The US kicked off defense of their Gold Cup title in fairly weak fashion last night against Guatemala, winning 1-0. While the match was more entertaining then the last time these 2 teams met, it was still a poor game to watch.
The US came out with Taylor Twellman and Clint Dempsey up top, which was the first surprise to me. I had expected Bob Bradley to go with the hot foot, Eddie Johnson to start this game. Over the first portion of the game, the US controled, and in the 26th minute, Clint Dempsey scored to make it 1-0 US. After the goal though, it seemed like the US completely backed off. The rest of the game seemed to be Guatemala going at the US, who looked timid and weak going up against the Guatemalans. Oguchi Onyewu will miss the game against Trinidad & Tabago due to him picking up 2 yellows last night. Johnson came on as a second half sub, but really had no impact on the game. He looked scared at times on the field and not up to the level, which is stupid considering the Guatemalan defense is probably as good as most MLS defenses, who Johnson has torn up the past few weeks.
Overall this was a poor performance by the US and they'll definitely need to pick it up. They allowed way to many free kicks within 30 yards of goal, you can't do things like that, it's a good thing Carlos Ruiz couldn't strike a good free kick last night, or the US woulda been in trouble. Hopefully a better team will come out against Trinidad on Saturday.
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