ASN: U.S. Struggles for a Half and Then Rises Above Haiti, 1-0

Haiti outplayed the U.S. males’s nationwide workforce for 45 minutes Friday, however Jurgen Klinsmann swapped out Jozy Altidore for Gyasi Zardes on the break and the resurgent People battled their strategy to victory.

BY

John Godfrey

Posted
July 10, 2015
10:40 PM

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DESPITE A FRUSTRATING opening 45 minutes wherein it was badly outplayed, the U.S. males’s nationwide workforce burst out of the gates within the second half, scored a fast aim, and held off a decided Haiti squad to complete atop Group A within the 2015 Gold Cup with one recreation to spare.

Clint Dempsey scored the sport’s solely aim within the forty seventh minute, his third within the event to this point, off a Gyasi Zardes help. 

Zardes, 23, got here on for the People at intermission, changing a struggling Jozy Altidore who’s both injured, rusty, or each.

GOAL USA!! Zardes to Dempsey. 1-0. #USAvHAI pic.twitter.com/KznE5ZX3RD

— Ben Jata (@Ben_Jata) July 11, 2015

“He continues to show that he’s a guy who can make a difference and a guy who needs to be a big part going forward,” U.S. captain Michael Bradley mentioned of Zardes after the match. “Tonight he came on and made a great play for us. We’ll count on him to continue making big plays for us.”

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Maybe discouraged by the workforce’s sloppy efficiency in a 2-1 win over Honduras on Tuesday—or maybe simply making an attempt to combine issues up—U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann made seven modifications to the roster and switched from a 4-4-2 formation to a 4-3-1-2.

He changed your entire backline, swapping out Fabian Johnson, John Brooks, Ventura Alvarado, and Timothy Chandler for Greg Garza, Omar Gonzalez, Tim Ream, and Brad Evans. Combine Diskerud, Graham Zusi, and Aron Johannsson additionally earned begins additional up the pitch.

Not one of the modifications appeared to assist in the early going, as Haiti seemed just like the stronger of the 2 sides.

Within the ninth minute James Marcelin picked Diskerud’s pocket within the U.S. half and instantly initiatied a counterattack. Diskerud recovered and fouled James Marcelin however the gaffe gave Haiti a free kick from a harmful place. Former Sporting Kansas Metropolis defender Mechack Jerome took the spot kick and delivered a stunning strike that beat Brad Guzan however kissed off the crossbar and into contact.

Twelve minutes later Haiti did extra of the identical. The guests waited for a unfastened American move, pounced, and countered with aggression and aplomb. On this occasion, Wilde-Donald Guerrier had a free shot at Guzan’s aim however his left-footed blast flew excessive and vast and out of play.

By way of 25 minutes, Haiti had created two legit possibilities. And the US? None.

Simply after the half-hour mark the People gave the Haitians a style of their very own drugs: the workforce countered. On this occasion Altidore discovered himself free within the left channel however somewhat than pushing ahead he held up the ball and tried to seek out the proper move. He discovered Johannsson, who swiftly kicked the ball previous Haitian goalkeeper Johny Placide, however the referee whistled him offside. (It was a really shut name.)

A couple of minutes later Johannsson practically created one thing out of nothing, dancing his well beyond a number of Haiti defenders to discover a streaking Bradley in area. The U.S. captain dribbled ahead however he mishit his left-footed strike and the possibility went losing.

The Yanks’ finest show of the opening interval got here three minutes earlier than intermission: Bradley lofted a move to Johannsson within the left channel and he headed the ball towards Dempsey in entrance of aim. Haiti’s protection held agency, nevertheless, and nothing got here of it.

The U.S. pushed ahead within the dying seconds of the primary half, however Altidore’s first contact let him down twice in key moments, letting Haiti off the hook and sending the 2 groups into the locker room in a scoreless draw.

Klinsmann apparently took be aware of Altidore’s shoddy play, as he subbed off the 25-year-old striker in favor of Zardes. Positive enought, about 60 seconds into the second half Zardes created the go-ahead aim for the People.

It wasn’t precisely a sequence  for the ages, however Zardes, taking part in on the left wing, made a proactive run down the flank, beat his defender, after which delivered a fast, easy cut-back move to Dempsey—who buried the possibility with conviction.

Emboldened by the aim—or maybe empowered by Zardes approaching for Altidore—the U.S. started to take management of the sport. Crisp passing and assured runs and possession-minded play gave the U.S. a little bit of swagger and generated a number of stable scoring possibilities. 

However a hale and hearty Haiti wasn’t about to surrender. In reality, after practically each U.S. gambit Les Grenadiers responded with their very own assault.

Gonzalez and Ream performed a clear match alongside the again line, nevertheless, and appeared to achieve confidence as the sport progressed. Nonetheless, Guzan needed to come up huge within the 56th minute, stoning Haiti’s Duckens Nazon on a breakaway that appeared notably promising. 

Klinsmann made one other substitution within the 67th minute, bringing Fabian Johnson in at left again for Greg Garza, who gave a full-blooded effort but additionally turned the ball over a number of too many occasions. The Borussia Mönchengladbach stabilized the U.S. protection and turned it a pair of essential tackles that helped the People preserve their lead—together with one off a Kyle Beckerman turnover in stoppage time.

The Yanks nearly doubled their benefit within the seventy fifth minute after some deft interaction between Dempsey, Bradley, Zardes, and Johannsson, the final of whom tried an audacious bicycle kick that might have despatched a cost by way of the 46,720 followers at Gillette Stadium if he had managed to attach.

As the sport approached the 90-minute mark, each groups attacked with desperation. The Haitians had been preventing for his or her Gold Cup lives. The People needed to place an exclamation level on the competition in entrance of a vocal house crowd.

Though it had the higher of the probabilities within the recreation’s dying moments, the U.S. couldn’t rating a second and needed to accept a 1-0 victory.

Within the opening contest at Gillette Stadium, Honduras and Panama performed to a 1-1 draw, that means that the U.S. opened the match figuring out it could lock up first place in Group A with a victory over the 79th-ranked workforce in FIFA. 

The Yanks will now face Panama on Monday (9:30pm ET; Fox Sports activities 1, UniMas) figuring out that it doesn’t matter what occurs in that match, they’ll get an advantageous draw within the knockout rounds.

John Godfrey is the founder and editor in chief of American Soccer Now. He shares his ideas about soccer by way of Twitter.