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Olympic Qualifying: USA vs. Honduras (Running Commentary)

Good evening folks. Tonight is the night we find out where the U.S. Under-23 national team finishes in the Group A standings. Panama’s 4-1 win against Cuba earlier today means the Americans have qualified for the qualifying tournament semifinals. What remains to be seen is whether the Americans will finish first or second in Group A.

A win tonight against Honduras and the United States finishes atop Group A. A draw or loss and Honduras wins the group. Just what that means remains to be seen because Group B is completely upside down. If the Americans finish in second place it will face Guatemala in the semifinals with an Olympic berth on the line. If the Americans finish in first place in the group it could face Mexico, Haiti or even Canada.

You can follow the action here as I will be providing a running commentary of the match. Please share your own thoughts and opinions on the match in the comments section.

Let’s get started:

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FINAL- That’s all for tonight folks. Thanks for following along on SBI and please share your post-match thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

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FINAL- And the USA wins the match, 1-0, and finish in first place in Group A. This means the Americans will face either Haiti, Mexico or Canada in the decisive semifinal on Thursday. Charlie Davies comes in as a sub and draws two penalties, missing the first and letting Gaven convert the second.

It was an ugly match but the Americans were never in much trouble against a Honduran team resting its best players.

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95th minute- GOAL USA!!!!!. Gaven converts the PK

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95th minute- Eddie Gaven to take the PK

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94th minute- USA PENALTY. WOW

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90th minute- This game is almost over and the USA looks like it will avoid Mexico in the semifinals.

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87th minute- Findley with a nice run into the area. He’s been the best of the Findley-Barrett-Davies trio tonight.

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86th minute- Davies with another dive. I’m starting to think he’s part Honduran.

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85th minute- Nunez fires one off the left post and the Americans dodge a bullet.

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84th minute- Yes folks, that was Chad Barrett with a purposeful pass that wasn’t a turnover. So what if he turned it over once he got it back.

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83rd minute- McCarty with a foul on former Dallas teammate Ramon Nunez. I can imagine the stories they could tell about each other.

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81st minute- A heel flick that leads to nothing is called wonderful. DRINK!!

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78th minute- A female streaker halts the game and, yes folks, she wasn’t bad at all. Gotta love FSC showing replays of her streak job, can’t say I blame them.

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74th minute- The United States comes close but Chad Barrett’s wide-open header goes wide.

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68th minute- MLS washout Ramon Nunez is set to come into the match for Honduras.

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67th minute- Some very good stuff from Eddie Gaven tonight. I think you can argue that he deserves to start in the semifinals.

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65th minute- I’m starting to think we should have made a drinking game out of Honduran players faking injuries. We would all be drunk by now.

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62nd minute- DAVIES MISSES!!!! Charlie Davies wanted the PK and he promptly sailed it wide right by a few inches.

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61st minute- USA PENALTY. Davies brought down in the area and Davies has a PK to take now.

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60th minute- Charlie Davies and Dax McCarty coming in for Sal Zizzo and Sacha Kljestan.

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51st minute- Kljestan with an ugly tackle that earns him a yellow.

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46th minute- We’re under way and Honduras gets a good shot on goal just seconds into the match. Cervi with a decent save.

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HALFTIME- We’re scoreless at the half. Honduras isn’t really doing much and the Americans have had the better of the play, though they haven’t been stellar either. Nowak has to think about putting Charlie Davies in for Barrett. If he doesn’t bench Barrett I’m afraid some SBI readers might wind up with alcohol poisoning.

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46th minute- I’m starting to think the Americans want a tie here. If Barrett stays in the game in the second half then I definitely think that’s the case.

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45th minute- Wow, Honduran midfielder Irvin Reyna with a TOUGH tackle on Zizzo.

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44th minute- Barrett with ANOTHER turnover. DRINK!

