In their first warm up before qualification starts back up for the 2014 World Cup, the U.S. Men’s National Team fell 4-2 to Belgium before 27,720 fans at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, OH.
U.S. captain Clint Dempsey scored a penalty and had an assist, while Geoff Cameron notched a goal. Aston Villa forward Christian Benteke scored two goals as Marouane Felaini and Kevin Mirallas scored a goal apiece.
“A negative result, but I think it was an important game,” USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann said after the loss. “This is why we want to play teams like Belgium and Germany, because there is so much that you can read and see in these games. We’d rather win, it’s not a pleasure when you lose, but I’d rather play Belgium ten more times than El Salvador 100 more times.”
Highlighting the night, Demarcus Beasley joined the 100 cap club as he got the starting nod for Klinsmann’s side. Stuart Holden also made a brief 10-minute appearance, his first since November 2010, after a serious knee injury sidelined him.
“After I gave my mom and dad flowers, I was ready to play,” Beasley said of the pre-kickoff announcement of his 100th cap. “It was about trying to win a game and doing my job.”
The Yanks had no time to celebrate as miscommunication between the American defense hit as Romanelu Lukaku had a breakaway with U.S. netminder Tim Howard. Howard knocked the ball away, but it fell right to the feet of Kevin Mirallas, who put away a decent shot and gave the Belgians a 1-0 lead just six minutes in. Lukaku’s original run was slightly offside, but no call was made.
The USA answered in the 23rd minute. On an long corner, Dempsey headed the ball back into the six-yard box and an uncovered Geoff Cameron headed home the easy equalizer. The Stoke City defender notched his first international goal for the Red, White, and Blue.
“You have to push yourself when you play against the best,” Dempsey said. “We will be ready for the Jamaica match and be ready for anything that they throw against us, since we pushed ourselves hard.”
Lukaku still was unanswerable for the Belgians, as he almost had his first on a great give and go in the 27th minute, but was called offside. Lukaku would continue to have a high pressure offensive showing.
The U.S. again had issues in the back as Omar Gonzalez could not clear a Belgian rush and the ball fell to Kevin De Bruyne and he then connected with halftime sub Christian Benteke. The Aston Villa forward dropped an easy ball against his Villa teammate Brad Guzan, who came on at halftime for Howard.
De Bruyne made the U.S. pay for their mistakes again, as he played a perfect cross to Felaini and the Everton midfielder slipped the header past Guzan and put the Europeans up 3-1 in the 66th minute.
If it wasn’t clear already, Belgium showed their quality and Benteke put another goal past his English Premier League teammate Guzan as his perfectly timed run beat the U.S. defense and his right-footed flick just cleared Guzan’s fingers, giving Belgium the 4-1 lead in the 71st minute. This left no doubt that the Europeans would leave the States with a well-deserved win. The pair of goals gave Benteke his fifth and sixth international goals.
The USA would pull one back as Ajax defender Toby Alderweireld was harshly called for a hand in the box. Captain Clint Dempsey would hit the ball into the left hand corner and bring the States within two as he just beat the outstretched arm of Belgium keeper Simon Mignolet, who guessed right, but could not get to the shot.
“It was great to see that the crowd was never out of it,” Dempsey said. “It’s that American spirit to never say die. I thought the team reacted to that (the crowd). We kept trying to get that third goal and the fans were great tonight.”
Midfielder Sacha Kljestan concurred with the impressive support from the crowd.
“The fans were great tonight. Now we know that Cleveland is a great place to play with great fans.”
