WAYNE WHO?:

Maturity key in draw with England (Luke Cyphers, 6/12/10, ESPN)

The Yanks' central defenders and midfielders took the middle away from England's Wayne Rooney. The world-class forward didn't touch the ball for the game's first 17 minutes, and didn't touch it in the box for the first 70. Meanwhile, Dempsey and Landon Donovan helped out with the Three Lions' speedy wingers and worked to possess the ball when they could.

Mostly, though, the Yanks didn't panic. They'd been down in CONCACAF qualifiers last year against Costa Rica, El Salvador (both home and away), and Honduras and came back to get a result every time. [...]

At the same time, they closed down Rooney, which coach Bob Bradley kept saying was the key to stopping England. Central defender Jay DeMerit shadowed Rooney all night, tracking him back to the halfway line at times, while midfielders Michael Bradley and Ricardo Clark harassed him anytime he got the ball.

"We watched a lot of tape on Rooney and we know he's a big key to their team," Donovan said. "You don't really completely stop a guy like that, you just hope to keep his touches limited. We did a good job of closing that space he likes to come into in front of the back four."

Added Bocanegra, "I thought Jay did really well to get on Rooney and not let him turn. Our midfielders did well to come back and close the space."

Clark says it was a matter of "cutting off passing lanes to him and making sure he was getting closed down when he got the ball."

The U.S. offensive stars did their part, too, on England speedsters Shaun Wright-Phillips and Aaron Lennon. "I know in front of me Landon and Clint did a fantastic job coming over and helping with Lennon, because his pace was ridiculous," Bocanegra said. "It was difficult for me to stay with him one on one, so those guys did lots of running. The midfielders did dirty work for us."

And you could devote so much attention to Rooney because Heskey is not going to score even if the ball gets to him. Crouch would have been a different kettle of fish.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 13, 2010 7:22 AM