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| Wednesday, April 17, 2002 21:19 EST |
Hope floats in Dublin downpour
By Marc Connolly
[ABC Sports Online]
One of the best aspects of the sport of soccer is how a match will be played despite a torrential downpour, dangerous puddles all over the field and winds that would knock a Steve Cherundolo or a DaMarcus Beasley right off the pitch.
Did American defender Greg Vanney, left, do enough to grab one of the final roster spots? |
Though most players secretly love grinding it out in such conditions, it does nothing for those who are trying to make an impression on their head coach. The conditions at Lansdowne Road in Dublin during the U.S. National Team’s 2-1 loss to Ireland on Tuesday weren’t the worst you’ll ever see by a long shot, especially in Northern Europe, but it made for a different game than otherwise would have been seen.
“Obviously the conditions were difficult tonight,” said Arena, whose team is now 7-3-1 on the year. “It was a bit sloppy, and the game did not have much flow to it.”
The hard rains, winds, extreme moistness on the puddle-laden field, and cold temperatures certainly hurt creative play, as well as an opportunity for U.S. players such as Greg Vanney and Gregg Berhalter to show all their skills in what was the final chance to audition for Bruce Arena in hopes of making his 23-man World Cup squad that will be announced on Monday (ESPN, 6 p.m. ET).
Despite being a step slow on Ireland’s first goal -- a real beauty -- by Mark Kinsella, Berhalter was put in a hard position when none of his teammates on the left side tracked the overlapping run by defender Steve Finnan, which gave him plenty of time inside the box to pinpoint a cross to the hard-charging Kinsella who finished with a deft volley.
The Crystal Palace defender is smart, skilled and the type of gritty player that is never afraid to mix it up around the 18 no matter the size of the striker he is covering or his pedigree. That was seen on Tuesday in covering Robbie Keane and Kinsella. The 27-year-old is experienced in both international play with the Nats and overseas in Holland and England, and should be part of the U.S. squad when it is all said and done.
That and other opinions I have coming off of the U.S.-Ireland match:
John O’Brien wasn’t a factor at all on the left flank. The Ajax midfielder/defender never really was in the flow of the game, and was only in a position to settle the ball and move forward once. When he is on the field – no matter where it is – the U.S. needs to make an effort to steer the attack his way, as his creativity and vision of the field is as good as any American player. Announcer Tommy Smyth made a comment that he thought O’Brien was hobbling a bit during his 45-minute stint. Considering his past injury problems, that’s definitely something to keep an eye out for as he heads back to Amsterdam.
Speaking of O’Brien, Eddie Lewis did a nice job off the bench in JOB’s place in the second half. In the 87th minute, he set up Josh Wolff just inside the 18 with a volley opportunity off a precise cross from the other side of the field that nearly gave the U.S. the equalizer it was searching for. He also made a nice cut to the inside of the field with one of his possessions and utilized his right foot with a chip to the penalty area, proving he has more clubs in his bag than that lob wedge of a left foot.
It’s astounding to note that this match marked the first time that Clint Mathis, Brian McBride and Claudio Reyna were in the starting 11 together, considering that they are among the four or five most important players that will dictate the fate of the American team come June.
Mathis was all over the field in his 64 minutes of play, but was unable to create any magic this time around. But once again, he did something that every U.S. player coming up the ranks should be shown a videotape of and try to mimic in their games by striking a ball with the outside of his foot from 40 yards out in the ninth minute that nearly got by Irish goalkeeper Shay Given before he knocked it over the crossbar for a corner kick. This sort of mentality is something that has been foreign to those wearing the U.S. kit for far too long.
Eddie Pope’s goal in the 34th minute off O’Brien’s perfect corner kick from the left side was among his best in either MLS or international play. Only listed at 6-foot-1, 180 pounds, Pope always plays bigger and stronger than his size with all-out aggressiveness and a great sense of timing on head balls. It was displayed on this strike as he timed his backside run at the right moment when space cleared once McBride ran towards the near post. When the ball sailed through to his domain, he pounced on it with his forehead, and in text book form, struck down on the ball making it impossible for Given to stop en route to the back of the net.
The D.C. United stalwart also stood tall in the U.S. defense, winning several balls and bailing out Tony Sanneh on the right side more than a few times.
“I think Eddie did very well,” said Arena, who has coached the former North Carolina All-American continuously since the 1996 Olympics at the club and National Team level. “Obviously he got a goal, and defensively he was pretty solid throughout the game. I don't think he's fully where he needs to be in terms of his form, but a big part of this year was getting him back in with our team and start getting him some games. I think we've accomplished that, and hopefully over the next couple weeks we can continue to move forward and get him a little bit sharper.”
The big query that has hounded U.S. Soccer faithful for several months is the “Who will play right back?” question. Sanneh got 90 minutes there against Ireland, but certainly didn’t do anything to cement himself in such a role. The game-winning goal by defender Gary Doherty came about because Sanneh didn’t have his body positioned between him and Kasey Keller when Steve Staunton crossed the ball to the far post in the 83rd minute. It allowed for Keller’s Tottenham Hotspur teammate to have a free look at the goal, which he took advantage of with a hard strike with his head.
Frankie Hejduk, who came on as the right midfielder for the final 18 minutes, may not be the answer as the starter back there, either, but this position has to remain a chief concern for Arena. Perhaps Carlos Llamosa or Pablo Mastroeni – whoever makes the roster – will get a shot there in the three games played in May before the U.S. contingent takes off to the Far East.
One of the more interesting developments of the match was the midfield setup that Arena went with in the second half. By inserting Landon Donovan into the match for Earnie Stewart, it created a situation where both he and Reyna were in the midfield at the same time.
With Lewis wide left and Chris Armas in his usual defensive midfielder post, it first appeared that Reyna and Donovan were playing as co-attacking center midfielders, in the same way that Arena has positioned Reyna and Stewart at times in the past while leaving one of the flanks open. Yet, after awhile, it appeared that Reyna was playing more on the right side and much far back in the midfield than Donovan, who was behind the strikers. No matter what Arena might have called it – it looked like a skinny diamond to me – this is the closest we’ve seen to having Reyna as a right midfielder, a position he played at times with Rangers before moving on to Sunderland last year, in recent memory for the Nats.
Vanney will definitely be sweating it out as the April 22 doomsday approaches. Playing the second half at right back, the former L.A. Galaxy and now Bastia (France) defender looked better than he did against Mexico in his one half of action earlier this month. After making a few bad decisions with the ball early on, Vanney made some fine tackles and showed plenty of physical toughness against Ireland’s wily forwards. In the last 10 minutes of the game alone, Vanney made two plays deep in the American end that could have resulted in a 3-1 lead.
The original 18 that Arena summoned to Dublin, which did not include Vanney, should be on Arena’s roster. Since David Regis strained his knee earlier in the week, someone had to fill his spot. With Vanney being right there in France, as well as the fact that he plays the same position and didn’t play a full match for Arena in Denver due to back pains, it only made sense to give him the call. In other words, he may be the only player firmly implanted on the bubble that was in Ireland representing the U.S.
In saying that, the best guess at the final 23 up to the moment includes five names who were not called in: Cobi Jones, Carlos Llamosa, DaMarcus Beasley, Tony Meola and Richard Mulrooney.
Marc Connolly is a senior writer for ABC Sports Online. He can be reached at marc.connolly@abc.com.
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