of injuries, the big issue was at right back. Bob Bradley chose Marvell Wynne, whose only appearance this year was in a friendly against Sweden in January.

Wynne's attributes are his speed and experience on artificial turf as a member of MLS's Toronto FC, which plays on a synthetic surface.

From the start of this game, however, he was targeted by the Ticos, whose interplay put the Americans on the defensive. In the second minute, with the U.S. backline offering minimal resistance, Saborio launched a 22-yard shot that curled well out of goalkeeper Tim Howard's reach and settled into the far upper corner. Saprissa erupted.

Eleven minutes later, Bryan Ruiz and Esteban Sirias worked a sleek and stylish give-and-go on the left flank. Sirias carved space on the left side of the penalty area and centered to Borges for a sharp stab past the overwhelmed Howard.

"This isn't the place to roll over," said Howard. "We're down 2-0 before the game gets started -- you can't do that here and hope to have a prayer. It couldn't have started worse."

The shellshocked Americans were as messy on the attack as they were defensively. Donovan missed badly from 20 yards, but the bigger problem was the team's failure to adapt to the rock-hard artificial turf. Gentle passes that would reach their destination on grass skipped harmlessly away here.

Howard was the least of the U.S. problems on the goals, but in the 18th minute, he nearly extended the deficit by fumbling Saborio's header at the near post. Saborio threatened again in the 38th with a powerful drive that streaked over the crossbar.

A goal before the half would have left the Americans in decent shape, but they barely tested goalkeeper Keilor Navas.

Bradley made a change at the start of the second half, replacing Torres with Sacha Kljestan, and although the energy level was sufficient, the attack remained tame against a Costa Rican backline that made few mistakes and seemed to anticipate every American idea. Pass attempts in tight space faltered repeatedly and scoring opportunities never materialized.

"We didn't play the way we should have in this environment, in this situation, playing on [artificial] turf, playing away," lamented Donovan. "We just didn't play the way we wanted to and that's disappointing because we have a lot of players who know better."

Even Ricky Hatton wasn't beaten that badly.

Beasley and Torres settled down, but they looked horrific on the first two goals and the entire defensive scheme was marred by a determined failure to close on the guy with the ball and a seeming inability -- or unwillingness on turf? -- to tackle anyone.

And while the speed of the surface did mean that what might have been nice little outlet passes to the flanks ended up rolling off the field, there's no excuse for not knowing that ahead of time or adjusting. Meanwhile, the strategy itself reveals the great weakness of Coach Bradley's offensive set.

Let us accept, for the sake of argument, that Landon Donovan is our best player. He is, nonetheless, awfully short and slender to occupy the center of the offensive zone. In the EPL, not entirely dissimilar players--Dirk Kuyt, Carlos Tevez, Yossi Benayoun, etc.--are left to run around on the edges and cut into the middle when they see openings, with or without the ball. Donovan seems better suited to such a role. You could move the significantly larger Jozy Altidore into a central position where he'd create real difficulties for the central defenders. Then you pull Clint Dempsey back a bit but keep him in the center in a sort of Frank Lampard/Steven Gerrard role. There you exploit both his big foot and his ability to find the two forwards (giving you a kind of 4-3-1-2). And that Marvell Wynne cat is so fast and covers so much ground he's basically your other wing when you're attacking, since none of the midfielders appear to relish the opportunity (Hejduk's absence really showed there).

As it was, we looked like we had no clue what it was we even supposed to be doing when we had the ball. Beasley played back towards his own keeper half the night and no one really tried driving through the middle of the field. Drifting the ball out to the corners might make some sense if you were then going to cross it into the middle for Altidore (and Onyewu when he moves up), but if he's out on the wing who exactly is the ball supposed to be going to when it comes back in?

Our pudding had no theme.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 4, 2009 10:55 AM