Top Stories

Antigua & Barbuda vs. USA: Match Night Commentary

The U.S. Men’s National Team has traveled to the Caribbean for a crucial World Cup Qualifying encounter vs. underdog Antigua & Barbuda in a match the Americans need to win to stay on track for passage to the Hexagonal Round of CONCACAF qualifying (7pm, beIN Sport).

The Americans are currently in a three-way tie in Group A, with Guatemala and Jamaica, and can take control of their fate with a win against an Antigua & Barbuda side currently sitting at the bottom of the group table.

The U.S. will be fielding a short-handed lineup tonight, with injuries ravaging the roster. Landon Donovan, Fabian Johnson, Edgar Castillo and Brek Shea are all out for tonight’s match, which has led Jurgen Klinsmann to turn to Carlos Bocanegra to start at left back.

Eddie Johnson is in the starting lineup as the Americans trot out a 4-3-3 that will try to break down an Antigua & Barbuda side

SBI will be providing live commentary on tonight’s match so please feel free to follow along here. As always, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action (Tonight’s comment is after the jump):

Comments

  1. Normally I would agree with you…but go back and watch the game… the passes were literally ALL jacked up by the pitch and the weather…..I am telling you judging our guys on this is unfair…

    Reply
  2. On the positive side; neither MB, Zusi or Edu (did not play) picked up cards. Jones is really working hard to lose his spot, not going to miss him. I was worried Bradley was going get in trouble

    Reply
  3. On the positive side; neither MB, Zusi or Edu (did not play) picked up cards. Jones is really working hard to lose his spot, not going to miss him. I was worried Bradley was going get in trouble

    Reply
  4. I guess the blind mice found the cheese. Klinsman needs to go. He is not a tactical technician. He fielded a lousy team. We got lucky.

    Reply
    • Yeah, and in Tampa it was the rain, and in Kingston it was the bad pitch again, and in Columbus it was the wind… and remind me, what was it in Guatemala?

      Reply
  5. Terrible performance 2-1 really….We have to do better going forward…..Pretty sad when other countries games are showed live while others are shown on tape delay during when our game should be shown live. Flipping through the stations on Comcast I saw live college soccer and live HS football and tape delayed soccer games from Europe. What are our options to watch are national team?? Hmmmm, we have to search online looking for a feed. What the heck?

    Reply
  6. Good god this team has some problems. Yet again the build-up was slow, uncreative, and they never has a sense of urgency until minute 85. But that pitch was horrible and the weather made it even worse.

    Here are my ratings

    Howard= 3
    Dolo= 3.5
    Cameron= 2,5
    Goodson= 2.5
    Boca= 2.5
    Williams= 2.5
    Bradley= 3.5
    Zusi= 2.5
    Dempsey= 2.5
    EJ= 4
    Gomez= 2
    Subs:
    Kljestan= 3
    Jones= 2
    Gordon= 3.5

    Dempsey was atrocious. he hampered the offense more than helping.

    Overall the USMNT was average on a night that they needed to be more than that. Klinsmann better call in at least one more player. Someon that has a tad bit more creativity.
    Is Corona not producing in training because his call-up seems like a rather pointless roster spot selection.

    Reply
  7. Well, I guess we should have known (as Klinsmann apparently did) that nobody scores goals on crappy CONCACAF teams like Eddie Johnson.

    I’m still baffled by the lack of a sense of urgency from the US in these games. I’m not sure how much that is on Klinsmann, either. It seems like any 11 American players from MLS should have been able to win this game, if they played hard, regardless of coaching.

    Reply
  8. I never thought I’d say thank goodness for Eddie Johnson, but thank goodness for Eddie Johnson. Great assist by Gordon. Everyone else played like G-A-R-B-A-G-E

    Reply
  9. Take a look at the USL PRO standings. http://uslpro.uslsoccer.com/standings/

    Antigua Barracuda FC is in last place. 5 wins, 18 loses, 1 tie. The US national team barely manages to beat it on a last minute goal. Klinsmann got to go. We may make it out of this group (and I’m not at all sure of that), but with this coach stuff we’re not going to Brazil.

    Reply
    • Yeah, and that’s one way to look at things…

      But how about JK having the guts to call in guys who made it happen? Funny how EJ tucks not ONE but TWO goals in on a night when many regulars had an off night. It’s WC qualifying, away in not so decent conditions (I am only going by what others say because I did not watch the match).

      Reply
    • Some of the reactions are baffling to me. We looked pretty bad, sometimes awful, for the vast majority of the night. Yes, it’s great that EJ scored two goals (although neither was a great goal or anything), but the generally poor play is the far more important takeaway from the match.

      We *should* be beating A&B a lot more easily than we did tonight.

      Reply
  10. All you Eddie Johnson haters can suck the big FAT one!!! In a match we should have won 4 or 5 nil he bailed us out in a fashion that Altidore hasn’t done since the Confederations Cup against Spain!!!!

    Reply
  11. Great: EJ
    Good: Dolo, Howard, Alan Gordon, Bradley and Kjelstan
    Meh: Goodson, Cameron, Zusi, Bocanegra, Williams
    Bad: Dempsey, Gomez
    Terrible: Jones
    Thank God he’s out for Guatemala. He’d probably get a second yellow by the 20th for dissent.

    Reply
  12. Don’t think you can draw too many conclusions from that game, pitch was absurdly small, i’ll take the 3 points and run.

    Reply
  13. As I (smugly) pointed out before; Alan Gordon brings a can-do blue-collar attitude to any game he is in. He gets the winning assist and (hopefully) more respect from the punters on this board lol. Good job Eddie!! Jozy Who??

    Reply
    • Yep! Looks like brought the Goonie attitude to the game- the never say never and never say die attitude. Hopefully the EuroYanks will learn a thing or two from the MLSers!

      Reply
  14. I never thought I’d say thank goodness for Eddie Johnson, but thank goodness for Eddie Johnson. Great assist by Gordon. Everyone else played like S-H-I-T.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Jason Harris Cancel reply