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43rd minute- Here’s an honest, CONCACAF-inspired question. What is more annoying, when a player dives badly or when a player lobbies hard for an opponent to get a card? It’s a tough call but I think I’ll go with the card lobbying.

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41st minute- Barrett with a horrid turnover. DRINK!

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39th minute- Kljestan with a bad turnover that leads to a Honduras break. Has anybody’s stock dropped more from the end of Game two to now than Kljestan?

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38th minute- Honduras doesn’t really look that interested in attacking soccer, though it may just be a product of its second team not being that good.

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33rd minute- Barrett with a shot on goal, okay so it rolled to the goalkeeper, but at least he kept it on the field.

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32nd minute- Sorry Mr. Miles, a keeper punching a ball right to an opposing player 20 yards from goal is NOT punching the ball to safety. Everybody DRINK!

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30th minute- Random question: When did the Jheri curl become the national hairstyle of Honduras?

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29th minute- Free roam, I believe that’s a cell phone plan, but I digress. Cervi gets a save, even if it was an easy one. For those who forget, Cervi was easily the best goalkeeper at the MLS Combine and has a bright future somewhere. Yes, I said somewhere, he hasn’t signed with the Chicago Fire just yet.

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25th minute- Just so you folks don’t think I’m a complete hater I do think Brian Dunseth has done a great job as a color analyst. Though if he says Cruyff one more time I might break my TV. Actually, that’s a drinking game. Anytime Dunseth says Cruyff everybody drinks.

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24th minute- Someone should tell the Honduran goalkeeper that Memo Ochoa called, he wants his look back.

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22nd minute- Great sequence with Zizzo finding Findley and Findley with a beautiful move in the area. Would have been a goal if not for the Honduran goalkeeper.

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19th minute- Okay, I’ve got the second drinking game. Any time Christian Miles praises a play and the play winds up being a turnover or terrible shot you must drink. He does it far too often. Hope you folks have a lot of alcohol available.

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18th minute– I don’t know who the Honduras coach is but he’s the best dressed coach you’ll ever see in a U-23 game.

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17th minute- For those of you wondering, that awful Chad Barrett cross counts as a turnover, so DRINK.

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14th minute- Honduran Daniel Alvarez pretends like Stuart Holden just shot him, but the ref doesn’t bite. I wonder if Alvarez is related to Amado Guevara with that acting.

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13th minute- Okay, the first drinking game involves Chad Barrett. Any time Barrett shanks a shot or commits a turnover you must drink. Yes, it’s St. Patty’s weekend, so we’re bringing the heat with the drinking games.

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12nd minute- The Americans are passing very well tonight, at least in part because Honduras doesn’t seem too interested in applying heavy defensive pressure.

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10th minute- I wonder if Red Bulls fans are involuntarily complaining at the sound of "Reyna" being repeated over and over.

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9th minute- Wow. Dom Cervi coming out like a maniac off his line. He got a tad lucky to get an offside call.

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8th minute- Since it’s Saturday night and St. Patty’s Day weekend, we must have some drinking games for this match. I’ll have a few shortly.

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7th minute- Maybe it’s just me but it’s tough to accept that Eddie Gaven is now a married guy with a beard. Where do the years go?

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5th minute- Interesting game tonight for the Americans. They know a tie or loss gets them Guatemala. Do you settle for that or do you still try to win the group and potentially face Mexico?

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4th minute- Here’s a question. This game is being broadcast in English. Do we really need Michael Orozco’s name pronounced with the heavy Spanish accenting?

And yes, Mr. Miles is still calling Freddy Adu Freddy Ay-doo.

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3rd minute- Good stuff from the Americans early on. Nice passing.

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2nd minute- And we’re under way.

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PRE-GAME- Here is the US lineup:

———-Barrett————

——Gaven—-Findley—–

Holden—-Kljestan—–Zizzo

Freeman—————–Hill

———-Orozco—Ianni——

————Cervi————–

PRE-GAME– Are we really getting anything from these cliche-filled pre-game interviews?

