Revolution at Toronto FC, 6.23.12: Benny’s Best Game Yet

Benny Feilhaber tried his ass off in this one. His game wasn’t flawless—he forced some passes in the first half (like his attempted through ball in the 41^st minute) and failed to get headers on frame in the 50^th and 90^th minutes—but the good far outweighed the bad. Despite playing 90 minutes without a goal or an assist, he was man of the match, seeing a lot of the ball, sending good crosses into the box off dead balls and in the run of play, setting up the Revs’ first goal with a strong shot on frame that the keeper couldn’t collect, and slamming the ball off the post in the 88^th minute during a hectic and highly exciting climax that saw the Revs press and press and finally get the equalizer in the fourth minute of extra time, sending the Revolution home with a single point that, given the New England players’ late-game efforts, felt more like three.

The game ended 2-2, the same score of the Revolution’s previous game in Toronto. That was Steve Nicol’s last game for the Revolution, a depressing end-of-season match played under dark skies between MLS’s two worst teams. On that day, it was the Revolution who collapsed, conceding the lead in the 83^rd minute and fortunate not to concede another goal before the final whistle. But this time around, the Revolution acquitted themselves admirably after going down two goals. They thoroughly dominated possession in the second half and created numerous chances, so many that, while they didn’t equalize until the final minute, they really should have won the match.

Flo Lechner came on for an injured Kevin Alston in the 40^th minute and looked strong on the attack. He sent in a number of dangerous crosses from the right corner during overlapping runs, including the pass that led to the Revs’ second goal. That ball was headed into the net with extreme prejudice by Lechner’s fellow fullback Chris Tierney. The goal was enormously satisfying, coming as it did after a flurry of late near-misses. Feilhaber was closely trailing Tierney on the play and it was unclear at first which of the two of them had scored.

The Revolution announcers can be forgiven for initially attributing the goal to Feilhaber, since his exuberant celebration certainly suggested that was the case, as did his teammates’ congratulations. When replays showed that it was in fact Tierney who had headed the ball in, my respect and fondness for Feilhaber actually increased. He clearly desperately wanted his team to score, tried his best to score himself, but ultimately didn’t care who finished. I’ve criticized Feilhaber on one or two occasions for getting too visibly frustrated with his teammates when his team was down, but there was none of that against Toronto, just a desire to win and a strong effort. One might say it was a Shalrie Joseph-like performance. And the Revolution needed it since their captain was sidelined for the Toronto game due to an adductor strain suffered against Columbus. With luck, Joseph will be back for New England’s next match, against Seattle at Gillette. If the Revolution play like they did in the second half against Toronto, they have a good chance to surprise the Sounders.

Revolution v. Columbus Crew, 6.16.12

This scoreless draw between the New England Revolution and the Columbus Crew was a subpar MLS game made particularly grim by the fact that it was played during an exciting European championship tournament that’s attracting a significant number of U.S. TV viewers. I hope for MLS’s sake that European football fans didn’t tune in to the Revs-Crew match to get a temporary soccer fix between Euro 2012 games. If they did, they’ll almost certainly never tune in to another MLS match again and will never take seriously any claim that the league is a decent one.

The final barren score line indicates how disjointed both teams looked, particularly when trying to finish. The tone for the entire stupefying match was set inside the first minute of play. Lee Nguyen sent a ball into the Columbus penalty box, and Saer Sene chested it down to Benny Feilhaber. Feilhaber ran onto the pass and, with the goal more or less at his mercy and approaching it from the left side of the six-yard box, inexplicably struck the ball with the outside of his right foot, sending the shot well wide of the distant far post. Feilhaber appeared to have had plenty of time to open up his hips and strike an accurate close-range shot with the inside of his foot. In any event, not to get his shot on frame was borderline unforgivable, and you can make a solid argument that the miss cost the Revs two points against a middling eastern conference opponent that will plausibly be fighting them for the final playoff spot in a few months’ time.

To give Feilhaber some deserved credit, he had a few good moments and as always worked hard. He created a solid chance in the 38th minute, helping punctuate a rare New England buildup. Receiving the ball near the top of the box, he feinted as if shooting, drawing the Columbus defense towards him so he could slide a pass out wide to Fernando Cardenas. Cardenas’s shot, while well struck, was sent directly to the goalkeeper.

As long as we’re covering what few Revs’ highlights this game offered, I should mention a good shot from distance by Sene that dipped as it approached the target and slammed off the crossbar and down onto the turf. Still, Sene’s effort was cheapened by some lazy-looking defense on the part of Columbus, who allowed Sene way too much time and space when he was only twenty yards or so straightaway from goal.

