US Defeat Guadeloupe 1-0; Team Moves on to 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Quarterfinals

The US team celebrates Jozy Altidore's 9th minute goal. All photos by Jeremy Olson – www.digitalgopher.net

The US defeated Guadeloupe on Tuesday night at the new Livestrong Park in Kansas City, MO. by a score of 1-0. The third game of Group C play meant the US had to win or draw the game to advance to the quarterfinals on Sunday after Canada and Panama had tied earlier in the night 1-1.

“Overall, it was a good performance. It’s certainly a game at the end where we still feel we should have finished the game earlier. We had good chances to get the second goal. There were a lot of positives, and now we get ready to move forward,” said US head coach Bob Bradley after the game.

The US skipper seemed to be happy with the team’s performance as did the players in remarks they made after the match. But the expectation level of US soccer supporters has risen over the last decade and many would expect the Americans to blow out a team like Guadeloupe. However, Panama and Canada had only defeated the small island nation by 1 goal each.

The US came into the game with only 2 days’ rest. If they had secured a win last Saturday evening against Panama, they could have rested many of their starters. As it was, a good performance was needed by the usual suspects for the US. But it was obvious at times that some players were dragging. Clint Dempsey was obviously not  his normal self. The midfielder/forward still did well to hold onto the ball and distribute but his energy level moving up and down the field was clearly lagging and his finishing was dreadful.

Alitdore tripped up resulting in a US freekick. Photo by Jeremy Olson - www.digitalgopher.net

This game saw Bob Bradley make a few changes to the lineup rather than the same starting 11 he used in the first two games. Chris Wondolowski replaced Juan Agudelo up top. Agudelo had not been very effective in those two starts. Eric Lichaj was also brought into the back line. Both players showed they could be effective with the team and had good performances. Wondolowski came in as a sub in the previous game. As a starter he certainly did well to get himself into the action but his finishing was lacking for the second game in a row.

The US started stronger than in the Panama game but still showed early signs of disorganization in the back after a free kick fell loose when Landon Donovan and Clarence Goodson failed to clear the bal,l which then fell to Guadeloupe player Stephane Zubar. He gathered the ball and cracked his shot off the crossbar.

The lone goal of the game came from a well-taken strike by Jozy Altidore in the 9th minute. The US forward received a pass just right of goal and from a good distance out. The ball seemed to catch Guadeloupe keeper Franck Grandel flat footed. But that’s not to downplay the shot which was fierce and found the upper 90 of the right side of the net.

Chris Wondolowski played well but like the rest of the team, struggled to finish. Photo by Jeremy Olson - www.digitalgopher.net

“I came off the defense and took a touch and saw that I had little bit of space. I said ‘why not,’” said Altidore. “It was a good goal. Like I’ve said before it’s nice to score goals, and more importantly for us to win. That’s the best part. We haven’t been playing as good as we should be, but we got three points tonight and we’re looking now to the next round.”

The US dominated the rest of the game but struggled to add numbers to the scoreboard. The Americans outshot Guadeloupe 21 to 5,  forcing 4 saves with 5 shots on goal.

“We expect a lot of ourselves,” said Clint Dempsey, who missed a number of chances on the night, none worse than a pass right to his feet, 3 feet from the goal line. “Tonight I wasn’t good enough with my chances. I just couldn’t buy a goal. The ball played across by Bedoya I should have hit first time. It was bobbling up a little bit and no one was on me. I thought I could take two touches. Wrong decision on my part. On the header in the first half, it was a great ball by Steve [Cherundolo] and I should have done better with it. Saying that, I tried my best to score for the team tonight. We still got the 1-0 win and that’s the positive thing.”

“There’s going to be nights where you aren’t as sharp in the attacking third or in front of the goal as you need to be,” said Donovan. “It’s still positive that we were able to create a good number of chances tonight. We’ll definitely take away the positives from that … It’s important for us to keep improving with each game and know that the bigger games are still to come.”

The US will now have a 5 day rest before facing Jamaica in Washington D.C. on June 19 in the quarterfinals.