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« Vote for Jozy | Main | Morning Ticker: Beckham, Copa Libertadores and Man City news »

March 20, 2008

Olympic Qualifying: USA vs. Canada (Running Commentary)

Us_soccer_logo Canada_soccer_logo

Tonight is the night. Two teams enter, one team leaves with a ticket to the Olympics. The U.S. national team faces Canada in a crucial CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying semifinal and anyone thinking it will be a cakewalk for the Americans should think again. It will be a battle.

The match was scheduled to begin at 9pm but I'm not sure when kickoff will be now that Guatemala-Honduras is into overtime. Whenever the USA-Canada match does start, be ready to follow it here on SBI.

I will be doing my usual Running Commentary. You can feel free to add your own insights and observations on the match in the comments section below. I know that not everyone can watch the match on Fox Soccer Channel (or ESPN360.com) so if you're one of the unfortunate souls who cannot, follow the match here.

Enjoy the action.

--------------------------

FINAL- USA 3, Canada 0. The Americans are going to the China Olympics. It's official. Jozy Altidore drew the fouls, Freddy Adu delivered the goals and the U.S. defense kept the clean sheet. Not much to complain about tonight. Great team performance.

--------------------------

90th minute- Top Five drinking games that didn't happen during tonight's game but would have been fun (and potentially dangerous:

  • Charlie Davies going to ground
  • ESC camera shots
  • Jozy Altidore free kicks drawn
  • Sacha Kljestan turnovers
  • Nik Ledgerwood getting booed

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89th minute- What's the movie about the kid who is on house arrest and has a killer living next door? Whatever movie that is, Will Johnson looks like the kid on house arrest.

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88th minute- Robbie Findley is in for Sacha Kljestan. Good game overall, even if he committed countless unforced turnovers.

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87th minute- This match has slowed down and gotten a bit boring. You know what it needs? TIFFANY MAY.

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85th minute- Can someone tell Charlie Davies to stop diving? The outcome of the match is decided.

--------------------------

82nd minute- Eddie Gaven coming in for Freddy Adu. Man of the Match performance for the Benfica playmaker.

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80th minute- Okay, Max Bretos blows it with the comment that there's a big gap on the youth level between the USA and Canada. Canada is missing several more European-based players than the USA is.

--------------------------

78th minute- GOAL USA!!! Sacha Kljestan with a great finish off a nice sequence. Stuart Holden serves the ball in and finds Kljestan, who finishes it off. Turnovers, schmurnovers. It's USA 3, Canada 0.

--------------------------

75th minute- Jozy Altidore coming off and Charlie Davies is coming in. Really good work from Altidore tonight. Kept Canada under pressure for most of the night. Only a great save kept him off the scoreboard.

--------------------------

72nd minute- I think it's substitution time for the U.S. team.

--------------------------

70th minute- Could Peter Nowak have on more US Soccer garb? Get that man a suit.

--------------------------

67th minute- Adu comes close to his hat trick. I think Canada is finished.

--------------------------

66th minute- Altidore with a yellow card for a foul not as bad as about six he's suffered this game.

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64th minute- A nice long passing sequence for the Americans. You get the sense they could keep it all game if they wanted to. Canada isn't applying much pressure defensively.

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62nd minute- I'm sure Canadian fans are wondering what would have happened if David Edgar had been allowed to play in this tournament.

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61st minute- Has anyone else been impressed with Brian Dunseth as a color commentator? Funny how easy it can seem when you A) pronounce names right, B) don't reference European star players and C) spend time talking about your playing days.

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59th minute- You know what, if I had made a Sacha Kljestan turnover drinking game, there would be some ambulances en route to SBI Mafia homes right now.

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57th minute- Kljestan misses badly with a loose ball in the area.

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53rd minute- Now we will see the U.S. defense face some real pressure.

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51st minute- Canada earns a corner kick, finally showing some life in the attack. Orozco clears the corner kick away.

--------------------------

49th minute- Adu puts the Superman cape on tonight and Altidore doesn't have a goal but he has drawn some dangerous free kicks.

--------------------------

48th minute- GOAL USA!!!!!!!!!! Freddy Adu with a BEAUTIFUL free kick. USA 2, Canada 0. WOW

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47th minute- Altidore draws yet another free kick, but he took a beating on that play. Free kick USA.