I suppose some might say the poor quality of this game can be partially explained (if not excused) by the fact that the Revs were coming off two weeks of inactivity, the Crew three weeks. Whatever the case, I think it’s fair to say New England created the better chances to score. And they should be mightily upset with themselves for being unable to finish those chances and for not beating an out-of-form mid-table team at home.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Guatemala, in Guatemala City, 6.12.12

The U.S. men’s national team led for much of this World Cup qualifier against Guatemala, but were in fact fortunate to draw 1-1 and leave Guatemala City with a single point. I will not dwell on the fact that the U.S. has still not significantly distanced themselves from CONCACAF competition. This point doesn’t need to be argued, at least judging by recent articles and podcasts I read and listened to in the days leading up to the Guatemala match. From what I could gather, most former U.S. international players and soccer pundits agreed that the U.S. would be lucky to win in Guatemala, that they would likely draw there. Those commentators cited a hostile Central American environment that would require police escorts for U.S. players going to and from the stadium, likely dubious and biased refereeing, and a decent opponent that includes 2002 MLS MVP Carlos Ruiz and Chicago Fire midfielder Marco Pappa.

The commentators were proved right about the draw, of course. But I wonder in retrospect if the factors they cited should excuse drawing with a team that has never even qualified for a World Cup finals tournament. The Guatemalan crowd did not strike me as overly menacing, at least from the comfort of my couch; the stadium looked to have thousands of empty seats, and no objects like half-filled beer cups rained down on U.S. players, as they sometimes do in, say, Mexico. Moreover, the refereeing wasn’t egregious, and Carlos Ruiz and Marco Pappa are hardly names that strike fear into international sides across the globe. Given the U.S. side’s current FIFA ranking (28), its well respected internationally based players, and its lofty ambitions, we might have reasonably expected more than just a draw. Jurgen Klinsmann, who was caught by the cameras yelling at his squad (or the referee) shortly after Guatemala equalized, certainly seemed displeased with the U.S.’s play during his first game coached in Central America.

To give Guatemala credit, they consistently harassed the U.S. players, pressing all over the field and rarely letting the U.S. look comfortable on the ball (though the U.S. certainly did have the lion’s share of possession). The aforementioned Ruiz and Pappa had good games, particularly Pappa, who played only during the second half but who greatly affected the game and scored off a beautiful free kick in the 83^rd minute. His strike came from just outside the penalty area. The ball cleared the U.S. wall, dipped into the top corner near post, and caught U.S. keeper Tim Howard uncharacteristically flatfooted.

Pappa looked mighty dangerous in the run of play too, more so than most of his opponents did. In the 68^th minute, for example, he adroitly took down a pass in traffic, created space for himself at the top of the box, and took a shot that was deflected and narrowly missed the target. Pappa took the ensuing corner kick, which provided Guatemala’s second-best chance of the night. His cross was ultimately struck on goal by, I think, Luis Rodríguez. Howard bailed out the Yanks with a great save on that shot, but the deflection fell to Ruiz. Ruiz looked as if he were trying to rip the net off the goal with his short-range strike, which, very fortunately for the U.S., sailed high over the crossbar. It’s always easy for spectators to second-guess players who have to make such shots in the chaos of the moment, but it did appear that Ruiz could have easily side-footed the shot past Howard.

Clint Dempsey scored for the U.S. and generally had a good game, though there were long stretches when he didn’t see the ball. His sometime invisibility is hardly surprising since Guatemala clearly targeted him and tried to take him out of the match, in part by manhandling him. Guatemala couldn’t bottle him up for the entire game, though, and his goal displayed all of Dempsey’s best qualities. In the 40^th minute, he received a square pass from Fabian Johnson about twenty yards from goal. Dempsey’s first touch slowed the movement of the ball but didn’t completely stop it. Dempsey then feinted very slightly, as if he were about to go to his left (away from the direction of the pass). When the Guatemala defender realized in a split second that the ball and Dempsey were in fact continuing to Dempsey’s right, he attempted to recover, slipped, and landed on his backside. Dempsey’s next touch, also to his right, sent the other Guatemala central defender to the turf, allowing plenty of space for Dempsey to take a low shot off his laces, sending the ball under the keeper and into the back of the net. The shot was unspectacular, economical, accurate, lethal—the perfect finish if you want to score as opposed to get on a goal-of-the-week highlight reel. Ruiz should have taken note.

