Sorry for paraphrasing Michael Corleone, but I was pretty disappointed by team USA's 2-1 defeat at Trinidad & Tobago. Team USA has automatically qualified for the hexagonal(the clever name for the 6 team, final round of CONCACAF qualifiers). Coach Bradley kept only three players from his starting XI against Cuba, and it looked a lot more like an U-21 side then the national team. Trinidad & Tobago had everything to play for, and if America had a youth squad than T&T had a senior citizen squad. Russell Laptapy, their 40 year old midfielder, opened the scoring. Team USA responded well and Charlie Davies, who impressed as a sub, put away a Jozy Altidore cross. However Altidore will be best remembered for his foul on Makan Hislop in the box, and 37 year old Dwight Yorke converted the penalty. Laptapy and Yorke are both veterans of the 1989, 1-0 loss to America, where a tie would have qualified them for the World Cup. The win puts T&T in second place, and a tie against Cuba would put them through to the hexagonal.I understand the desire to give the young players an opportunity, and an away match in Trinidad & Tobago is definitely a valuable way to get experience. However, the players might have been better served if they were playing along side more of the senior players. Michael Bradley, the veteran youngster, was sorely missed in the midfield. Torres and Kljestan did not do a good job of distributing the ball, and Edu was poor as a holding midfielder. Beasley and Adu were not fed good balls on the wing, and Altidore had terrible service all night. It was nice to see Beasley wear the captain's arm band, but team USA allowed T&T to dictate the pace of the game and played the first hour on their back foot. Adu was subbed in the 69th, and Charlie Davies was very positive. He linked up well with Altidore, and put more pressure on T&T's back line, pinning them back. Team USA looked the more likely to add a second goal, but Altidore grabbed Hislop's jersey and Yorke converted the penalty. It's often said that you can learn more in a loss than you can in a win, and losing a tough road game on a poor pitch will definitely teach these players something. Their next match is a home game against Guatemala, and it will be interesting to see if these youngsters can step up and show that this wasn't a total loss.
England continued their perfect record, with a 3-1 victory in Belarus. Gerrard opened the scoring with one of his long range strikes, and Rooney fired in a brace to keep up his hot form. Portgual stumbled to a 0-0 draw in Albania, and questions are being asked of Quieroz. They have suffered a number of injuries, but currently sit 2 points off Denmark, who have a game in hand. Israel are within a point of Greece after their 1-1 draw. Slovakia defeated Poland to stay the top of their group, with the Czech Republic 5 points back with a game in hand. Germany defeated Wales 1-0 to stay at the top of Group Four. Spain continued their winning streak, and have opened up a 4 point gap on second place Turkey. Serbia is now tied with Lithuania at the top of Group Seven, as France is 5 points back with a game in hand. Italy's 2-1 win over Macedonia sees them 3 points up on Ireland, who have a game in hand. And Netherland only needed a goal from Mark Von Bommel to remain perfect and on top of Group Nine.One Liners
- UEFA halt punishments on Atletico Madrid during punishments, who said Platini's not a softy
- Torres out for two weeks, won't get to play at Vicente Calderon after all
- Brazil is booed off the pitch after a 0-0 home draw with Colombia, Dunga might consider removing the "a" from his name
- Fabregas concerned to be oldest player in Arsenal midfield, fans concerned as well
- Van Der Sar retires from Holland again, expect him to unretire in summer of 2010