--------------------------

47th minute- USA free kick produces a header but it's offside. The Americans have come out flying.

--------------------------

46th minute- And we're back.

--------------------------

HALFTIME- USA 1, Canada 0. I just haven't seen much from Canada that tells me they will find an equalizer, but their forwards are capable of making something from nothing so a one-goal lead isn't totally safe.

Who hasn't played well for the US? I don't know if anyone has really been bad. Kljestan has had turnovers but he has also had an impressive work rate and made plenty of steals and good passes.

Adu is on fire. He and Altidore need to find each other more.

--------------------------

45th minute- Is it me or have Kljestan and McCarty exchanged skill sets? Kljestan is the hard-working guy who keeps turning the ball over while McCarty is the sharp passer who is calming things down in the middle? Strange.

--------------------------

44th minute- Okay, I'll say it, Freddy Adu is playing on a different level from everyone else on the field.

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43rd minute- Did this referee bring his cards?

--------------------------

42nd minute- Wagenaar does well to catch Adu's free kick.

--------------------------

41st minute- Altidore earns a free kick near the right endline. Nice work to draw it. Could have been a yellow card.

--------------------------

40th minute- Good stuff so far from Holden, McCarty and Edu.

And nice TV shot of ESC and some other U.S. fans.

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38th minute- Canada just can't get the ball into its attacking third. Good work by the U.S. defense and midfield.

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37th minute- And there's another Kljestan turnover that leads to a Canada break.

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35th minute- Hey, it's a Chris Seitz siting. Not too much to do so far.

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33rd minute- Kljestan is playing pretty well, the odd unforced turnover aside. I see him setting up a goal before he's done.

--------------------------

31st minute- Did Max Bretos really having to bring up the Peru World Cup blowout loss to Argentina? Okay, now I'm bitter (just kidding).

--------------------------

29th minute- A little scuffle between Wagenaar and Altidore after Altidore came in hard looking for a loose ball. Cooler heads prevail. I think Altidore is still thinking about that shot Wagenaar saved.

CANADA sub- Kyle Hall for Keegan Ayre. A definite offensive move there.

--------------------------

28th minute- Adu has looked motivated all match and delivers some magic there.

--------------------------

28th minute- GOAL!!!!!!!!!!! FREDDY ADU. Fires a curling free kick past Wagenaar. USA 1, CANADA 0

--------------------------

26th minute- Altidore draws a free kick near the right corner of the penalty area.

--------------------------

23rd minute- Adu with a nifty turn and shot that misses wide. He looks very active tonight and is going to cause problems all match.

--------------------------

22nd minute- It's still scoreless but I really get the sense that Canada's back-line can be broken.

--------------------------

21st minute- Wow, the Canada coach has a major league mullet going on. Looks like a mini-Barry Melrose.

--------------------------

19th minute- SAVE Wagenaar. Denies Jozy Altidore from point blank range.

--------------------------

18th minute- I have to say that Marvell Wynne is playing well early on. I give him credit, I didn't think he would get the call.

--------------------------

18th minute- I wonder if that's the ESC that I hear chanting. I know some of them are in Nashville.

--------------------------

17th minute- Nice missed handball call by the ref there.

--------------------------

16th minute- Canada getting better of the possession the past few minutes. The Americans need to regain control of the midfield.

--------------------------

12th minute- Some nice passing for the US but can't find a chance.

--------------------------

10th minute- ADU comes close but his shot is just over the crossbar.

--------------------------

9th minute-  Kljestan with a bad turnover. Still not impressing me. He's better than this.

--------------------------

8th minute- Early on the Americans are controlling central midfield.

--------------------------

7th minute- Adu to Edu to Holden, who makes a great move. He has looked good this tournament and looks ready to have a game tonight.

--------------------------

6th minute- Kljestan with a nice run into the box but nothing comes of it.

You can see Spector is a rock in the back. He won't be easy to beat.

--------------------------

5th minute- Canada is feeling some pressure. Two corners given up in a minute.

--------------------------

4th minute- Freddy Adu already causing trouble with a nice run into the box. Forces a corner.

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3rd minute- And we are under way.

--------------------------

PRE-GAME- The USA lineup is the same one SBI posted earlier today. Here is Canada's lineup:

-------------Johnson----Ricketts------------

Ornoch-------Ayre---Rosenlund----Hemming

Ramalho-----Jakovic--Hainault-----Ledgerwood

--------------------Wagenaar--------------------

--------------------------

PRE-GAME- Looks like we won't be waiting as long as we thought for the match to start.

--------------------------

Honduras is going to the Olympics. Great stuff from the Young Catrachos. Tough one for Guatemala.

--------------------------

GUATEMALA MISSES. Rafa Morales skies it high, trying to tuck it into the top left corner.

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HONDURAS SCORES- Erick Norales hits a right-sided shot. Everyone's going to the right now.

--------------------------

GUATEMALA SCORES- Wilson Lalin with a good kick to the right. Wow, what pressure.

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HONDURAS SCORES- What a great high left kick. Best kick so far.

--------------------------

GUATEMALA SCORES- WOW, that was close. And we're on to extra frames.

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HONDURAS SCORES- It's 4-3 Honduras now.

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GUATEMALA SCORES

--------------------------

HONDURAS SHOT OVER THE CROSSBAR

--------------------------

GUATEMALA SCORES

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HONDURAS SHOT SCORED

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GUATEMALA SHOT SAVED

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HONDURAS- CONVERTS

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GUATEMALA PK SCORES- Contreras off the inside of the left post. Honduran keeper guesses right but it was too perfect.

HONDURAS PK SCORES- Absolute blast from Morales, no chance for the keepers

--------------------------

PRE-GAME- Okay, my money is on Honduras. Why? The Honduras goalkeeper, the one who looks like Guillermo Ochoa's stunt double, looks more confident than his Guatamalan counterpart.

--------------------------

PRE-GAME- If this first match goes the whole way, including PKs, you could see a 20-30 minute delay for the USA-Canada match as both squads will need time to warm up.

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Comments

Honduras Vs Guatemala goes to PKs.

We got Max Bretos and Brian Dunseth doing the game on FSC. I can't wait for the crazy comments. Do we have a drinking game for this duo?

I hope this game is better than the last three. I have fallen asleep during every single US olympic qualifier. Hopefully Novak can find the right formation and lineup. I'll remain fiathful to the USMNT and DVR LOST tonight.

P.S. Max Bretos is the worst! My favorite Max Bretos quote USA vs. South Africa in reference to players slipping on the wet grass...

"I haven't seen this many slips since the
last time I was at Victoria's Secret!"

This is not so bad it's good, it's just bad.

Predicition- Max will make many a cheeseball refernce to the USA streaker!

Predicition 2-Max will say ADU and EDU together every chance he gets.

Predicition 3-I will be hitting the mute button by the 25th minute

As long as its not Max and Christian Miles...

Does Max watch games with his pants around his ankles? He gets so excited about nothing that it makes me wonder.

Honduras was the better team. They deserve to go to Beijing. Bravo.

That last pk might have been one of the worst ones I have ever seen? Hit it with some authority.

Amado Guevara goes to Beijing!

U.S. lineup tonight:

---------------------Seitz-------------------
-Wynne---Spector----Orozco---Sturgiz

-Kljestan---Edu(c)----McCarty--Holden

--------------Adu------Altidore-------------

Hill, Barrett not dressed

In the NCAA tournament right now, great stuff all around...
Duke 69, Belmont , 2:02 left
BYU 46, Texas A&M 45, 8:35 left
Kansas State 72, SUC 60, 3:00 left

btw, SUC isn't a typo

Sorry .. Belmont 70, Duke 60 with 1:40 left

argh! Belmont 70, Duke 69
OK, there....

Kljestan got the start, I'm calling for Nowaks head. He needs to be fired.

Wow this is going to be a hell of a last minute

klejstan with his first horrible giveaway

Sorry, don;t mean to go all ESPN on you guys but Duke 71, Belmont 70, 4.0 seconds left. Belmont basketball with the inbounds. at a timeout right now....

Max is obsessed with talking up Kljestan.

Duke got lucky!

klejstan with horrible giveaway #2 on the 9th minute

I guess me and brentmcd will offically be Kljestan bashers.

Horrible? At least he attempted a one touch pass. All of a sudden people are looking for every possible opportunity to criticize Kljestan.

Rip it Freddy!

We may have to change this from the Chad Barrett drinking game to the Sacha Klejstan game. He's the human turnover tonight. Why was he hyped so much b4 the tourney? I haven't seen him enough w/ mls. What is the big skill he brings? Not sure.

Brighter side- like the formation - Nowak finally not trying to re-invent the wheel. Freddie behind Jozy makes sense and they're working well together.

i like the passing so far

Jozy's had a couple of bad touches so far. He needs to do better, he hasn't looked great all tournament,

nice run by wynne

Kljestan looks better this game than he ever has. But he still has a long way.

Wow. GREAT save by the Canadian keeper! I thought for sure JOzy would get that one.

HAHA i just saw some ESC in the crowd shot they just showed

useless fact-of-the-day: The team that almost beat Duke, Belmont University, is from Nashville, TN.

Max was just pimpin' the EPL game for the weekend on FSC. He said "Exciting Premier League action this weekend with Fulham against Newcastle."

That is as far from exciting as you can get.

I saw it too scott, awesome.

WOW....Adu just got killed to the floor and no call...MAKE A DAM CALL REF.

the Canadian GK made a good save, but i dont think jozy thought it was going to get to him...IMO, he looked tentative and has to play it as if the ball is going to get to him.

God, Miles is dumb. Did he just give credit to Nowak for avoiding Mexico in the semifinal???? What, exactly, did he think Nowak did to get Mexico eliminated?? He's the worst play-by-play guy ever. One asinine comment after the other

Spector with a towering EPL-style long ball across the field... hmmm... wonder where he learned that?

GGGGGOOOOLLLLAAAAAAAZZZZZOOOO
AAAAAHHHHHH-DDDDDOOOOOOO

Is this Max and Miles? I thought it was Max and Dunseth.

does anyone have a link to the game online -- someone had one for the Mexico game. I cant get ESPN360 in the UK.

Wahhh...I'm a Canadian GK with no club team...wahhhhhhhh.

Giving Kljestan the credit for the goal. His foot was over a foot away.

Like I said over and over, Freddy is ready for full time USMNT duties and should be the man taking all the set pieces!

Uh, wow. I'll take it!

yeaaaaaaaaaaaa goaaaaaaaaaaaaal

Yep Freddy is what the USMNT needs. I think he deserves a start, maybe left mid?

The game's on channel 21500 on TVUPlayer

PJW,

try channelsurfing.net (you'll have to scroll down to find it)

Is it Max? I thought it was Miles. My bad, then. It's a dumb comment, no matter who said it.

I've seen Beckham score goals like these dippy, Freddy bouncers. It's not pretty, but it is effective, and shows how much action Adu gets on the ball. It will be nice to have a guy who can actually take a set-piece. It's been sheer hell watch Lando kick the ball into the wall every single time.

Settle down Ron. These are Canada's kids Freddy is playing against.

Why is it that not too long ago everyone was talking up Sacha, and Bradley for playing him, but now Nowak needs to be fired for playing him at a lower level?

He's no good at any level now?

it sucks the ESPN360 is in spanish.

I was really mislead about Kljestan, every touch he has looks to be bad.

PJW, download TVU player click on the sports tab then click soccer.

thanks for the channelsurfing.com tip! I have never seen that one before.

Try TVU 21500.

i'm still waiting for the day that a u.s. national team can work the ball through midfield with a string of short passes. we seems to all-too-easily revert to our long-ball tactics....
:-(

I never really was impressed by Sacha it seems though Bradley took a liking to him when he was coaching Chivas.

hey dro scott at least it's not the radio dude.

Ok, thanks a lot!

If any of you guys can't watch the game on TV, go to channelsurfing.net, scroll down and you'll see the link to the game. This is the only way I can watch FSC so I use it all the time. By the way, I'm not an ad or spam and it's free. I live in Alabama, you know we only get 3 channels here, and that's if you wrap the aluminum paper juuuuust right.

You're Peruvian?

Wynne's gotta watch it with Johnson... he's gonna start getting called on those tackles.

Is it just me, or is Spector always trying to skip over the midfield?

nutmeg by jozy, and a foul. dangerous free kick for the usa

Whatever happened to Dunseth?

Why are so many American players who were supposed to be good not only not good, but retire before they are even near retirement age?

Freddy screwed Holden with that pass.

Marshall, that's exactly what he's doing. That's old school English ball - smack the stuffing out of it and let the winger get on his bike.

Adu tries for # 2 off a set piece.

glad to see davies not starting; he seems better coming off the bench performing his trademark dives into the box....
;-)

Quit with the longballs already Spector. Good job on defense, though.

Aristotle,

I'm not bashing Klejstan for kicks. I'm legitimately wondering what people who DO like him see in him. I freely admit that I've only seen him in 10-12 matches and never saw any standout play (and never heard anyone rave about his selection for the MNT, either) but that's a very small sample and I wonder if I've been missing something. His size is decent, but he doesn't use it at all (similar to Gaven). He has no speed (again similar to Gaven), and doesn't seem to have great touch, vision, or ball-striking ability (at least Gaven has those :)

Keep in mind, I'm the idiot who watched Bradley play with the MetroStars and saw nothing particularly great about him except for tackling so I don't know squat!! Some guys' skills don't jump out at you right away, I'm just wondering what I should be looking for.

Edu on the short list for many Euro Clubs?

I didnt know that, that must of have been a small joke.

Holden, Jozy and Adu play well together.

Max just said Canada has been "laying dormant since the 80s."

So, according to him, they haven't played a game since the 80s? WOW!

Gimmi, it was just a bit of an exaggeration, which you will always get with bretos. "Many"? No. "A"couple"? Yes.

Max Bretos is 'that guy' who throws himself at every girl in the bar but doesn't get any.

Yossarian:

I never saw what people saw in him either, but then he did have a good stretch and look promising. It just seems like his popularity went in the toilet fast, and I just find it odd that I don't seem to hear to many complaining about Bradley playing him on the senior team. Obviously if he isn't good enough at this level, people should have even more of a problem with him at the senior level.

here is a quick link to the stream. you must have TVU Player installed. everything is free, just google TVU Player.

tvu://21500

Excellent first half, Altidore was a bit unlucky on the finish, but probably should have scored.

1. 'Bout time we saw this effort from the US.

2. Kliejstan not playing great, but still better than watching Barrett doing his matador impersonation out there along the sideline.

3. Haven't noticed a huge step up in quality with Spector, but Canada hasn't been attacking enough to really tell.

4. Anyone know if Tiffany May is at this game?

More Christian Rock commercials, so annoying.

No one's been bad But Sacha needs to go in place of Zizzo. Jozy needs to be better with his touch. Spector needs to quit with the boom ball tactic. Wynne needs to ake better decisions when he goes fast forward going forward and Edu needs to do something to help the attack.

that was a good first half hopely they can get one or two more goals.

People wanted Davies dropped, they got it. People wanted Hill dropped, they got it. People wanted Barrett dropped, they got it. People wanted Findley dropped, they got it.

So who is it everyone wanted Nowak to play tonight instead of Sacha?

You can't say Gaven because he was also universally trashed before the last game.

But Adu's just from another planet right now. Orozco, McCarty, and Holden are stalwarts out there. And besides Spector's long balls, he's been a wall at the back.

@joamiq:
yeah, i guess you were right on "klejstan horrible giveaway #2" -- he was attempting a 1-touch pass, so i give him credit for that. i don't have any inherent problem with klejstan; just calling 'em like i see 'em....
peace

18th minute- I wonder if that's the ESC that I hear chanting. I know some of them are in Nashville.

It is. Like 6 of them went down. I wish I could have gone.

Dominghosa, i only counted 1 bad touch for Jozy..are we watching the same game?

i love the half time music

heh, i can think of an alternative use for the aero-garden....
;-)

Along the lines of exciting sports events tonight (see also: Duke-Belmont, Honduras-Guatemala), the Hurricanes-Panthers hockey game just went to a shootout, too

He had a couple bad touches very early, where he could have done better. Just trying not to be a Jozy homer.

was that a shot or a pass from holden of the freekick??

Get up Jozy. Please.

ridiculous tackle

Oh yea!

Freddy's having a pretty good game.

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  • Ives Galarcep Ives Galarcep is an American soccer columnist for ESPNsoccernet.com and creator of SoccerByIves.net. Have a tip, story idea or suggestion? Send it to:

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