U.S. fans must have been reassured to see Johnson return from his injury to take his place on the back line, though aside from his assist and a few strong runs forward he didn’t look very sharp. He was victimized a couple of times when Guatemala attacked down their right-hand side, as they did in the 38^th minute to create a decent shot on goal. Johnson also gave the ball away carelessly and without pressure in the 57^th minute, and was beaten badly by Ruiz in the 73^rd. Finally, it was Johnson who fouled Ruiz on the play that set up Pappa’s free-kick goal.

Overall, it was just not a great night for the U.S. If the Yanks had held onto their first-half lead, they would have secured a comfortable space atop group A. As it stands, though, they let the win slip away and are now tied with Jamaica at four points. Those two teams will meet in Columbus, Ohio on September 11. Jamaica currently has a respectable FIFA ranking (60) and an impressive roster that includes many players from European club teams. While it should be noted that the U.S. have qualified for every World Cup since 1990, they appear to be intent on making every game of this group stage a meaningful and interesting one.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Antigua and Barbuda, Tampa, Florida, 6.8.12

The U.S. men’s national team began its 2014 World Cup qualifying run tonight in the heavy air of Tampa, Florida. The U.S. played Antigua and Barbuda, a nation of something like 86,000 people, and won the game 3-1. The U.S. controlled the ball for much of the match, but their performance was hardly a dominating one. The Yanks faded in the second half, perhaps thanks to head coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s Teutonic hatred of player rest and his scheduling of three friendlies in the two weeks leading up to this match.

Whether due to overscheduling, bad luck, or other factors, the U.S. back line came into this game without its two left backs, Fabian Johnson and Edgar Castillo, each of whom suffered injuries during the aforementioned friendlies. Midfielder Jose Torres was the surprise starter tonight at that position, and he spent much of the night making Dani Alves-like attacking runs into the final third. But unfortunately, Torres’s night was cut short. He was taken off the field on a gurney early in the second half after his ankle was stepped on during a slide tackle. With the U.S. up 2-0, Oguchi Onyewu came on to replace Torres, displacing Carlos Bocanegra from center back to left back.

About ten minutes after coming on, Onyewu was victimized by Antigua and Barbuda’s Peter Byers, who made a run down the left sideline. Onyewu positioned himself poorly, sprinting toward Byers’s back shoulder, away from goal, and allowing Byers to break free and make an easy run on goal. Byers beat Tim Howard and Antigua and Barbuda were within a goal of tying the U.S., despite the fact that they’d created just two good scoring chances to that point.

Had the U.S. gone on to draw or, God forbid, lose tonight, the upset would’ve been every bit as hard to live down as England’s 1-0 loss to our boys back in the 1950 World Cup. Let me repeat: Antigua and Barbuda has a population of 86,000. Columbus, Ohio alone has nearly ten times that many people. If Jerry Jones invited every man, woman, and child from Antigua and Barbuda to come see a game at Cowboys Stadium, he’d still have room left over to invite 24,000 of his closest friends. I enjoy a good Cinderella story as much as the next guy, but I’d sooner Antigua and Barbuda advance to the next qualifying round at the expense of the other teams in our group. In other words, I was not tickled when Byers pulled one back.

But thank God for Landon Donovan and Herculez Gomez. To my mind, they were the most consistently dangerous players on the field. Donovan’s speedy run onto a Clint Dempsey pass created a penalty kick at the end of the second half. (Dempsey buried it.) And less than ten minutes after the Antigua and Barbuda goal, Gomez and Donovan teamed up to relieve the mounting tension. Donovan, again showing his speed, received a pass from Gomez on the right flank. Donovan then played the ball back across the top of the box, where it found Michael Bradley. Bradley’s shot was deflected at close range and collected by Gomez, who made a scrappy run through the defense and eventually punched home a deflected ball. It wasn’t a pretty goal, but it was a just one. Gomez is a tireless worker, a truly great, rare, and refreshing attribute for a striker.

Donovan played the role of set-up man all night long, whether making passes in the run of play or off dead balls. If anything—as ESPN announcer Taylor Twellman noted during the broadcast—Donovan was too unselfish against Antigua and Barbuda, forgoing at least a couple of good opportunities to strike the ball on frame in favor or crossing it into traffic to his teammates. His free kicks in the last few games have been excellent, and that aspect of his game is perhaps not as widely appreciated as it should be, no doubt partially the result of playing on a club team with David Beckham.

