The U.S. Olympic team won its first match of Group B play 1-0 against Japan in Tianjin, China, at Olympic Center Stadium, thanks to a goal by Houston Dynamo midfielder Stuart Holden in the 47th minute.
Neither team generated much in the way of an attack in the first half, as the U.S. had two shots on frame and Japan only one. The U.S., however, dominated possession, but were unable to provide adequate service to their forwards.
In the second half, the U.S. looked to be the more dangerous side early. In the 47th minute, Holden's low right-footed shot in the 49th minute was slowed down by the Japanese keeper, but not stopped. The goal was created when right back Marvell Wynne, on an overlapping run, beat his man to the endline and his low cross was deflected out in front to Holden.
McBride had a few heavy touches in the second half, and looked a bit rusty throughout to be honest. He was replaced by Jozy Altidore in the 74th minute. Altidore nearly had a 1v1 chance after winning the ball in the box but his first touch was poor and allowed the keeper to get out of trouble.
Benny Feilhaber, who nearly missed the Games with a right knee injury, came on the 83rd minute for goalscorer Holden.
The U.S. needs to do better from the set piece going forward, as they squandered a few chances with poor execution. Robbie Rogers had a standout game on the left side of midfield, and was replaced in the 87th minute by Danny Szetela. But Freddy Adu contributed little to the contest.
On defense, left back Michael Orozco's performance was below average, while Wynne really held together the right side very well. I'm still not convinced that Brad Guzan was the right choice between the sticks, though. There were a few scary moments in the final five minutes, but he was rarely tested.
Overall, an adequate, if underwhelming, performance by the U.S. in their first Olympic match. With the talent on this team, there is no question that they should advance out of group play, but there were certainly some problem areas that need to be addressed.
TYH's Patriot of the Pitch©: Marvell Wynne
MATCH REPORT
| TEAM | 1st half | 2nd half | Final |
| USA | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| JPN | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Scoring:
USA – Holden (unassisted) 47.
Lineups:
USA: 18-Brad Guzan; 2-Marvell Wynne, 6-Maurice Edu, 15-Michael Parkhurst, 3-Michael Orozco; 7-Stuart Holden (10-Benny Feilhaber, 83), 4-Michael Bradley, 16-Sacha Kljestan, 14-Robbie Rogers (8-Danny Szetela, 87); 11-Freddy Adu, 17-Brian McBride – Capt. (12-Jozy Altidore, 74)
JPN: 1-Shusaku Nishikawa; 4-Hiroki Mizumoto – Capt., 5-Yuto Nagatomo, 6-Masato Morishige, 7-Atsuto Uchida; 8-Keisuke Honda, 10-Yohei Kajiyama (17-Tadanari Lee, 64), 12-Hiroyuki Taniguchi, 14-Shinji Kagawa (11-Shinji Okazaki, 84), 16-Takuya Honda; 15-Takayuki Morimoto (9-Yohei Toyoda, 73)
Misconduct Summary:
USA – Adu (caution) 51.
USA – Bradley (caution) 64.
JPN – K.Honda (caution) 73.
JPN – T.Honda (caution) 77.
USA –Guzan (caution) 87.
| STATS | USA | JPN |
| Shots | 6 | 10 |
| Shots(OG) | 2 | 1 |
| Saves | 1 | 1 |
| Corners | 3 | 6 |
| Fouls | 15 | 15 |
| Offside | 1 | 1 |
0 comments:
Post a Comment