Olympic Soccer: U.S. Gifts it to the Netherlands

If you call my house anytime before 10 am you will most likely get my answering machine or my wife telling you that I am on a call on the other line (I’m still sleeping sucka!). But not today. Today was different. This morning…very early this morning (4:45 my time) the United States was facing the Netherlands in what would have amounted to guaranteed passage to the next round if the U.S. were to beat one of the best young teams in the world.

And the U.S. looked like they had it, right up until the last minute of play. Then, from seemingly out of nowhere, they gave it away. Houston Dynamo midfielder Stuart Holden clumsily and stupidly fouled Gerald Sibon just outside the box to give the Dutch a last gasp opportunity to tie up the game, which they did (1-1), on a worm-burner by Sibon that went under a jumping U.S. wall.

I know that everybody jumps in the wall nowadays since the advent of the “bend it like Beckham” but that is exactly what Sibon was counting on. He approached the ball like he was going to hammer it, not bend it and the U.S. wall should have stayed put, not jumped. If they hadn’t jumped the U.S. would be enjoying already being through to the quarterfinals right now.

Instead, they face a solid Nigerian side on Wednesday and must at least tie, or hope the Dutch lose to Japan in order to advance to the knockout phase. Now, I know what you’ll say…watching the shooters approach to determine whether you jump or not might be getting a little too sophisticated. Is it? We are talking about the Olympics…we are talking world-class players…most of all, we’re talking about the little things that make all the difference in the world at that level. And they did…today.

Even the game’s broadcasters were saying that jumping is what you always do in a wall. I’ve been a defender most of my life and still haven’t jumped (and I actually used to be able to). So Sibon took advantage of the fact that he knew the U.S. players would do what you’re supposed to do, which is to jump.

So he hit it low and hard and hoped that the U.S. players jumped…which they did…and the Netherlands salvaged a point and left the U.S. sick to their stomachs as they left the field. The culprit in all this though is ultimately Holden. His foul on Sibon was unnecessary and flat-out STUPID. Now, don’t take me wrong, I like Stuart Holden, this isn’t Landon or Bruce or Frankie that I’m talking about.

But what he did was unexusable. He might be a young pro, but he’s a pro nonetheless. He didn’t need to win that tackle. He had plenty of support all around him. And the way he went into it (swinging his leg wildly) only begged for him to miss his mark and make contact with his opponent, who you KNEW was going to fall. Don’t think for one minute that I am calling Sibon a diver, he did get fouled.

I still can’t believe why Holden would go into that 50/50 challenge looking so amatuerish at such a critical juncture. All Holden had to do was let Sibon win the ball, stand him up outside the box and Sibon would have been forced to shoot under pressure from outside the box or be forced into clipping what most likely have been a harmless cross into the box. Ball cleared…game over…U.S. into quarterfinals!

That’s how simple it could have been. But now it becomes a lot more complicated against Nigeria on Wednesday because the U.S. is without Freddy Adu (who is their best player) and Michael Bradley due to yellow card suspensions.

Bradley picked his second yellow of the tournament for delay of game. Now, if that was on purpose, thinking that he would sit out against Nigeria and be cleared for the quarterfinals…whoever was responsible for telling him to take the yellow (if, in fact, somebody did) should be fired. If Bradley did it on his own…there’s just another reason to believe that he will struggle BIG-TIME if he moves to a bigger club in a better league.

The U.S. will miss Freddy dearly. I stil don’t understand why head coach Peter Nowak keeps messing with Freddy though. He’s an offensive center midfielder…period! He did well up front, but his true spot, the spot where he can help the team the best is at offensive center midfield.  So now Peter has to juggle his lineup again.

But it’s not as bad as you think. Benny Feilhaber can fill in more than addequately for Bradley in the center midfield with Sasha and Jozy will get the start, so it’s not over yet…even though it should have been today.

If you want to see how woefully the U.S. wall performed on Sibon’s free kick…go to www.ussoccer.com and notice how almost everybody in it except for Marvell Wynne is a midfielder or forward and notice how much they are all trying NOT to get hit with the ball.

QUESTION: When a team gives up a goal in the waning moments…is it the fault of the players or the coach?

 

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Last post (s) by Mark Lincir

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