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Comments

  1. Sloppy disjointed game….we won the group even though Davies missed the PK and we have only a single goal from Freddy in the run of play….still we won the group.

    I have and always be a Gavin basher – but he actually had a halfway decent game – the PK should have been taken by Holden who played his heart out the last 2 games.

    I do not ever want to see lead footed Barrett and Findley ever on the international stage – they are awful! Barrett let an early pass go off his feet out of bounds which showed an absolutely unexcusable lack of concentration and urgency – the is Olympic qualification we are talking about!

    Other than Jozy, our forwards are awful. Davies has pace but has no scoring touch. Where was Preston Zimmermann and Gabe Ferrari? They are certainly better options worth exploring.

    On the positive side, Michael Orozco played like Eddie Pope in his prime – composed, always in the right position, makes the right decisions, and skilled. Bob Bradley should strongly consider him for the USMNT to back up a fading Bocanegra in central defense along w/ Gooch, DeMerit, Parkhurst.

    Kamani Hill struggled at times playing right back, but showed lots of skill, speed, and hustle – he is a diamond in the rough who’ll improve w/ time in the Bundesliga. But is he a forward, winger, or roght back?

    Stuart Holden is a find. Not fast or tall, but skills, hustle and always finding his way into the action – he never seems to disappear for stretches.

    Freddy should be the play maker for the USMNT ASAP from this point on. His game and maturity has grown tremendously since his move to Benfica. Too bad Landycakes Donovan didn’t have the guts to stick it out in Europe – his game is stuck in neutral and all he has done is take his gesturing riutal PK’s. Freddy should take all the set pieces – all quality.

    One last note: The player pool has improved exponentially the last 20 years – other than the forward and left back positions, we have legitimate players. World class? Other than goalkeeping not yet, but we have increasing quality and quantity. I hope that Michael Bradley, Freddy and Jozy are the ones to fulfill that promise than Landycakes declined and still awaits DaMarcus Beasley.

    Go Team USA!!!

    Reply
  2. But even if Feilhaber hasn’t been playing for Derby, the MLS guys haven’t been playing at all for 4 months either. The whole “not playing” argument is empty. Perhaps Feilhaber is a head case, but this wouldn’t be the first case of Peter Nowak butting heads with talented players. You’re telling me Feilhaber would’ve been worse than Kljestan has been in this tournament?

    Reply
  3. Sacha Kljestan has SUCKED during this tourney. However I think he still has promise.

    I agree with Jon about Zizzo.

    Anyone promoting Kljestan though must be related to the guy, he has been terrible. But not as bad as all non-Jozy strikers and wingers except Zizzo.

    Reply
  4. Thank you proof my man. I am in fact human, but barely so.

    Text-only is rough so I’m sorry for typing this, but if you were serious about me being an idiot maybe you might find the BALLS to actually have some accountability to your posts and log into the site. But I assume if you were serious, you are a coward like all the other non-regulars who refuse to do so. At least I’m held accountable by having an identity.

    Or go ahead and email me, kpugs7@gmail.com is no secret. I’d be happy to make you look like a fool via email.

    Reply
  5. Thank you proof my man. I am in fact human, but barely so.

    Text-only is rough so I’m sorry for typing this, but if you were serious about me being an idiot maybe you might find the BALLS to actually have some accountability to your posts and log into the site. But I assume if you were serious, you are a coward like all the other non-regulars who refuse to do so. At least I’m held accountable by having an identity you pussy.

    Reply
  6. everyone who thinks sal zizzo should not be in is CRAZY..just look at how many chances he provided for the u.s strikers. None being able to capitalize on. Zizzo is not going to score u 3 goals a game but he will get your stars 3 goals a game. (see Freddy Adu, u-20 world cup)

    his play yesterday wasn’t perfect but he consistently put his teammates in position to make a play.

    barrett gets payed to play soccer?..wow.

    start Zizzo in the semis. let him play along strikers who can finish and things will happen…i promise.

