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CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying: USA vs. Honduras (SBI Live Commentary)

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By SBI SOCCER

In 90 minutes, the U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team can qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

They just have to knock out Honduras at Rio Tinto Stadium (3 p.m. ET, NBC Universo).

The pair of foes come together in the first of two CONCACAF semifinals Saturday, and with a win, the U.S. can qualify for next summer’s tournament in Brazil. The loser will have to play in the region’s third-place match and must win in order to play Colombia in a play-off tie for a spot in the Olympics.

Honduras comes into today’s match with a point to prove after losing to Mexico in Group B’s final game. While the Hondurans put up a fight and kept the scoreline close, thanks to Alberth Elis’s second goal of the tournament, El Tri secured the top spot in the group and will play Canada in the second semifinals match.

The U.S. enters the draw with Honduras undefeated, cruising through Group A with three wins while outscoring opponents 13-2. Jordan Morris and Jerome Kiesewetter have lit up the scoreboard for the Americans and will hope to do the same in Sandy, Utah.

SBI will be providing live commentary of the today’s affair, so, as always, please feel free to join us. You can leave your thoughts, opinions, commentary, analysis, and questions in the chat below.

Enjoy the match:

 

Live Blog CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying: USA vs. Honduras (SBI Live Commentary)
 

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Comments

  1. sadly, this exposes the real problem of US youth soccer. We are not mentally tough. It’s not the “pay to play” system that kills us, it’s the sense of entitlement that is instilled in our youth ranks. There is no sense of urgency or competition. We coddle our players and this is what it leads to. It’s America in general.

    BTW – Klinnsman needs to be fired.

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  2. the only palatable conclusion from this game is the USMNT doesn’t roll around & over act the way that most of the CONCACAF does.

    Honduras is pure garbage with their antics. FIFA isn’t doing anything about it.

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  3. So we are suppose to over look Klinsmann’s results because of the promise that he’s changing the over all system? I see nothing but going backwards at nearly every level. We didn’t even try to play in this match.

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  4. Well, the US has one more chance, if they can beat the the other semifinalist for 3rd place, win that and then face the U23 Columbian Team (good luck with that) for a spot in the Games at Rio This is the second failure under Col. Clink’s chosen coach to reach the Olympics.

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    • There you again under estimating South America just because it’s not Europe. Guess what Colombia is better than Honduras. They may not qualify directly but hey they compete Against the likes of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, etc.. Not to mention at the youth level South American countries are a lot better than European. Even Germany doesn’t have all around success at all age levels like Brazil and Argentina. Brazil Sub 17, Sub 20, Olympic sub -23 all age levels!!!! That is why i’ve never understood why so much Euro on the mind of American we could find all sorts of good coaches in South America to teach our youth and probably for a fraction of some over hyped inflated European coach. Hell those countries export players like crazy to Europe.

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  5. It’s one thing to lose but to be sore losers and stomp around like a bunch of little kids? ? I can’t believe Andy threw his orange juice or drink at the Ref. Really? Makes us all look bad. Isn’t this the behavior we’d expect from crappy mexican fans or coaches? I hope someone brings this up to him.

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  6. Mediocrity. US development of players is second rate. We need our players in better training environments. Simple as that. The youth teams of Honduras and Mexico look a level above our guys.

    Also this aura of invincibility within CONCACAF needs to stop. We’re not that great.

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    • They essentially stuck two defenders on him all game. Every time the US made a move forward, you could see the entire defense shade to his side. This left Kiesewetter with a whole bunch of 1v1 opportunities and he failed to capitalize on any of them.

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      • If he can’t handle a couple of Honduran youth defenders hanging on him, do you expect he could handle the rough treatment Jozy gets from senior defenses every single game?

      • He certainly needs to force himself into the game and get onto the ball, which he FINALLY did in the last 10 minutes. It was, obviously, way too late.

        But you can’t put much of the blame for this game on him. Honduras specifically tilted their defense to have multiple defenders on him, which left tons of space for other US players to make plays. They just didn’t make them.

  7. Other than the WNT, the rest of USSoccer has officially plateued and will mired in mediocrity for the foreseeable future. Sad.

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    • It’s Gulatti mainly to blame, especially failures at male youth results, Gold Cup, lack proper preparation and saying: “NO” Copa Centenario.

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    • Come on, don’t panic, you can’t expect the magical properties in the snake oil to heal US soccer right away, it could take a decade. Everything is fine, it’s totally cool.

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  8. Gil, has no creative sparks and can’t dribble or hold the ball.

    Polster, is lucky not ejected and is headless chicken.

    Emerson, a bit lost, or I just want Ayibi in.

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  9. If you go to Telemundo and click “deportes” there is a link there to watch the stream. You just need to login with your cable provider. I have Fios and it’s playing for me. I’m not sure if you can access it if you don’t have cable already.

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  10. This is not the Honduras of old but this is embarrassing. We look completely lost out there. Not surprising since they have an actual coach and we have somebody that knows somebody that’s looking for a youth soccer coach.

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  11. As I posted in the game commentary, it’s nice to see Klinsmann’s reactive, chicken with head cut off style making its way down the age groups.

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  12. Did the great Carter-Vicker get turned like a Russian ballerina on that goal? That was too easy for the Honduran player.

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  13. If the U.S. isn’t careful, they’ll get a red card or give away a cheap penalty and this game will be over. They don’t need to panic.

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      • When was that? You seem to be picking on this kid for no reason. The yellow he got wasn’t even a yellow. He is guilty however, and the whole team is guilty, of not swarming the ref when a bad call like this is given against the US. The Honduran player that fouled Kiewetter from behind was not shown the yellow. You should be talking about that.

  14. Ohh boy. Here we go again with these coward US players. No way Gulatti and Klinsi, both, are keeping their jobs if we lose both games today.

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