Dempsey and Bocanegra also deserve praise. Bocanegra scored the first goal of the match off one of the U.S.’s many corner kicks. Bocanegra lost his shoe before that particular free kick, and Donovan waited patiently for him to lace up and get back into the game. Donovan’s in-swinging delivery was initially headed on goal powerfully by Gomez; Bocanegra followed the shot and was rewarded for his pains with a rebound and a garbage goal. The U.S. captain also played well after switching from center to left back, including making a nice run into the box in the 58^th minute. His cross at the end of that run found the foot of Gomez, whose one-time volley unfortunately slammed into the cross bar and back into the field of play.

Clarence Goodson and Steve Cherundolo also had solid performances, at center back and right back respectively, though of course they weren’t threatened much by Antigua and Barbuda’s anemic attack. Onyewu’s gaffe on the Antigua and Barbuda goal, however, won’t soon be forgotten by Klinsmann. Onyewu also looked clumsy in the 66^th minute, fouling Byers at midfield. My guess is that Geoff Cameron will start alongside Goodson in Guatemala next Tuesday, and Bocanegra will play left back. I wonder, though, if Klinsmann might pair Michael Parkhurst with Goodson, given Parkhurst’s experience and his solid performances at center back in the January friendlies. With luck, Fabian Johnson will be healthy by then and Klinsmann won’t have to make that decision.

U.S. Men’s National Team v. Canada in Toronto, 6.3.12

U.S. soccer fans must hope that tonight’s scoreless draw against Canada isn’t an ill omen. After recently thrashing Scotland 5-1, and more recently getting schooled by Brazil 4-1, the U.S. was back playing CONCACAF competition, and our boys hardly impressed. The U.S. controlled the ball early, knocking it around at will and looking pretty good while doing it. Only, the possession was completely meaningless, taking place in the middle third of the field with U.S. midfielders more often then not playing passes in the direction of their own goal. Fans of FC Barcelona and/or Spain’s national team will know that this kind of patient possession can lead to good things, but a team must be capable of playing in tight quarters in the final third and breaking down a well-organized defense to create scoring chances. Tonight, the U.S.’s buildups more often than not ended in long balls sent harmlessly over the end line or sideline.

The U.S. played an impressive lineup that included Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan, Jose Torres, and Herculez Gomez, but those players failed to create chances. Dempsey was invisible for large stretches, Bradley uncharacteristically gave the ball away too much, and unless I missed something none put a decent shot on goal all night long. In fact, Canada created many more quality chances than did the U.S., and they probably should have won the game in the final minutes when Dwayne DeRosario took down a ball in the box and skinned U.S. right back substitute Michael Parkhurst, driving to the end line and playing a perfect pass across the goal to a Canada teammate who somehow managed to flub the wide-open shot. I should add that the U.S. did create an good shot of their own not long after this, when Bradley sent an excellent free kick into the box that found Clarence Goodson. Goodson put a strong header on frame but it was parried over the bar and the deadlock stood.

Goodson had a decent game, and considering Oguchi Onyewu’s unpolished performance against Brazil he may have moved up a notch on the U.S.’s center-back depth chart. Perhaps the most intriguing performance of the night was turned in by U.S. right back Edgar Castillo. It was the best game I’ve seen him play in a U.S. shirt, and he often looked confident and skillful with the ball at his feet. Still, he seems more comfortable attacking than defending, and I wonder if he takes too many chances for a defender. In my mind, he had an egregious giveaway late in the second half that probably should have cost the U.S. the game.

In the 34^th minute, Castillo had the ball in the corner of his own end and was being harassed by two Canada players. Rather than try to clear the ball up field or simply play it out of bounds and let his team regroup, he tried to extricate himself from the double team by deft footwork. He did split the defenders, but in the chaos of the moment he lunged at the ball in an attempt to play it back to fellow defender Carlos Bocanegra. The pass was played off Castillo’s toe and fell not to the helpless and disbelieving Bocanegra, but to Canada’s Nik Ledgerwood, who collected the ball finished nicely, sending a shot past Tim Howard into the top of the side netting. It probably should have been a goal, but the linesman’s flag had gone up and it was disallowed. In any event, Castillo’s flailing, off-target pass was not the kind of play you want anyone on your backline contemplating, let alone making. A defender’s primary responsibility is to defend, not to attack or engage in fancy footwork. I strongly suspect that Fabian Johnson will play left back during the duration of the U.S.’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers, assuming he stays healthy.

