By Daniel Kelley
(OFFICIAL ONELOVE U.S. CORESPONDENT)
happier days in Ellis Park – photo cred: Alex V.
Team USA’s magical cup run has sadly come to an end. With tons of hype and momentum behind them USA had to beat their old foe Ghana. Unfortunately much like in 2006 Ghana got the better of the yanks once again. In the three out of the four games team USA played they found themselves down a goal early on. In all the other games they dug deep and found a way to claw back and salvage a point. Today though was just not their day.
Many will wonder now who they can blame for team USA’s failure to get past the round of 16. The finger will be solely pointed at one person, Mr. Bob Bradley. Heralded as the saint and savior of soccer in America just this morning before the match, many will be asking for his resignation of his post as head coach of team USA. Bradley did mostly everything right leading up to the game against Ghana. He won the Gold Cup, helped the team finish second behind Brazil in the Confederations Cup, and had team USA finish first in group C of the 2010 world cup. Still though a lot of his decisions need to be questioned.
When you have a good thing going, why change it? Many will be asking Bob Bradley that very same question in regards to playing Ricardo Clark tonight. Clark played poorly in the opening group game and hadn’t played since. Suddenly, and rather shockingly, he was reinstated in the starting lineup for an extremely important match. Bradley has been known to be a gambling man and sometimes taking a risk pays off, and sometimes it doesn’t. Replacing Oguchi Onyewu with Jonathon Bornstein was a huge gamble that paid off for Bradley. Replacing Maurice Edu/Benny Feilhaber with Ricardo Clark was a gamble that most definitely did not pay off. Clark started the Ghana game by giving up possession in the middle of the park that resulted in a goal, and then picking up an extremely dangerous yellow card almost immediately after. Give Bradley credit for admitting his mistake by subbing Clark after 30 minutes, but still he took a huge risk by playing Clark that really hurt team USA.
Bradley has done a wonderful job with team USA and exceeded everyone’s expectations, but after this loss to Ghana USA fans will be thinking that team USA could have, and should have, done better. Sometimes you have to stick with what works, and for some reason Bradley decided not to. USA had a respectable run, but excuses aside for why they didn’t go farther, they need to do better
Player Ratings:
Howard-6- Made some good saves tonight but probably should have done better with the opening the goal. Much like his central defenders in the opening minutes, Howard was ball watching and out of position.
Cherundolo-6.5- Not his best game by a long shot. Had some shaky moments in the beginning but got better as the game went on. Dolo probably has the most dangerous cross on the team and he used it to good effect today.
Bocanegra-6- Had both good and bad moments throughout the game. His poor communication with DeMerit and ball watching cost his team the game unfortunately.
DeMerit-6- One of the more consistent players on team USA throughout the tournament. Today though he made a lot of costly errors that hurt the team quite a bit. Won a lot of balls in the air like he always does, but had a really hard time communicating with his partner in central defense.
Bornstein-7- I never thought I would say this but…Johnny B. had a great game today. The best player on the backline, absolutely owned the left side of the field. A very surprising solid and mistake free game from Bornstein.
Bradley-7- Has raised his stock significantly in this tournament. Worked tirelessly today and did all he could to keep team USA in it.
Clark-3- An absolutely dreadful performance from Clark. Clark put on a real horror show today. His two most cringe worthy moments were giving the ball away in the middle field to help setup Ghana’s opening goal and then getting a silly yellow, which could have easily been a red, for a vicious tackle on Kevin-Prince Boateng. Clark was hauled off on the 30th minute, and walking off the field was the best thing he did the whole game.
Donovan-7- Superbly finished his penalty kick to tie the game and take his goal tally to three, but didn’t play as well as he had in the other games.
Dempsey-8- Great game from Deuce today, did everything but score a goal. Worked hard and was a constant threat on the attack. Made some great touches and was a real nuisance for Ghana’s backline. Drew the penalty that led to the tying goal.
Findley-4- Continues to not take advantage of good opportunities to score. Findley is just not good enough to compete at this level.
Altidore-6.5- Without a doubt the hardest working forward in this tournament, who cannot score goals. He has a real knack for keeping possession and drawing fouls, but his finishing really needs to get better. Solid game today but could have been even better had he done more with the chances he had.
Substitutions:
Edu-6- Made an immediate impact after he came on for Ricardo Clark. Broke up plays and won balls in the middle of the park. If he can improve his passing game he will become an infinitely better player. Wasted a lot of possession with errant passes.
Feilhaber-7.5- What is going on with Benny? Ever since his laser volley against Mexico in the Gold Cup he has been on downward spiral in terms of his form. Suddenly in the last two matches he has featured in, he has looked and played like a new man. Fantastic creative play and a newfound urgency in his defensive game has made him start to live up to his hype. The real question is why did Ricardo Clark start against Ghana and not the in form Benny Feilhaber?
Gomez-6- Next to Charlie Davies team USA only has one other player who has a real eye for goal and knows how to be in the right place at the right time. That player is Mr. Herculez Gomez. The super-sub from Las Vegas came on after regulation to push the Ghanaian defense but didn’t do much. He pushed up hard and did well to make things difficult for Ghana but never got the chance to put the ball in back of the net. Would have been a much more suitable forward to start alongside Altidore instead of Findley.
