U.S. squash Guats, 2-0

They are the future of the national team. That is, they should be and perhaps their performance against a desperate Guatemala in the CONCACAF qualifier on Wednesday served as a wake-up call to 'Nats coach Bob Bradley. But more than likely we'll see Eddie Lewis' fat head again for the first qualifier of the final round.

The U.S.'s 2-0 defeat of Guatemala proved two things: 1) The U.S. is super deep in the midfield and 2) Kenny Cooper is a better target than Brian Ching. Chingy has served the U.S. well in the past, but Cooper is clearly better at holding off the defender with his back to goal and getting to the ball off set pieces and crosses.

Many will say that because the U.S. had already qualified that this match was not a true test of talent, but I disagree, considering that Guatemala, a typical quick and aggressive Central American team, were fighting for their World Cup lives, needing a win to have even a shot at advancing to the final round. They threw everything they had at the U.S. -- or at least they tried, but the match was dominated by Freddy Adu and Sacha Kljestan (11 SOG for the U.S.), a midfield duo who should be inked into the 2010 roster now.

TYH's Patriot of the Pitch©: Kenny Cooper

MATCH REPORT

TEAM	1st half	2nd half	Final
USA	0	2	3
GUA	0	0	0

Scoring:
Cooper (Altidore) 54.
Adu 69.

Lineups:
USA: 18-Brad Guzan; 5-John Thorrington, 3-Clarence Goodson, 15-Michael Parkhurst, 2-Jonathan Bornstein; 10-Freddy Adu (7-Davy Arnaud, 83), 4-Pablo Mastroeni (capt.), 13-Ricardo Clark, 16-Sacha Kljestan; 9-Kenny Cooper (8-Conor Casey, 76), 14-Jozy Altidore (11-Brian Ching, 76)

GUA: 18-Ricardo Jerez, 2- Carlos Castrillo, 3-Cristian Noriega , 4-Yony Flores, 7-Claudio Albizuris, 9-Mario
Acevedo (17-Minor Lopez, 74), 10-Guillermo Ramirez, 12-Carlos Figueroa (8-Marco Pappa, 57), 13-Carlos Castillo, 16-Jean Marquez, 11-Marvin Avila

Misconduct Summary:
USA – Ricardo Clark (caution) 55.
GUA – Yony Flores (caution) 68.
USA – Pablo Mastroeni (caution) 78.

STATS	USA	GUA
Shots	16	6
Shots OG	11	3
Saves	3	9
Corners	6	4
Fouls	13	17
Offside	3	4