So I woke up Sunday morning after this weird dream. Something about the U.S. national team beating Honduras 3-2 mixed with me being chased by Carlo Costly and Carlos Pavon in something straight out of the Michael Jackson 'Thriller' video.
Odd.
So odd I decided it was worth breaking my 10-month old self-imposed ban from Dunkin' Donuts coffee.
There was also something about guys named "Jonathan Bornst" and "Casey Conor" playing for the U.S. while somebody named "Palakios" lining up for Honduras.
But it wasn't a dream. Apparently it actually happened, with the U.S. officially stamping it's passport for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Though you may or may not have seen it, yes, the U.S. played one of its most impressive games of 2009, rallying from an early 1-0 deficit then holding on 3-2 in a wild match from San Pedro Sula. (Non 8-bit caliber highlights don't exactly do the game justice.)
Hopefully you found a way to view this game, whether by by attending one of the closed circuit locations scattered throughout the U.S. or by "other" means. (In the year 2009, it's not too hard to read between the lines. Let's just say, there's a lot still to be written about Internet law particularly in Sweden.)
So if you saw the match or "saw" the match, you witnessed something about as rare as a unicorn playing the piano -- Conor Casey (a.k.a. Casey Conor) scoring two goals.
On the first with the U.S. trailing 1-0, Casey somehow got a body part to a looping high ball in the box and avoided contact with the Honduran keeper and bungled it into the net. It was stunning and at full speed it looked like it was clearly going to be called a foul. It was almost as if there was a full second of silent pause while the collective air of 45,000 ready-to-celebrate Hondurans had the wind sucked out of them before the ball dribbled over the line.
If that goal was a right hook across the chops, a few minutes later Casey delivered a stomach punch when he latched onto Landon Donovan's pass and beat Noel Valladares on a classy finish worthy of the likes of Henry or Villa, let alone some stocky U.S. forward with a shaved head.
Two goals from Conor Casey? In the same game? The same guy that had about five steps on Maynor Figeroa earlier in the match, only to get run down by the Wigan defender in about two seconds?
Is this what it would it have been like if Dexy's Midnight Runner's had another hit after 'Come on Eileen'?
With a 2-1 lead, the U.S. as is its habit, continued to play better and took a 3-1 lead on Donovan's nice bending free kick. (Yeah, two goals from Casey and a Landon freekick in the same game. If there was ever a time to cash in on a life insurance policy.)
Then all hell broke lose, mainly because it was impossible to gauge how much time was left in the match.
Honduras pulled a goal back after the U.S. defense decided to ball-watch, forcing Tim Howard to come off his line and do the Charleston while the ball worked back to the middle and Julio Cesar De Leon poked it through the forest of defenders.
At 3-2 Honduras got a lifeline when Carlos Bocanegra (or was it Jonathan Spector) got called for a handball. Thankfully Carlos Pavon came closer to row H than the goal from the penalty spot.
A lot more happened, like Charlie Davies getting two gigantic bites at the cherry in the first half and missing both on the same sequence and Oguchi Onyewu blocking about four shots in the first half.
All that matters, if through all the consternation the U.S. is in the World Cup. Bob Bradley rolled the dice with a guy (Casey) all us idiots on the Internet have about as much goodwill toward as Ebeneezer Scrooge had toward street urchins prior to his visits from the Ghost of Christmas. (Sea urchin, street urchin? Any other type of urchin?)
Not to make Casey sound like too much of a leper, he is second in MLS with 16 goals, but if we placed odds on the fact the U.S. would qualify for the 2010 World Cup thanks to Casey scoring twice in the clinching match they'd likely check in toward the 500-to-1 range.
Then again, on a night nothing at all made sense for a sporting event in 2009, it was kind of fitting that the unlikeliest of players turned out to be the Hero of the Day.
And if you did see the match, it really was a microcosm of the entire 2009 junket rolled into one. The U.S. gave up the first goal and then rallied to take the lead. Then the team needed to hold on for dear life in the final 15 minutes when Honduras threw the kitchen sink at them.
While we all wanted to have qualification salted away a couple week ago, was it ever really in doubt? For the U.S. to down to Honduras, silence of a crowd and score with the most unlikeliest of candidates? That's a good job out of them.
Other stuff:
* Just a thought, but Media World or whatever that Brazilian company that usurped the rights is called, if this sort of issue ever arises again, you may want to offer a Pay-Per-View option. I'm just saying.
* Maybe I was hard on ESPN for screwing up some technical stuff on Saturday night around midnight. Still for all the warts, ESPN's production quality for a sporting event is light years ahead of anything else.
* Thankfully Honduras coach Reinaldo Rueda decided not use David Suazo as a substitute, because the U.S. really couldn't defend him. Howard made his best save, throwing his arms up in the air to deflect his shot away.
* Apparently Popeyes is big in Honduras. Who knew?
* Very hard, due to the conditions, to give an accurate "he played well/he sucked" write-up. All that matters was the U.S. got the win on the road.
* That said, Michael Bradley showed some signs of life, including one of his patented long-range galloping shots, which sailed low and wide of the post.
* With everything in play last night, the injury to Clint Dempsey came off as a bit of a non-issue. (Again, hard for me to pass any judgment on Stuart Holden.)
* To quote a co-worker, "That's your problem", but what a letdown if you're Honduras Sunday morning. Even if Pavon makes the penalty and it ends 3-3, Honduras still had its work cut out for itself, needing to get a win at rival El Salvador and the U.S. doing something vs. Costa Rica. As it stands Los Catrachos are bound for that CONMEBOL Playoff game, unless the U.S. decides to send out its U-20 team Wednesday.
* We have a lot of time between now and Dec. 4 to discuss the importance of the draw for 2010. At this point, to think the U.S. would actually be seeded is a bit foolish. All the U.S. can really do is cross its fingers and hope it lucks into a group with either North Korea or the Bahrain/New Zealand winner and one of the African teams not named Ghana or Cote D'Ivoire. Then you could throw any UEFA or CONMEBOL team in there and the U.S. would have a reasonable chance to move on. Worst case scenario would be a team like Australia/South Korea, a Paraguay-type and a Euro power like Germany or Spain. Then we're back to 2006 all over again.
Oh, and I'd absolutely love, the U.S. lucking into a group with Switzerland.
* Not to be a hater, but Bradley proved to be a the right guy to guide the U.S. through qualification. I just still worry, in those three matches in South Africa he's the right guy to gameplan for those matches. As long as he realizes Casey might be able to catch lightning in a bottle vs. a team like Honduras, but perhaps not against a higher caliber opponent, we're okay.
So long as Donovan -- wherever he lands after the MLS season -- can carry his 2009 form into 2010, then the U.S. has a fighter's chance. For all the crap he's taken, Donovna has made the USMNT his team, and looks smart and assured inside its framework.
At this point, the U.S. team for 2010 seems pretty cut-and-dried. About the only things to pay attention to are if Edgar Castillo and or Jermaine Jones are worked into the team, as left back and central midfield seem like the only place with actual question marks.
Whether or not this a good thing or bad thing is open to debate. Would-be opponents certainly will have plenty of tape on the U.S, so they won't sneak up on anybody. All any opposing coach needs to do is dust off U.S. 2, Spain 0.
* Not to beat a dead horse, but the thing to watch between Oct. 11, 2009 and June 11, 2010 is the playing time for Jozy Altidore at Hull City. Last night we saw the U.S. get lucky with Casey scoring twice. For the U.S. to be an actual threat either Atidore, or hopefully Altidore and Charlie Davies both refine their game in Europe the next eight months and make the U.S. a team opponents will actually fear.
In the end:
For lack of a better word every single aspect from Saturday night was surreal, but in a bizarrely good way.
Only in U.S. soccer, folks.
Odd.
So odd I decided it was worth breaking my 10-month old self-imposed ban from Dunkin' Donuts coffee.
There was also something about guys named "Jonathan Bornst" and "Casey Conor" playing for the U.S. while somebody named "Palakios" lining up for Honduras.
But it wasn't a dream. Apparently it actually happened, with the U.S. officially stamping it's passport for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Though you may or may not have seen it, yes, the U.S. played one of its most impressive games of 2009, rallying from an early 1-0 deficit then holding on 3-2 in a wild match from San Pedro Sula. (Non 8-bit caliber highlights don't exactly do the game justice.)
Hopefully you found a way to view this game, whether by by attending one of the closed circuit locations scattered throughout the U.S. or by "other" means. (In the year 2009, it's not too hard to read between the lines. Let's just say, there's a lot still to be written about Internet law particularly in Sweden.)
So if you saw the match or "saw" the match, you witnessed something about as rare as a unicorn playing the piano -- Conor Casey (a.k.a. Casey Conor) scoring two goals.
On the first with the U.S. trailing 1-0, Casey somehow got a body part to a looping high ball in the box and avoided contact with the Honduran keeper and bungled it into the net. It was stunning and at full speed it looked like it was clearly going to be called a foul. It was almost as if there was a full second of silent pause while the collective air of 45,000 ready-to-celebrate Hondurans had the wind sucked out of them before the ball dribbled over the line.
If that goal was a right hook across the chops, a few minutes later Casey delivered a stomach punch when he latched onto Landon Donovan's pass and beat Noel Valladares on a classy finish worthy of the likes of Henry or Villa, let alone some stocky U.S. forward with a shaved head.
Two goals from Conor Casey? In the same game? The same guy that had about five steps on Maynor Figeroa earlier in the match, only to get run down by the Wigan defender in about two seconds?
Is this what it would it have been like if Dexy's Midnight Runner's had another hit after 'Come on Eileen'?
With a 2-1 lead, the U.S. as is its habit, continued to play better and took a 3-1 lead on Donovan's nice bending free kick. (Yeah, two goals from Casey and a Landon freekick in the same game. If there was ever a time to cash in on a life insurance policy.)
Then all hell broke lose, mainly because it was impossible to gauge how much time was left in the match.
Honduras pulled a goal back after the U.S. defense decided to ball-watch, forcing Tim Howard to come off his line and do the Charleston while the ball worked back to the middle and Julio Cesar De Leon poked it through the forest of defenders.
At 3-2 Honduras got a lifeline when Carlos Bocanegra (or was it Jonathan Spector) got called for a handball. Thankfully Carlos Pavon came closer to row H than the goal from the penalty spot.
A lot more happened, like Charlie Davies getting two gigantic bites at the cherry in the first half and missing both on the same sequence and Oguchi Onyewu blocking about four shots in the first half.
All that matters, if through all the consternation the U.S. is in the World Cup. Bob Bradley rolled the dice with a guy (Casey) all us idiots on the Internet have about as much goodwill toward as Ebeneezer Scrooge had toward street urchins prior to his visits from the Ghost of Christmas. (Sea urchin, street urchin? Any other type of urchin?)
Not to make Casey sound like too much of a leper, he is second in MLS with 16 goals, but if we placed odds on the fact the U.S. would qualify for the 2010 World Cup thanks to Casey scoring twice in the clinching match they'd likely check in toward the 500-to-1 range.
Then again, on a night nothing at all made sense for a sporting event in 2009, it was kind of fitting that the unlikeliest of players turned out to be the Hero of the Day.
And if you did see the match, it really was a microcosm of the entire 2009 junket rolled into one. The U.S. gave up the first goal and then rallied to take the lead. Then the team needed to hold on for dear life in the final 15 minutes when Honduras threw the kitchen sink at them.
While we all wanted to have qualification salted away a couple week ago, was it ever really in doubt? For the U.S. to down to Honduras, silence of a crowd and score with the most unlikeliest of candidates? That's a good job out of them.
Other stuff:
* Just a thought, but Media World or whatever that Brazilian company that usurped the rights is called, if this sort of issue ever arises again, you may want to offer a Pay-Per-View option. I'm just saying.
* Maybe I was hard on ESPN for screwing up some technical stuff on Saturday night around midnight. Still for all the warts, ESPN's production quality for a sporting event is light years ahead of anything else.
* Thankfully Honduras coach Reinaldo Rueda decided not use David Suazo as a substitute, because the U.S. really couldn't defend him. Howard made his best save, throwing his arms up in the air to deflect his shot away.
* Apparently Popeyes is big in Honduras. Who knew?
* Very hard, due to the conditions, to give an accurate "he played well/he sucked" write-up. All that matters was the U.S. got the win on the road.
* That said, Michael Bradley showed some signs of life, including one of his patented long-range galloping shots, which sailed low and wide of the post.
* With everything in play last night, the injury to Clint Dempsey came off as a bit of a non-issue. (Again, hard for me to pass any judgment on Stuart Holden.)
* To quote a co-worker, "That's your problem", but what a letdown if you're Honduras Sunday morning. Even if Pavon makes the penalty and it ends 3-3, Honduras still had its work cut out for itself, needing to get a win at rival El Salvador and the U.S. doing something vs. Costa Rica. As it stands Los Catrachos are bound for that CONMEBOL Playoff game, unless the U.S. decides to send out its U-20 team Wednesday.
