SALON

Wednesday, Oct 17, 2012 6:16 PM UTC

US advances in World Cup to set up busy 2013

By

Topics: From the Wires,

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The primary objective for the United States against Guatemala was a win or at worst a draw, and squeaking through to the next round of World Cup qualifying.

It wasn’t the only goal.

Jurgen Klinsmann revealed a much more ruthless motive in Tuesday night’s 3-1 victory that allowed the U.S. to win Group A and advance to the six-team finals in North and Central America and the Caribbean: The second-year manager wanted to send a message to the rest of the world.

“With every game you try to earn respect. It’s what you do,” Klinsmann said. “Quite frankly, every qualifying game and every competition you try always to earn respect.

“You know in soccer that everybody is watching you,” Klinsmann continued, his words picking up speed. “In South America, they’re watching you. Russia will watch us, what we’re doing here, so you always want to make statements. You want to send statements out and say, ‘We’re ready for you.’ We want to go to Mexico and say, ‘We want to beat you there.’ Every game.”

It hasn’t always been pretty so far, but the pugnacious attitude of Klinsmann finally appears to have seeped into the psyche of a U.S. team drilled in defense by former coach Bob Bradley.

Even when Guatemala charged to a 1-0 lead in the opening minutes on a defensive breakdown by the American back line, it only seemed to stoke their passion. They answered a few minutes later when Graham Zusi’s corner kick was redirected by Clint Dempsey and to the waiting foot of Carlos Bocanegra, who tapped it in for the equalizer.

The U.S. quickly increased the pressure from there.

Eddie Johnson corralled a pass on the wing and sent a low cross to Dempsey, who put the ball in the back of the net over the outstretched hand of the sliding Guatemalan goalkeeper. And later in the half, Michael Bradley’s deft pass set up Dempsey for his second goal of the game.

The U.S., facing elimination for only the second time in the last five World Cup cycles, never let up in the second half. Dempsey just missed with a header that would have given him a hat trick, and a couple other shots were saved by Ricardo Jerez Jr. to keep the game reasonably close.

Not close enough for Guatemala, though. Jamaica’s 4-1 victory of Antigua and Barbuda allowed it to squeeze into the final round on goal differential along with the Americans. They’ll be joined by heavily favored Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama.

“We know that there is still a lot of work to be done. We know that we can be better and sharpen up in order to qualify for the World Cup,” Dempsey said. “We know the next round is going to be tough. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that we’re ready for it.”

Klinsmann called the next round a “grind,” 10 matches beginning in late March that will set the field for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil interspersed throughout a busy year.

The American team will have several friendlies scheduled to tune up for their international matches, and also have to balance a roster for the Gold Cup, which runs from July 7-28.

The U.S. advanced through the group stage of the regional championship last year with a 2-1-0 record, and defeated Jamaica 2-0 and Panama 1-0 to reach the final against Mexico, which it lost 4-2 to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. — a defeat that in part led to Bradley’s ouster.

“We don’t know yet how we’re going to manage that,” Klinsmann said of his rosters for the two tournaments. “It boils down to how their own schedule looks like, what league do they play in, what do those schedules look like. You know, we have to put that puzzle together.”

Klinsmann acknowledged it’s not an easy puzzle to solve, but it’s a welcome one.

He’s been trying to build depth since taking over 15 months ago, pulling in young and untested players such as Zusi and giving guys such as Johnson a second chance. The moves have finally begun to pay off after a couple of ragged games, including a loss at Jamaica and a narrow win last Friday in Antigua that kept the Americans off the brink of failing to qualify for the World Cup.

Now, it’s a matter of finding out which guys in Klinsmann’s pool best fit together, and making sure the confidence gained Friday night only builds heading into a busy 2013 schedule.

“Something you have to repeat to the players all the time is every game starts nil-nil,” he said, “and you have to have the right attitude, the right spirit for it, the right approach, and match the opponent right away with that fighting spirit, otherwise you’re going to look bad.”

More Dave Skretta.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
FBI reportedly joins Bachmann campaign finance probe
210 points211 points | 9 comments
vote
Jon Karl makes things worse: He regrets “inaccurate” Benghazi email but says his story based on it “still entirely stands.” Really. ABC News?
192 points193 points | 29 comments
vote
Paul Krugman’s right: Austerity kills. "In an economy where we’re all in the same boat, one person’s spending is another person’s income. So when the government cuts spending, it reduces people’s income, leading to less business, more unemployment, and a vicious spiral of slowing down the economy."
174 points175 points | 102 comments
vote
“Jodorowsky’s Dune”: The sci-fi classic that never was.
75 points76 points | 16 comments
vote
Doug Henwood: Capitalism Thrives on Class Exploitation
41 points42 points | 5 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations