Playing its first match of the new year, the U.S. men's national team fell to Honduras 3-1 before a heavily Honduran crowd at the Home Depot Center. The inability to crack the Catracho defense plagued the Americans all night, but it was one moment in particular that nearly brought down the U.S.
In a battle of two B teams of World Cup-bound nations, the U.S. team found itself down early when captain Jimmy Conrad was dismissed following a second yellow card for an apparent shirt tug of Honduran forward Jerry Palacios in the box, leading to a Carlos Pavon penalty kick goal. Following the match, Conrad remained defiant.
"I'm not going to speak about the referees, I choose to use my fifth amendment rights tonight," said Conrad. "It's unfortunate that we had to go a man down after only 17 minutes."
Playing a man down and a goal down, the United States was forced to chase the game, but was unable to crack the Honduran defense. With Conrad out, the U.S. team immediately was forced to play winger Robbie Rogers in a left back where he was able to support the defense, but to the detriment of the American attack. This proved fatal as Honduras was able to capitalize and put the game out of reach with an additional two goals.
Although the side found itself down 3-0 at the 53rd minute, the squad avoided capitulation after a Clarence Goodson header that put the score 3-1, where it would end. After the match, the players remained cautiously optimistic about what this game means to the Americans year in 2010.
"It was tough to go down a man so early, but we kept pushing on," said midfielder Kyle Beckerman. "It wasn't the result that we want, but we just need to learn to get better for the next match."
With the United States on the ropes and the midfield unable to distribute the ball evenly, the United States found little way to impose itself during the match. Honduras remained expert at countering and intercepting the US attack and expertly sending it back in the direction of the Americans. Following the match, Head Coach Bradley believed that the the squad's ability to connect on the field led to serious problems against the Hondurans.
"One comment for sure tonight, was that our passing was poor," said head coach Bob Bradley. "A lot of passes were deflected or were mishandled, ending up on guys chest when they should have ended up on their feet, overall just the type of passing that was not good at all. "
The U.S. will now break camp until February 10th when preparations will begin for the match against El Salvador.
