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USA 2-2 Slovenia: Mystery foul costs points

USA took one point out of their second group stage game against Slovenia. Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley scored second half goals to pull the US back from an enormous first half deficit.

Maurice Edu should have won the game late when he put the ball in the Slovenian net, but a mysterious foul call ruled out the goal.

Plenty to discuss here. Should Gooch sit for the third game? Who will replace Findley up top against Algeria? Who should partner with Bradley in the middle?

A full recap, highlights and player ratings still to come.

6 Comments

  1. Really frustrating game. Poor effort from the US in the first half, but valiant effort in the second, only to have the win taken away by a ridiculous call. I just can’t get over it.

    As to Onyewu, he played really poorly in my opinion. How many balls did he kick needlessly out of bounds? How many silly fouls did he commit? And how often did he slow play down when we needed energy? I was so glad to see him subbed (and incidentally, I’m proud of Bob Bradley for being so aggressive in his substitutions).

    Look, we gave up two goals, which is on us, but we also scored three. That game should have been a win, and it wasn’t, for no reason at all but incompetence on the part of the referee (and I hope incompetence is all it was).

    • Good analysis, I agree that Guch played poorly–I think Bradley should give Goodson the go-ahead next match. I love that we can come out and play strong when we’re down, but the defensive errors and the long balls have got to end. We need responsible passing it the midfield or else we will never establish the possession or the scoring opportunities against teams stronger than Slovenia. Set pieces looked great though, and we caught some breaks.

      The call sucks and it will raise a bunch of attention and drama, but ultimately we don’t get the three points which is all I really care about. Let’s hope for an England win over Slovenia and a U.S. victory against Algeria!

      • Jeremy L. says:

        Yes, I’m slowly losing my heat about the result and trying to be pragmatic. Nothing that happens today determines our fate, but if Algeria can steal at least a point, it would do wonders for us. My nightmare is that a cavalier England, having won today, basically mails in their game against Slovenia.

  2. Jer, I totally agree on the subs. Great, aggressive subbing changed that game.

  3. I am still absolutely stunned by it all. The U.S. was just robbed of the greatest comeback in World Cup history. Prepare for a full-fledged explosive rant.

    • Jeremy L. says:

      Well, at least Algeria managed the improbable. Now we just have to beat _them_, which is looking easier said than done, as their crisp passing and ball control against England was impressive, at times.
      But I’ll take it!

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