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Late Clark goal sees USA top Venezuela

USA Venezuela 1 (Getty Images)

By FRANCO PANIZO

Just when it looked like the U.S. men's national team was destined for another scoreless game, a familiar face came up with the timeliest of goals.

Substitute Ricardo Clark powered home a header deep into stoppage time on Saturday night, giving the United States a 1-0 victory over Venezuela at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona in its opening match of 2012.

The goal, Clark's third for the U.S. team, gave the Americans the victory in a game it dominated for large stretches. The United States stymied Venezuela's attack and created a handful of good chances on offense, but it was unable to find the back of the net due to a combination of poor finishing and superb goalkeeping.

Even with it being the superior side, Jurgen Klinsmann's side seemed ready to settle for a tie against the South Americans. Minutes prior to Clark's goal, substitute Chris Wondolowski's header was denied by Venezuela goalkeeper Leonardo Morales, who was arguably his team's best player on the night.

Defensively, the Americans were stout. Bill Hamid, who earned a cleansheet in what was his first cap, went largely untested while the starting back four of A.J. DeLaGarza, Michael Parkhurst, Geoff Cameron and Heath Pearce negated Alejandro Moreno and the rest of Venezuela's offense.

It was offensively where the United States had the majority of its problems. Playing in a 4-2-3-1 formation for much of the game, the U.S. team created chances but was unable to capitalize. Teal Bunbury, captain Jermaine Jones and Brek Shea all failed to convert despite being put in good positions.

Morales also added to the United States' finishing woes, making a pair of eye-opening saves, including on a Shea header in the first half following a cross from debutant Graham Zusi.

Shea was also unable to score midway through the first half. Benny Feilhaber played Shea through on goal with a through ball, but Shea's ensuing shot rolled wide of the far post.

The misses may have aggravated the Americans, but their frustration turned into joy just before the final whistle. Jones whipped in a corner kick from the right side, and Clark got free of his mark to thunder it home and give the United States the win.

The Americans will now head to Panama City, where they will take on Panama in a friendly on Wednesday to conclude Klinsmann's first January camp.

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What do you think of the United States' 1-0 win over Venezuela? Who impressed/disappointed you? Who did you think was the best American player?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. bb,

    The number of words, whether a lot or a little,used has nothing to to do with the relative merit of a topic.

    Feilhaber’s situation is nuanced. If you like short summsries, the topic of Feilhaber’s relative value to the USMNT can be summed up this way:

    ” Inconsistent. Fitness and attitude questionable. Proven useful in a variety of roles, in small doses, but not starter material”

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  2. Yep… Donovan’s corners with Everton have been spot on… not saying Jones can’t be as effective.. but LD is still very good.

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  3. Lol…ya that is brutal. How much traffic could there be in an area used to moving 70,000 people when there were only 22,000 there? Not very smart (not knocking the crowd, I think the support was great)

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  4. At least you weren’t the guys in the seats in front of me. 90th minute, they decide to leave so they can “miss traffic”. I hope they were in the parking lot when they heard the stadium go nuts!

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  5. I thought JJ played the best. Camaron was solid and distributed well. Benny to me for all his technical abilities seems a bit of a tween, he gets muscled vey easy. Shea was one dimensional, the kid needs a bit more polishing. No other player looked bad, they just looked ok. I would like to see this same group against a better team and see what happens.

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  6. There is no doubt that Jones is a good player. I do, however, worry about his thuggish attributes. The 8 game suspension is one thing. in the Venezuela game, he made a horrible pass and as a result had to make a tactical foul. That is fine with me, BUT instead of simply tripping, grabbing, or shoving the player, he chose to violently kick the opponent in the knee. That should have been a red card, not yellow and the US should have been down to 10 men. All it took for that to happen was a referee who bothered to call fouls. (At least two around-the-waist, pulled-to-the-ground fouls against the US in the box were ignored. Multiple others were allowed to go un-whistled.)

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  7. Eff me…this is why you set your DVR to stop 15 minutes late during a live soccer game. I went out after watching it thinking they drew. I found out this AM they won!!!! I watched 90 minutes of goaless soccer IN SPANISH and missed the result…FML

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  8. GW,

    I appreciate your attempt here, OK? Seriously, even your attempted little rips at me…no problem, man.

    However, after reading it, I will hold to my original opinions, you provided no inew insights, none, which is hard to do using so many words.

    And NO, I advocate no quota system.

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  9. When MB was younger, I used to worry about his composure under pressure and his temper. He has learned to control that fire while on the field, maybe not so much when speaking to referees after the game.
    Jones gets nearly one yellow card per game and this was no exception, but it could have easily been a red. He made an absolutely horrific pass, then committed the tactical foul (which is just smart). But, instead of just tripping the player or grabbing him, he chose to violently kick the player in the knee. With that much time to see it coming and with such forceful contact, most referees would have issued a straight red-card and I think this one should have.

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  10. I agree, for a player that got only 30-40 minutes to show what he can do, he made more of it than anyone. (I only noticed Clark after he scored the header, I think his impact before that was pretty minimal.)

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  11. Yes and Jones did make that one absolutely horrible pass, then when he committed the tactical foul (which he had to do) instead of just grabbing the guy and spinning him, he took a viscous crack at the player’s knee. A less lenient referee would have sent him off for that.
    It was a bone-headed play that could have very well left the USA playing with 10 men.

    For me, he is too risky to have on the field. His rapid accumulation of yellow cards in the B-liga and present suspension are signs of that.

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  12. Wondo is probably not an international star-level striker, but he does score consistently at the MLS level, something none of the other forwards on this roster can seem to do, Shea is really a wide mid, not a striker. It is true that others may have more up-side and a longer, brighter future, but right now, he is better than Bunbury, or any of the others.

    In his relatively short time on the field, he setup Bunbury for a great shot, had a quality header saved by a fantastic save, just missed on two other shots and positioned himself in spots that Zusi and Bunbury should have made the pass to him instead of shooting from poor angles while pressured.

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  13. *22,000 + people to a non world cup qualifying match for a squad that did not include the big names, “Howard, Dempsy, Donovan, etc”. WOW!

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  14. Are we taking for granted the support the USMNT receives now? This game was played in the southwest, only a few hundred miles north of Mexico. We were playing a South American team. 10 years ago this would have been a pro- ANY latien American team crowd.

    I was at the match. There were 22,000 + people. It didn’t look like much because the stadium is HUGE! Home Depot Center holds 27,000 for reference. The majority were there for the US. I only saw a few Ven fans. The US fans were enthusiastic, passionate, loud and knowledgeable. It should also be noted the Phoenix Coyotes were playing across the street. So maybe we would had more fans.

    As a long time US soccer supporter it warms my heart to see such support for the national team in a geographic location that usually sides with any team the US is playing.

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  15. yeah he was busy getting a job in the Premiere league.

    funny that cameron, DLG and parkhurst wont sniff one of the top football leagues in the world but tim ream is well on his way to starting.

    american ignorance reeks in here.

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  16. Venezuela has been getting much better over the past 6 or 7 years. They did beat Argentina in a qualifier in October and made it to the semis this past summer at Copa America.

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  17. He’s 30, if he hasn’t grown up by now it ain’t gonna happen. He’s just a very inconsistent player for the US, he’ll have a game like this then he’ll disappear the next game.

    Reply

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