Pedro Gomez with a few comments on a group of five US fans sitting in the stands with American flags covering their faces. These might be the same five from the Grant Wahl piece that I linked in the first post. On 62 minutes and Beasley gets the ball in the 18 and goes around the charging Cuban keeper and unleashes a typical shot about 15 feet wide of the goal. He had room to run to get a better angle as the keeper was well out of position, but he passed it up for a wild shot from a poor angle.
Clint Dempsey is playing with a certain energy that I'm used to seeing, but the swagger isn't there. I'm not sure what's happened to him, but he's not the same player since he moved to Fulham. 66th minute and I've heard Ching's name for the first time this half. Of course, he got the ball in midfield and played it backwards before slowly plodding forward. Where's Altidore? Where's Kenny Cooper? Hell, where's 16-year-old Charles Renkin?
Nice combo play between Donovan and Beasley in the 67th as Donovan slots a ball through perfectly, but Beasley was just a step offside.
We're in the 70th now. Cuba is getting too much space right now and with a 1-0 lead and what seems like no real inclination to attack, I'm a bit worried about the US getting the three points it should get easily.
Clear handball in the Cuban box in the 75th as Beasley cuts back and a defender slides by and slaps the ball way. No call though and Beasley's cross goes into a Cuban defender. At the very least, it was an attempt at attacking.
Sacha Kljestan on in the 77th for the US. Dempsey goes out. I'm hoping that Donovan goes out right and Kljestan attacks centrally. Of course, the big thing we need right now is no more Brian Ching. I'd rather see Eddie Johnson at this point. While he's irrelevant once he's on the ball, he actually gets on the ball.
We're in the 79th and Kljestan is causing issues from the right. Donovan sent one over the top and a Cuban defender ran Kljestan down after his first touch. Could have gone for a penalty, but the call was not made.
We're in the 83rd now and Ching pops up just long enough to get hit by a Cuban defender. Still nothing happening in attack for the US.
Heath Pearce takes a run in the 84th minute. He gets around his man into the 18 and sends a cross well over everyone. Still waiting for a solid chance from the US here.
Lights are out again the 86th. I guess they were out in the pregame as well. The ref seems ot have stopped play while they wait for the lights to come on. ESPN just showed a clip of the pregame outage. All of the lights were out in that moment. Now just a large majority are out. There is still a bit of light available. Looks like the ref is going to get the game done. Pedro Gomez reports that Hurricane Ike is on the eastern tip of the island and could be affecting electricity all over the island right now. The lighting seems to affect Tim Howard on the 88th as he seems to lose sight of a header coming low at the corner, but he manages to come up with it anyway.
The lights are back on now. Still a lot of sideways and backwards passing from the US. I'd be alright with this as a stall tactic if they had been trying to score a second for the last 45 minutes.
Ooooh...Brian Ching did something productive. He got the ball in the box on a nice forward run and sent a shot on goal, but the Cuban keeper was able to swallow the rebound.
Well, this match has finally come to an end. Despite the two wins thus far in the group, some changes need to be made. Bradley needs to bring in better attacking players. Beasley has been hurt and seems a bit off on the field. Landon Donovan is doing well for the Galaxy, but its been a while since he's done well for the US. Dempsey did score the goal today, but he's missing the attitude that he was playing with leading up to the 06 World Cup. Brian Ching and Eddie Johnson are irrelevant as forwards. Something that was great about Bob Bradley was that he was giving youth a chance when he took over for Bruce Arena. Bradley played 61 players in 2007 and gave 23 their first cap. That number is down to 46 in 2008 and the starting XI seems pretty locked in. Having a locked in starting XI is a good thing, but not when its at the expense of the two most creative attacking forces the US has in Freddy Adu and Jozy Altidore. Its not good when the big strong striker of choice is a slow and aging Brian Ching, rather than the younger, quicker, and more talented Kenny Cooper. Its not a good thing when the speedy right back of choice is 34 year old Frankie Hejduk or the entirely defensive minded Steve Cherundolo, rather than the lightning fast, young, and improving Marvell Wynne. Its not a good thing when it seems like the consequences for a weak attack is more playing time and more caps. Despite these two wins, changes need to be made in the USMNT. If Bob Bradley is unwilling to make those changes himself, then Bradley is the change that needs to happen.
