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Buddle’s brace leads USA past Australia

EdsonBuddle (ChrisRiccoISI)

Photo by Chris Ricco/ISIphotos.com

 

Edson Buddle's first national team goal was a beauty, and he didn't waste much time scoring a second.

Starting in place of injured striker Jozy Altidore, Buddle scored two goals in helping the U.S. men's national team score a 3-1 victory against Australia in South Africa on Saturday.

Buddle belted the match's opening goal in the fourth minute, converting an Australia turnover before blasting a shot from 18 yards out. Australia tied the score on a Tim Cahill finish, but Buddle gave the Americans the lead for good when he headed home a perfect cross from Steve Cherundolo.

Buddle, Robbie Findley and Clarence Goodson all earned starts, while Jozy Altidore missed the match due to an ankle injury suffered during the week. Oguchi Onyewu was a surprise bench player, coming on for the final 30 minutes of the match.

Second-half substitute Herculez Gomez scored in his second straight appearance, finishing off a quality pass from Landon Donovan in the final moments of the match to provide the insurance goal to make it 3-1.

Steve Cherundolo enjoyed a stellar performance in solidifying his place as the team's starting right back. Michael Bradley also enjoyed a strong outing.

The central defense pairing of Goodson and Jay DeMerit had shaky moments and didn't look completely secure as a first-choice tandem.

Findley was active up top, but he also squandered a handful of chances, including a close-range effort that he hit off the crossbar.

While the United States avoided any serious injuries, the team didn't leave Saturday's match completely unscathed. Midfielder Ricardo Clark limped off with what appeared to be a left hamstring injury.

What did you think of the United States' performance on Saturday?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. His pass was about midfield. If you look at the build up, there was a mis communications. The midfielders often step back, and receive the pass. That did not happen.

    There were plenty of bad passes from others. Perhaps, Bornstein’s was the most exciting.

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  2. Bornstein did have a few games where he made some errors. Like a batter in baseball they might have a slump. He might be coming out of his at the right time.

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  3. Bornstein will play. No matter what you see, or think, he is a solid player. Spector is the one who has been playing poorly. A bad pass here, or there is not great, but if you can’t do the basics then there is a problem. Heck, Demeritt made a terrible touch, and I can name about 2 or 3 other bad moves by every player. If a midfielder makes the same bad pass as a defender, it is not seen as bad. Right?

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  4. Bornstein is a solid player. Heck, Demerit had a far worse pass than Bornstein, and I have not seen one post about that. Why?

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  5. The disconnect may come in the fact that you guys all see these games, Czech Republic, Turkey and Australia, as if they were regular league games or part of the World Cup.

    They’re not.

    I think Bradley sees them as 6 separate halves in which to experiment. The fact is this is not a settled team and hasn’t really been since the end of the Confederations Cup and the injuries to Demerit, Onyewu and Davies. I’m sure Bradley would have liked to have had a settled team going into camp but it didn’t work out that way.

    As for those of you hoping that Clark falls down a flight of stairs,it’s disingenuous of you to think any hamstring injury is minor in a tournament like this; the US is going to need everybody if they are to have a good long run.

    Besides, if he gets injured bad enough think about who is most likely to get called up; that’s right your boy Sacha.

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  6. is not that torres didn’t played well in the qualifiers. BB blame him of what happen in Costa Rica but in fact it was Beasley and Bornstein that made the mistake of loosing the ball, what I remember of that game Torres almost made a goal and Donovan got upset that Torres took a free kick whick almost in to a goal also. plus he came in on the other qualifying games that he did pretty well like against El Salvador on the second half and which USA tied that game. So this something to refresh your memory a little bit…

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  7. I think most of the criticism is of the back line. Yes, we missed a couple of easy chances that could have made it 5-1, but they missed a few easy chances that could have just as easily made it 4-3 in their favor.

