* Pre-game: About to head out to
Cuatros to join with my other
Chantico's Army members for the watching party. But first I wrote down the lineups for the USA's starting 11 and bench players:
Starters:
Howard
Spector; Onyewu; Bocanegra(c); Bornstein
Dempsey; Clark; Mastroeni; Donovan
Altidore; Casey
Bench:Guzan, Feilhaber, Wynne, Kljestan, Beasley, DeMerit, Davies.
No Adu or Torres???? WTF??? Glad Spector & Casey got to start. But back to the old bucket formation again and I had a bad feeling that a Clark-Mastroeni midfield combo has red card written all over it. Is it to early to call Jurgen Klinsmann?
* 1' Looking at the crowd from Soldier Field, this has 2001 RFK written all over it. A sea of Honduran fans sprinkled with red, white & blue U.S. fans. So much for home field advantage. Thanks U.S. Soccer. Oh and today's referee is from Mexico. Nice.
* 4' Just as I was about to take another bite out of my Cuatros Nachos, U.S. gives up a (Carlos) Costly goal. Great. That was a good way to start the match. UGH! Thanks to Dempsey for giving away the ball which allowed Honduras to score early.* 10' Another loss possession by Dempsey. He not looking good. At least the Cuatros waitresses are cute.
* 11' Almost a shot on goal by Casey. He needs to finish it.
* 19' Where the hell is the U.S. shooting boots. My blood pressure is rising.
* 20' Yellow card to Casey for giving Costly his fake Oscar acting tips. And after seeing Ramon Nunez's hair, he needs to stop getting hair tips from Arturo "Frosty Tips" Alvarez.
* 21" It's hard enough watching the match while college baseball is on. Especially when UT baseball is showing on the big screen TV while we are watching it on other smaller TV screens. Hopefully by the time the baseball game is over, we are to watch it on the big screen.
* 22' Conor Casey's shot goes high. Wasted chances. And the Nachos are muy bueno.
*24' Typical Latin American time wasting from the goalkeeper for his thigh injury. Might as well get a Brazilian wax on your legs while you're at it.
30' UT's baseball is over (they won if you really want to know) and the U.S. is still losing the game.
* 32' Spector with a nice cross to the box but no one wasn't able to get thier foot on the ball. So close.
* 35' Donovan's cross goes to Altidore who side nets it. But the ref called a foul on Gooch.
* 38' Clark runs towards the box and is foul in there.
BUT NO CALL!!!! That's total b***s***! Clear penalty.
* 41' Handball by the Honduran player (#6) in the box. Penalty call! And a yellow card to the player.
* 43' After 2 minutes of Donovan squatting down doing his strange, odd & weird voodoo rituals, he buries the PK to make it 1-1. And my blood pressure has gone down.* 45' 3 minutes of stoppage time and the Cuatros waitresses are cute.
Half Time: 1-1. Very fortunate to get that PK call. Poor crossing, lack of possession & lack of finishing is hurting the U.S. We going to move to the big screen TV for the 2nd half.
* 46' 2nd half begins and Feilharber is in fot Mastroleni. Thank God. Not that I'm a fan of Benny, but Pablo was not very effective at all.
* 47' Too close for a Honduran 2nd goal from the header but it was cleared by Clark. Blood pressure rising up again.
* 54' Dempsey's shot from Jozy's pass goes high.
* 56' Dempsey's cross too low for Casey in the box.
* 57' very good string of passes but in the end Jozy couldn't get the foot on the ball in the box.
* 61' Was that a shot from Dempsey? God that was awful!!! He was effective playing for Fulham this past season and yet he looks very ineffective playing for the U.S.? I hope it's just fatigue and fitness that's the problem.
* 62' Dempsey's shot goes high.
* 63' Yellow card to Donovan because Mexicans (including the referee) don't like him.
* 64" Another poor cross. This time from Donovan. Need to focus on crossing practices more often.
* 68' GOAL USA!!!! From the corner kick, Donovan send it to Dempsey in the far post who's then sends his header towards a dive Bocanegra for the goal.* 70' Bocanegra is down injured due to his right hamstring. Jay DeMerit replaces him. And my friend Ed criticizes my handwriting skills on my notebook. Thank Grammar Nazi. I should have been a doctor.
* 71' A good Spector cross forces the Honduran goalkeeper to concede a corner kick. But the corner kick goes begging.
* 75' Beasley in for Casey. CRAP!!! Why is Beasley still on the squad when he's not getting any minutes for his club team due to injuries and fitness?
* 81' Bornstein cramping up and to my surprise the Honduran fans are quiet. And my friend Ed thinks I should have girlfriend. Gee.... Thanks Ed.
*
And yes Ladies I'm available. I'm tall, dark, romantic and handsome. I like quiet walks in the park and a very passionate for soccer. Contact me if you interested in a date. ;-)* 83' Mad scramble and chaos in the U.S.box. Honduras almost got a goal. Come on U.S.!!! And I need to stop writing on my notebook as if I was Juan Carlos Osorio. Otherwise I would go insane. Ed would probably agree with me.
* 85' Honduras is starting to put pressure on the U.S. Did I mentioned that the Cuatros waitresses are cute?
* 88' Shot by Feilharber straight to the goalkeeper.
* 89' Big save by Timmy in the near post.
* 90' 4 minutes of stoppage time
Full Time: U.S.A. 2 Honduras 1. Blood pressure back to normal.
* 96'
Ed has left the building.
Summery: And good yet not satisfactory result for the U.S. That type of performance isn't going to cut it when they travel to South Africa for the Confederations Cup. For me, I was surprised that Clark did well in that match as well as Spector. Dempsey needs to find his mojo back again.
So that's my write up. Sorry if it wasn't as good as
D.J.'s Steam of Consciousness (can't live up to the legend there), but at least it's worth reading of what's going though my mind during the game. I'm pretty sure Ed does. ;-)
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