    Reply
  7. Kljestan is a very good MLS player and should be starting for the U-23 team. He is a rising talent. Just like any young player, consistency can be a problem. He should keep playing.

    What’s getting old is the Bradley favoritism talk. Enough of that already. It’s not like Bruce Arena with Reyna and Agoos.

    Reply
  8. Ben:

    The constant crying about Feilhaber and Rogers is starting to get old. Why is it incomprehensible? The reasons have been given about fifty times.

    Rogers has at least a minor injury.

    Feilhaber never plays for anyone and had a bad camp. If you are going to make a case for allowing players who don’t play for their team, and who have a bad camp, then YOU are the one who is showing favoritism. A player should have to do something to earn his spot on the team.

    Reply
  9. I’m really surprised there’s not as much outrage over this performance considering how volatile so many US soccer fans can be about way less unacceptable events.

    I still don’t understand the cutting of Feilhaber, Alvarez, and Rogers. Davies and Findley might be speed demons, but neither of them seem to able to keep the ball for longer than 2-3 touches.

    Sacha Kljestan continues to be amongst the most overrated players in the US pool. If Bornstein is a product of Bradley favoritism as so many profess, so is Kljestan. He can’t run, can’t tackle efficiently, and turns the ball over when under the slightest of pressure.

    I really hope for his sake that Real Madrid and Man Utd haven’t been watching Jozy in these games, because he’s been completely anonymous. Yes, he is being highly misused in Nowak’s formations, but even his two breakaways so far have been unsuccessful. Luckily on one of them, the keeper pulled him down.

    I also don’t understand why people are prasing Stuart Holden. He’s had some good moments, but that ain’t much when you’re surrounded by this team.

    Other players who have underwhelmed/played shittily/sucked/stunk/looked out of their league include Hunter Freeman, Chad Barrett, Sal Zizzo, and Patrick Ianni.

    The few bright spots have been Dax McCarty (has had a very Roy Keane style about him in this tournament, except with his red hair, he’s even more Irish), Michael Orozco (get him into a senior camp instead of Clarence Goodson, for crying out loud), and, of course, Freddy Adu.

    I’m really concerned that, regardless of how poorly Mexico has played in the group stage, we would be in big trouble if matched against them in the semis. If we can only muster up one goal on Panama, Honduras, and CUBA, how are we supposed to score against the Mexicans or the Canadians?

    The lineup I’d like to see in the semis (even though Novak will probably throw out some unbalanced Christmas tree again)

    ——-Altidore—Davies———-

    Gaven———Adu———–Holden

    ————McCarty—————

    Orozco———————Sturgis

    ——–Spector—Edu————-

    ————-Seitz—————-

    Reply
  10. Just a side note. Mr. White (C. Blanco) is walking in with Juan Manuel Marquez into the ring. Too bad Pacquiao is going to take Marquez’s head off.

    Reply
  11. Oh and the line up I would like to see for the last two games is:

    ———–Seitz———–

    Wynne—Edu–Spector—Freeman

    ———-McCarty——–

    Holden——Adu——–Gaven

    —–Barrett——–Altidore—–

    I will say that I have not been habby with both Barrett or Davis. I would actually like to see Adu up with Altidore, and put Gaven Kljestan behind the strikers.

    Reply
  12. Wow, that was a horrible, boring game. I want Nowak fired right away, this guy is just not the man for this job. If Arena gets fired for his formation and poor performance at the WC. The Nowak should be fired for fielding the same boring, deffensive formation. Then when you have a team that has players that where scoring great goals at the U-20s and has only scored 3 goals with to from the spot, that is bad. Nowak needs to play a 4-4-2 diamond formation, and I bet the team wins there next game 3-0 at the semis.