    Really, the score of that game should have been more like 5-4, which is a testament to how good a job we did of creating chances, but how shaky we were in the back.

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  8. My thoughts after yesterday;

    1) Findlay did a nice job of stretching the Australian D with his speed, but his finishing was sub-par. That MUST improve. The one positive is that he’s getting himself into position to score, and one must believe he can’t miss those kinds of shots all the time.
    2) Gomez is the super sub. Some guys just have that knack for putting it in the net. I like him a lot.
    3) I liked Hahnemann as our back-up. He pulled off some nice saves yesterday from point blank range. It’s good to know we have a steady keeper if Howard should get hurt.
    4) Oneywu should not start. He’s just not up to his old form, and with the tentativeness in his jumping, his best attribute is taken away. Goodson is the starter in center back with DeMerit if it were my choice.
    5) I liked Cherundolo. He can move forward well and provide great service for our forwards, and is solid in his defensive form.
    6) Bocanegra did well yesterday at left back, and I think that will be our starter at that often maligned position for us.
    7) We saw no Holden, Edu, or Feilhaber yesterday, and a lot of Clark…I think that will change.

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  9. The defense is not playing well enough to advance out of Group play. Findley is a liability if he cannot finish the ball. I want to see Altidore and Buddle up front.

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  10. All you Dolo haters – eat your words. Dolo put on a suberp performance. His play at Hannover after his injury continued to improve, and I could have sworn he played alot like Philip Lahm yesterday.

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  11. so much negatives like this on the board… am i the only one who is shocked by how bad we made the aussies look? it was 3-1 with two open goal misses that should have made it 5-1… our defense looked good as well. you’re not going to play an international match against decent opposition and see no chances against.

    i guess the one good thing is that we as us fans take for granted that now we have forwards and attacking midfielders that can create multiple solid chances in a game against a good team.

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  12. Findley wasted alot of good chances.

    DeMerit looks really shaky when paired with Goodson. But he looks better with Onyewu.

    Aussies really were physical with Dempsey.

    Besides Buddle’s two goals, I thought he looks poor, alot of poor touches. But he put his chances away.

    Bornstein actually looked decent lol.

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  13. Do you know what “form” is?

    That’s what this is about. :thumbup:
    We can only hope Bradley was resting Torres and giving Clark minutes to get match-fit.

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  14. Only difference is the bloodthirsty Brazilians have even more on the ball skill than Torres, and a whole other league compared to MB, Rico or Edu.

    So yeah Dunga has best of both worlds.

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  15. Bornstein was good today. I said earlier he was pure hustle, and that was an exaggeration. He is very good in the air, fast and can get forward plus he has a great knack for goal-saving tackles. I would pick

    —————Buddle——Findley

    Donovan—-Bradley——Edu———Dempsey

    Bornstein–Bocanegra—Onyewu—–Cherundolo

    ——————–Howard

    I base those decisions on the idea that we looked weak in the air against Australia, and Boca Gooch and Bornstein are three of our best guys in the air defensively. I would be ok with Demerit and Goodson but I think they have looked vulnerable the past two games.

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  16. point is Findley’s not in that category, even on his best days.

    Buddle and Gomez on other hand showed well enough today to make Jozy nervous.

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  17. I’m worried about our centerback pairing. Bob Bradley should have tried Spector on the left in case Cherundolo has to be paired with either Goodson or Demerit in the center. I’m also utterly shocked that Torres didn’t even play. He has to be a starter. But besides that, he gave Cherundolo, Buddle, and Findley chances to step up and claim starting roles, and Findley was the only one to fail. Though he could be one for the future he’s just not ready for this World Cup, and Hercules Gomez should be our third forward.

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  18. he didn’t have much work to do and in one sequence he made a cross pass to an open midfield where no white shirt was there and it developed in to counter attack that the Aussies almost scored. Other than the snafu of his, he didn’t do much, neither good or bad. Or maybe not doing bad is doing good for him?

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