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USA 6-0 Guatemala: Match Report

USA 6-0 Guatemala: Match Report

Jul 6, 2013

Friday night saw a much changed U.S. men’s national team, who just recently moved up six places on Fifa’s charts to 22nd place in the world rankings take on 93rd placed Guatemala in a friendly at the Qualcomm Stadium; San Diego, California in front of a crowd of just over 25,000.

The match was seen as a warm up to the CONCACAF Gold Cup that starts with the U.S.A. playing their opening group C match against Belize on July 9th at the JELD-WEN Field in Portland Oregon, before going to face Cuba July 13th at The Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah.

The final group stage match against Costa Rica will prove to be the toughest test for the U.S. at Rentschler Field in Hartford Connecticut on July 17th after what should be two easy wins against lower opposition.

National team coach Klinsmann has rotated a number of players following the Americans success in recent World Cup qualifiers by bringing in veterans Landon Donovan, Jose Torres, and defender Oguchi Onyewu with all three keen to show they deserve a place in next summer’s World Cup squad.

Along with the old guard will be the fresh faces of Beltran, Bruin, and Philadelphia Unions Jack McInerney, with all three being given caps following their impressive displays in the MLS this season.

As with most matches played against lower opposition the stronger team tend to have much more of the ball which led to the Americans dominating from the kickoff, but things did not really get going until Klinsmann changed to a 4-4-2 formation moving Donovan from the right wing into a forward position.

The first goal came just before halftime when Torres flicked a ball to the back post for Gomez to open the scoring.

After the break the Americans were looking much more fluid on the ball, and it wasn’t long before they had their second goal after Donovan went for a cross only to be flattened by Castrillo giving Jamaican referee Valdin Legister no alternative but to point to the spot.

Donovan calmly takes the penalty placing the ball in the center of the net while Guatemalan keeper Ricardo Jerez dove to his right.

That goal was the Galaxy players 50th for his country making him the first man to ever reach the half-century mark.

Wondolowski added to the score in the 71st minute to give the U.S. a 3-0 lead after some tidy work by man-of-the-match Donovan as he ran past defenders to pass to Wondolowski who even after a deflection found him in the right place to side foot the ball into the right corner of the net.

Donovan notched up his second goal of the night a minute later following an inch perfect cross from Stuart Holden to volley the ball into the left corner.

Even though the match was effectively over, the U.S. added to their lead when Goodson had a second bite of the apple after having his initial shot blocked, the ball came to the American who fired the ball from close range into the roof of the net.

Bedoya finished the nights scoring in the 88th minute after sub Brek Shea lost his man down the left wing to send a cross along the ground that somehow managed to evade both defenders and attackers before fining the boot of the unmarked Bedoya.

Following the match when speaking to reporters about his 50th goal Donovan said:

“That was really nice, I was appreciative to be able to have an opportunity to score tonight, especially one that wasn’t a penalty. Getting to 50 and beyond means a lot, but results are most important. We certainly got a good one tonight.”

 

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