Key defensive errors lead to the U.S. dropping a match in the closing minutes, again.
The USMNT has had a difficult run play as of late, especially defensively which lead to some defenders leaving Denmark attackers completely unmarked and allowing them to pepper Nick Rimando’s goal with shot after shot.
What made matters worse, whenever the U.S. won possession, they would instantly give the ball back to the Danish. Their poor possession led to some lethal counter-attacks that left Nick Rimando with open attackers running at him mano y mano.
Even with the U.S. spending virtually the entire game chasing the ball and Denmark all over the field, they indeed had chances to win the game. In fact, they tied or lead for nearly 70 minutes of the game. It was ugly, but the U.S. took advantage of the few chances that they had.
On the first U.S. goal, Timmy Chandler sends an early cross toward the back post of the goal. Jozy Altidore runs to its landing location and with a brilliant sweeping volley, rockets it passed the Danish keeper.
Unfortunately for the U.S., Timmy Chandler’s run of play leads to a phenomenal U.S. goal, as well as a goal for the Danes.
Lassa Vibe just kisses the ball with a back heel through the penalty area to a wide open Nicklas Bendtner for the easy tap in. That tap in was all made possible by Timmy Chandler losing him in the mass of bodies and runners in the box.
Aron Jóhannsson would put the U.S. back up early in the second half, with a bouncing volley hit in mid stride, as he flashes to the back corner of goal.
On the goal, Altidore works hard to stay on side in anticipation of Michael Bradley’s pass. Bradley hit Altidore on target in the penalty area, leaving Jozy to simply touch a pass across the penalty box to the darting Johannsson for a timely goal against the run of play.
Unfortunately for the U.S., Bendtner would score again; twice.
Initially DeAndre Yedlin marks Bendtner, but goes to the ball once it’s in the air. John Brooks does all that he could to head the ball away from the streaking Lasse Schone’s head. With Yedlin near the ball, Bendtner had plenty of time to sizzle a strike through the back of the net.
Bendtner would finish his hat trick nearly 7 minutes later with a golazo. (Video in Spanish)
Christian Erikson sends a beautiful ball over-the-top of the defense that allows Bendtner to run under it, touch it once to himself, and then bounce a volley passed the outstretched reach of Nick Rimando into the far corner of the net for the hat trick.
Player Ratings:
1 Nick Rimando (6.5) : Despite a poor showing from his back line, his positioning and speed allowed him to get to the few on target shots and crosses Denmark had that weren’t goals. He did well to account for quite a few mistakes made by his back line.
21 Timmy Chandler (5.5): Did well to get forward when he could in attack and occassionally caused problems for Denmark’s back line. However, like they rest of the U.S. backline he had quite a bit of trouble marking and clearing the ball out of the box.
15 Michael Orozco (5.5): Was okay considering the fact that the bulk of his defending was done nearly under duress, aside from a few misplays that led to some open chances.
6 John Anthony Brooks (4.5): He’ll want to forget this one. From poor marking on the set pieces, to getting nut-megged, to missing a wide open header to level the score in the waning moments; this has been a pretty all-around nightmare for Brooks. He improved in the second half, but honestly he couldn’t have played much worse after that first half.
3 Greg Garza (4.5): Got burned early and often, and had loads of trouble finding open teammates in stride for counter attacks. He spent the bulk of the game chasing defenders.
20 Gyasi Zardes (5.5): Spent most of the day on defense, and had trouble linking up with Altidore from time to time; virtually absent from the game otherwise. Every time he touched the ball he was surrounded by defenders, it’s possible that stopping him was part of the Danish game plan.
11 Alejandro Bedoya (5.5): He didn’t look comfortable at all, made a couple touches, but was overall missing in action. The U.S. sorely missed his ability to move forward and create.
4 Michael Bradley (7.5): He generally did well distributing the ball all over the field. He played aggressive, but in control while defending as well. The best U.S. player on the field in the game. The over-the-top pass to Altidore was simply breathtaking, and his dangerous free kick in the box in the waning seconds of the match, nearly earned the US a tie. Man of the Match.
23 Fabian Johnson (5.5): The U.S.’s complete lack of possession, meant that he spent most of the game in his defensive third. Based on how the defenders fared, sometimes it was very necessary.
17 Jozy Altidore (7): He had trouble holding up play when the ball got his way, but there wasn’t a more dangerous attacker for the U.S. throughout the course of the match. His first goal was amazing, as was his touch on the assist to Johannsson, but his possession and passing were not very good.
9 Aron Johannsson (5): On the field in the first half a couple of times. He even touched it once or twice, but aside from his goal, he spent much more time on the defense than making very many meaningful runs.
Subs:
7 Alfredo Morales (6.5): Early on he had a lot of trouble getting into the flow of the game. Aside from the fact that his early mistakes led to a couple dangerous chances for Denmark, he was generally solid afterwards.
13 Brek Shea (6): He was sketchy on defense at times (even though no one really played very much defense in this game), but his crosses were absolutely sublime.
2 DeAndre Yedlin (5): We watched the ball and so did he on Bendtner’s second goal.
18 Rubio Rubin (5.5): He attempted to be far more active, than he was given the chance to be due to the U.S.’s terrible possession.
19 Ventura Alvarado (5.5): He had one pass, one turnover, and one yellow card in ten minutes of action, which pretty much sums up his performance.
Coach Jurgen Klinsmann (7): This proved to be a pretty well-crafted game plan. Klinsmann employed a mostly defensive minded lineup against a team well-known for their possession. I’m sure he learned much more from this game than the most of the ones with tons of players playing out of position. His halftime adjustments, changed the flow and tide of the game for much of the half before his final substitutions. This game left me with less questions this time around like:
- Was Alejandro Bedoya playing a reserved defensive roll similar to the experiment that Coach Klinsmann played with Mixx Diskerrud?
- Has Bedoya’s struggles in this game led to potential opportunities for other American midfielders to get ample changes to partner with Michael Bradley?
- Did Orozco and Brooks play themselves out of future U.S. Team consideration?
I’m sure these questions will be answered in full as the U.S. progress toward the Gold Cup this summer.