* We have a lot of time between now and Dec. 4 to discuss the importance of the draw for 2010. At this point, to think the U.S. would actually be seeded is a bit foolish. All the U.S. can really do is cross its fingers and hope it lucks into a group with either North Korea or the Bahrain/New Zealand winner and one of the African teams not named Ghana or Cote D'Ivoire. Then you could throw any UEFA or CONMEBOL team in there and the U.S. would have a reasonable chance to move on. Worst case scenario would be a team like Australia/South Korea, a Paraguay-type and a Euro power like Germany or Spain. Then we're back to 2006 all over again.
Oh, and I'd absolutely love, the U.S. lucking into a group with Switzerland.
* Not to be a hater, but Bradley proved to be a the right guy to guide the U.S. through qualification. I just still worry, in those three matches in South Africa he's the right guy to gameplan for those matches. As long as he realizes Casey might be able to catch lightning in a bottle vs. a team like Honduras, but perhaps not against a higher caliber opponent, we're okay.
So long as Donovan -- wherever he lands after the MLS season -- can carry his 2009 form into 2010, then the U.S. has a fighter's chance. For all the crap he's taken, Donovna has made the USMNT his team, and looks smart and assured inside its framework.
At this point, the U.S. team for 2010 seems pretty cut-and-dried. About the only things to pay attention to are if Edgar Castillo and or Jermaine Jones are worked into the team, as left back and central midfield seem like the only place with actual question marks.
Whether or not this a good thing or bad thing is open to debate. Would-be opponents certainly will have plenty of tape on the U.S, so they won't sneak up on anybody. All any opposing coach needs to do is dust off U.S. 2, Spain 0.
* Not to beat a dead horse, but the thing to watch between Oct. 11, 2009 and June 11, 2010 is the playing time for Jozy Altidore at Hull City. Last night we saw the U.S. get lucky with Casey scoring twice. For the U.S. to be an actual threat either Atidore, or hopefully Altidore and Charlie Davies both refine their game in Europe the next eight months and make the U.S. a team opponents will actually fear.
In the end:
For lack of a better word every single aspect from Saturday night was surreal, but in a bizarrely good way.
Only in U.S. soccer, folks.
Labels: 2010 world cup, bob bradley, Soccer, USMNT, world cup qualifying
I lived there last year and Honduras loves fried chicken. Period.
Popeye's, KFC, Church's Pollo Campero, Power Chicken, and one other Honduran chain that escapes my brain right now.
Having been to Estadio Olimpico three times I have no idea how we pulled off that game last night. Even Mexico dropped 6 points in two rounds of qualifying there.
That was impressive. Bradley the Elder made the right call with Conor Casey. Elder may NOT be the right guy to win the World Cup, but is the head coach really the main factor keeping the USMNT from winning it all next summer?
Let's be straight. There is ZERO chance that the US will get seeded in the draw this December. Not because the seeding only goes 7 deep to allow for the host to be one of the 8 seeded teams. And not because of the current FIFA rankings (though those do play a small role). The seedings are based on some complicated system but my understanding is that the main issue is how the team did in the last two World Cups. Like I said, the US has no shot at being seeded for 2010. Period.
I can't believe no one has mentioned the referee-ing from Saturday night. The US got many, many breaks from the ref in Honduras - something that rarely happens on the road in CONCACAF. Maybe the US was 'due' but this was a great game for the chips to get cashed in. Casey's first goal could have easily been waved off for him fouling the GK. Spector could have been sent off for his hand-ball that led to Pavon's whiff. And the biggest of all was the HON goal that got waved off for off-sides. The stats I "saw" last night showed that there was a total of ONE offside call the entire match, and that single call pulled a goal out of the net AND it looked like the linesman may have blown the call. I thought that was a good goal. Didn't you?
So luck smiled on the USMNT. The next step is that same luck showing up for the draw in December. If there are three kinds of draws - good, average and bad - I am not sure the US will advance with just an 'average' one. We need a 'good' draw, don't we?
I originally thought it was a foul when I saw it live but the more I watch it, the more I think the goalie was just late coming in and Casey was more aggressive to the ball. Maybe we got a break in that the goalkeeper usually gets the benefit of the doubt, but I honestly thought it wasn't a foul.
I totally disagree about a potential red card for the hand ball. Why would that be red? It wasn't intentional nor did it directly prevent a goal. Also, I thought the offside call on the disallowed goal was the right call.
So maybe we got one break, if you want to call it that, on the Casey goal. But there were quite a few challenges on Donovan that failed to produce a yellow card that definitely deserved one and a couple of 50/50 calls that didn't go our way so I don't think Honduras can complain too much. Overall, I think the referee was very good.