There isn’t much more to say about this friendly. However, let me add in closing that I listened to a couple of soccer podcasts today, and the pundits in each case were quick to dismiss the U.S.’s recent 5-1 victory over Scotland as something that had been foreordained by the soccer gods. “We knew we were somewhere between Brazil and Scotland,” one of those experts said. And if the current FIFA world rankings are any indication, he was correct: the U.S. is ranked 29^th, Scotland 48^th. Then again, Canada is currently ranked 75^th. Did those same pundits think, then, that the U.S. would necessarily blow the doors off Canada tonight? Did the U.S. players feel the same way? They (the U.S. players) likely did expect to win, but of course they only just managed a draw.

The U.S.’s lackluster performance should serve as a reminder that their CONCACAF World Cup qualifying run will not necessarily be an easy one. That run starts this Friday against Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Barbuda, incidentally, are currently ranked 100^th in the world by FIFA, not so very far below the Canada team that probably should have beaten the U.S. tonight.

Revolution v. Chicago Fire, 6.2.12

The first hour or so of this game was one for the dustbin of MLS history, a goalless, rain-soaked, sloppily played sixty minutes that unfolded in front of a sparse crowd at Gillette Stadium. But the match picked up considerably in the 64^th minute, when New England rookie Kelyn Rowe checked in for Fernando Cardenas. Up until then, Chicago had created the best chances of the night, hitting the post off a free kick in the 17^th minute, and then hitting it again on a Dominic Oduro header in the 47^th.  Still, it was a drab game, and neither team could’ve been very pleased with anything they’d done to that point.

Within a minute of checking in, Rowe got behind the defense on a run from the right side of midfield. He looked as though he might’ve been offside, but the flag stayed down and he received a pass from Saer Sene, who had dropped deep into the midfield. Rowe had loads of space to work with when he found the ball at his feet, but unfortunately he didn’t finish well, perhaps owing to the fact that he’d pretty much just stepped onto the field. His low shot hit Fire keeper Sean Johnson on the leg and bounced out of bounds.

The game had officially opened up. Less than five minutes later, the Revolution earned a throw-in in the Chicago half. Sene received the ball in a crowd and did well to control it, eventually playing the ball back to Benny Feilhaber. Feilhaber in turn nicely played the ball up the field to Rowe, who had made a run along Chicago’s back line like a surfer riding a wave. Rowe, now clearly in the swing of things, took the pass nicely and used the outside of his right foot to shoot the ball back across the goal mouth, where it skipped under the diving Johnson and into the net.

Soon thereafter, in the 73^rd minute, Rowe returned Feilhaber’s favor. The two worked a fluid give-and-go in and around the right side of the penalty box. Feilhaber used the inside of his foot to first-time Rowe’s pass into the side netting of the far post and the Revolution were up 2-0. Feilhaber’s strike was composed, but the celebration was not. The crowd, which deserves a lot of credit for having stuck around, erupted, and so did Sene. Sene virtually mugged Feilhaber when the two met on the end line, first grabbing the back of Feilhaber’s jersey and swinging him around like a guy in a playground tussle, then picking Feilhaber up around the waist and throwing him to the ground like a someone auditioning for WWF. If the two hadn’t been smiling so gleefully, one of the stadium cops might’ve felt compelled to intervene. The rest of the Revolution players soon joined Sene in playfully mauling Feilhaber.

It was great to see such a jubilant reaction from the Revs, who haven’t had much to celebrate in the past few years. It was also good to see such support for Feilhaber, who can sometimes express frustration with teammates a little too quickly. As usual, Feilhaber gave away his fair share of balls at midfield during the match, particularly in the first half. But he’s a tireless worker and defender, and he draws many fouls, and surely his teammates appreciate all that. He was still sliding around the midfield trying to win the ball in the 84^th minute against the Fire, hustling and playing with confidence. The New England announcers named him the man of the match, and the award was deserved, though consideration also had to be given to Rowe and to Matt Reis, who bailed the Revs out on a couple of occasions, as he so often does.

The match ended 2-0, and Reis and the defense of course deserve credit for the clean sheet, especially after last week’s late-match collapse against the lower-tier Harrisburg City Islanders in U.S. Open Cup play. But it was New England’s midfield that won this game, and not just Feilhaber and Rowe, but Shalrie Joseph, Cardenas, and Lee Nguyen. Nguyen in particular continues to impress, both with his dribbling and passing. He doesn’t look fast, but he has a knack for standing over the ball, drawing his defender to him, and dribbling right by him. He did that at least a couple of times against Chicago, once in the 82^nd minute, and played a number of dangerous crosses into the box from the left sideline.

By the bye, New England has now won five games this season, matching their total number of wins from last year. It’s not a glorious achievement, but one has to admit that it’s step in the right direction.