U.S. fail to impress against Slovakia

Monday, 16 November 09, 08:39 AM · Comments (1)

There were no surprises on Saturday while watching the U.S. men's team struggle in Bratislavia. No Landon Donovan and no Charlie Davies removes the two fastest, most dangerous attacking players. Watching Clint Dempsey lumber up and down the pitch, hoping for something a bit extra, wasn't enough.

But who is shocked? Take out the best player, and the U.S. go from slightly above average to a rather underwhelming bunch. Sizing up the roster currently in Europe, it's no shock to see a 1-0 loss to Slovakia as a result. A strike force featuring Conor Casey and Jozy Altidore was rather ineffective as well. Altidore used his hand to block a goal-bound shot that was knocked in just two minutes into the match.

There were a few other sporadic chances, as the U.S. seemed to prefer and lump the ball forward to Casey and Altidore. Marek Hamsik, the biggest name on Slovakian side, dispatched a somewhat dubious-looking penalty call when Jonathan Bornstein dragged an attacking player down in the box. Hamsik's tally would stand up as a sluggish attack struggled to carve out clear opportunities.

Perhaps the biggest blow induced by the loss of Davies is his speed. With Altidore and Casey up top, there's simply no speed. Eddie Johnson has some pace, but it's a bit of a stretch to pencil him in as a replacement. That's the biggest concern going into Wednesday's friendly and the run up to the 2010 World Cup.

Some positives certainly did come out of this game. Carlos Bocanegra and Jonathan Spector handled their duties in central defense well. Spector, playing for West Ham on the outside, fared well in the middle -- so that experiment can be deemed a success. It doesn't bode well for Jimmy Conrad, who failed to see the pitch despite being on the roster. However, that can be chalked up to the fact that he's a known entity on the pitch, whereas Bradley wanted to see what Spector could so in the center.

Brad Guzan stamped his spot as the number two goalie as well. Though he couldn't save Hamsik's penalty, Guzan stepped up on more than one occasion to keep the U.S. in it. Those shouting out concerns about what the U.S. would do in the event Tim Howard should pick up a horrific injury should panic no more. The Aston Villa backup would do fine, and looks like he'll continue knocking at Brad Friedel's door on the club level.

A win on European soil would certainly be nice to see, but at the end of the day it's not the result that matters. As long as Bradley learns from what he sees in these situations and can cross some names off his list for South Africa, then it's a success. Wednesday is another round when the U.S. take on Denmark in Aarhus.

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