    Reply
  13. real rules question from a relatively new fan about the last foul on Davies: Does it matter that Davies had no way of catching up to the ball even if he wasn’t fouled? Apparently, a foul is a foul and a foul inside the box automatically leads to a PK. Is that the gist of it?

    Thanks for humoring me.

    Reply
  14. ————-Seitz————–

    -Wynne—Spector–Orozco—Sturgis

    ————–Edu———–

    —Holden—-McCarty—–Gaven

    ————Adu————–

    ———Altidore————

    Reply
  15. Bryan, you are the man for posting that. Doesn’t look good for the US going into the semifinals, but that chick is definitely the highlight of the US play in tournament so far

    Reply
  16. The price of listening to Christian Miles is getting to hear Brian Dunseth. Dunseth did a nice job in both games so far.

    Reply
  17. This is going to sound crazy, and it will never happen.

    But I would like to see Gaven playing as a second striker to Jozy to finish off this tournament. If Jozy is going to be the man up top he does need a secondary striker to clear up space, and we have seen that none of the other “strikers” in the squad can really play.

    Reply
  18. The best line up for our next game….

    ———–Seitz———–

    Freeman–Orozco–Edu–Spector

    ———-McCarty——–

    Holden——Adu——–Gaven

    —–Davis——–Jozy—–

    Thats the lineup!!!

    Reply
  19. I wouldn’t mind to see a speedy forward next to Jozy. Though if he could get someone that knows how to hold the ball and develop a passing combination with him, that would be even better.

    Reply
  20. The US does need to figure out a way to draw defenses out and create space against packing em in teams. The senior team does not do well with defensive teams either.

    All three opponents were defensive. funny how Honduras tried over the top balls against us.

    We know Mexico likes to build their play.

    Reply
  21. Altidore, Adu, Zizzo, Holden, McCarty and Edu in the upper 6. Sturgis, Orozco, Spector, Hill and Seitz in the back.

    At least, that’s what I’d like to see and what I think would be the best lineup from what I’ve seen out of this roster.

    Reply
  22. Typical Mexicans, I watched the game on ESPN Deportes (more exciting the calling of the game) and the commentators are saying, “OH WHAT A SEMI FINAL USA-MEX WHAT EVERYONE WANTS” !!!! Oh please my freaking neighbohrs south of the border might not even make it and these guys are making this stupid bold predictions….PATHETIC!!!! TYPICAL MEXICAN commentators. I miss Andres Cantor.

    Reply
  23. If they want to win the Fire will play Chad on the reserves only for as long as possible as he will screw the pooch for Chicago for sure… he was the worst player on the pitch for me… He shows hustle but that is about it…

    Reply
  24. I don’t like divers. While one CB was all over Davies, and the other didn’t even attempt to play the ball, I’m not sure he would have had a shot on goal without either of those. No way to know, but he did dive his way through most of the time he was in. Hopefully some coach somewhere will beat that out of him.

    While we got the win, I’d be alot happier if we’d scored in the run of play and made fewer sloppy passes.

    And I agree with several of you guys, I think that playing a faster forward with Jozy would help him out, and allow him more space. Even if Davies dives, his touch wasn’t terrible and he did stretch the D.

    Reply
  25. So a total of exactly 3 goals in the group rounds, two of which were penalties, not too inspiring or comforting. Big question is who are we going to be playing, technically we could be seeing any of the 4 from the other group, though I could be wrong. For the semifinal I see Novak putting out a line-up of:

    ———–Seitz———–

    Wynne-Orozco-Spector-Sturgis

    ———Edu-McCarty——–

    Holden——Adu——–Gaven

    ———-Altidore———-

    Reply
  26. ok, so 90 min and ill agree that barrett wasnt even decent today :-/ saw a few completed passes and a pass when he shouldve shot >.< hopefully he pulls it together for the fire

    Reply
  27. OK, not sue how to feel for the next opponent. Canada or Mexico. Whoever is next, Zizzo, Adu and Altidore need to be starting in the attacking side of the lineup.

    Reply

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