Much excitement can be taken from Tuesday night in Columbus, not least the atmosphere in and around the stadium that has led to fans in some quarters calling for Columbus to become the home of the U.S. National Team. After a poor and lackluster performance in Jamaica just days earlier, Jurgen Klinsmann’s side turned on the style on Tuesday with a performance that puts the World Cup Qualifying bid back on track.
On the field though there were many positives that could be taken from the performance and from back to front the U.S. looked solid and have plenty of individual performances to build on as the team continues World Cup Qualifying play. The quality of the playing surface in Crew Stadium was obviously a major factor in the way the U.S. could go about playing soccer and Clint Dempsey stressed to me after the game “that the surface played a massive part in how the team could play, keeping the ball moving on the ground against the physical tight marking of the opposition.”
During the first half of play the U.S. dominated proceedings and but for some outstanding goalkeeping from Dwayne Miller and the curse of the woodwork could have had the game sown up. The forward play from Clint Dempsey, Graham Zusi and Steve Cherundolo in particular was fantastic and led to the creation of numerous opportunities although had Cherundolo’s final ball been better the U.S. could have been further in the ascendancy. From a defensive standpoint the performance of Geoff Cameron was fantastic and he marshaled the defense well, constantly breaking down any threat that Jamaicans showed on their rare forays into the United States defensive third. Cameron’s calm persona on the ball allowed either Danny Williams or Jermaine Jones to drop into the space between the defense and midfield. This got the play started for the U.S., either possessing the ball or releasing the wide players or full backs early and with pace that the Jamaican backline couldn’t handle.
After the game Klinsmann paid special attention to the importance of keeping possession, playing with pace and constantly playing at a high intensity by stressing that even when the ball isn’t going in for you, you cannot panic and start to think you will never score, a point that he was always reinforcing as he rarely took a step back from the edge of his technical area. When asked about his reasoning for constantly being on the touchline Klinsmann commented that he wanted his players to keep driving forward, by saying “On the sideline we want the players to feel a sense of urgency, keep pushing and pushing without letting go for even one second,” he explained. “That sense of urgency helped us.”
In the second half the goal that both the crowd and the players had been waiting for finally came and after being the hero in the first half, Miller in the Reggae Boyz goal become the villain when he could only palm Herculez Gomez’s free kick into the inside panel of the net. Although Gomez struck the ball well, Miller will surely feel that he should have saved it, a point that was reiterated by Dempsey who agreed that Jamaican goalkeeper Dwayne Miller could have done better with Gomez’s strike, but added, “You deserve a bit of luck when you hit the bar woodwork three times and create the quality chances that we did.” After the goal the Reggae Boyz came to life slightly and caused the U.S. some problems, but the well marshaled United States defense stood firm and although a second goal would have been nice the final whistle was greeted with huge cheers as everyone in the stadium realized the importance of the night’s victory.
The victory provided a great backdrop for the super charged atmosphere that was also further emotionally charged by the significance of the date being September 11th and the crowd paid their tribute with a well observed moment of silence and a flag waving tribute between the 9th and 11th minute of the game in remembrance of the many heroes of that fateful day. The significance of this day was not forgotten by the U.S. players and staff either with their sentiments led by Head Coach Jurgen Klinsmann who discussed how prior to the game, the three first responders were honored had been invited to address the team at length on the eve of the game. Stating that they spoke calmly, but provided a big learning curve for the team adding “It was really wonderful.”
