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August 13th, 2008 | By: Carter Daly | 13 Comments »

This was obviously the way it was going to go down.

Regardless of the fact that they had somehow managed to be group leaders heading into this (early) mornings match-up with Nigeria, we had to always know that this was the way it would end up, right?

After the two ING Cup warm-up games, but before the real deal got under way, if you were honest with yourself, you had to feel that advancing out of this group would be a real accomplishment, but actually completing that task was unlikely.

Yet this inexperienced mish-mosh of MLS starters and euro-club bench warmers lead by a coach that has never really looked the part on this stage managed to give the USA supporters hope in the form of a 1-0 opening win against Japan thanks to a Stuart Holden (see more on this problem later) shot that barely squirted by the keeper. Hope continued to build, as the players who are actually the real deal (freddy, jozy, bradley…) took the reigns in the second game against the heavily favored Dutch. Not only did the stars n’ stripes comeback from a 1-0 deficit to make the score 2-1 until right before the death, but they looked darn good doing it. This was the type of play US soccer fans always wait to see, but only get to enjoy every once and a blue moon, especially against a soccer nation with the history of the Netherlands. Ah yes. But that death mentioned two lines up, that proved to be the biggest problem of all.

The last forty seconds of the game versus the Netherlands completely annihilated any chance of the USA forgetting who they are, allowing them not only to go on and win the game against the Dutch but play the same type of rousing football throughout these Olympics as far as it would take them.

It just all made so much sense. Your average talented MLS youngster who shows flashes of having something but is hardly a player you ever see becoming a starter for the USMNT, Stuart Holden, while surrounded by his many brethren of the same clout that spelled doom for this roster from the beginning, decides it’s time to show the world his complete lack of international quality by sliding in with the most unacceptable challenge I have ever seen right outside the box with seconds remaining in the most important Olympic soccer game in the history of this very country. Obviously, the Netherlands slashed the free kick into the back of Brad Guzan’s net, spelling the end for a country that, matter of fact, was still your group leader. Yet all was undone.

The train wreck was in motion and in all honesty complete, especially with Freddy Adu and Michael Bradley out due to similarly stupid yellow card accumulation. This morning’s game vs. Nigeria was simply an act that needed to be played out only to mess with the most ardent of USA supporter even more, as if the waning moments of the game vs. the Dutch were not enough. Yet clearly someone thought it wasn’t. A third minute Michael Orozco straight red thanks to an idiotic retaliation elbow irked fans enough to have a reaction of wanting to send the kid straight back to Mexico. To top it off, the USA stumbles back from their 2-0 deficit to pull back a pk, and, of course, manage to hit the cross bar with what would have been the goal to send them through off a Charlie Davies header just to give the remaining USA fans that little twitch that shouldn’t have been necessary at that point. But I’m confident that, for some reason unbeknownst to the knowledge of the modern human, none of this charade would have gone down had it not been for the brutal moment that Stuart Holden’s name will become synonymous with hadn’t happened in the last minute of stoppage time during the fixture with the Netherlands.

All of this was just some kind of sick and ugly abstract art, played out on the pitch in the middle of a simple and logical mathematics equation that always started and ended with one verdict: the USA not advancing from the group stage. But we will always look back on the last play of the Netherlands game and say, “what if?”

Tags: 2008 Olympics, Abstract Art, Choke, Early Mornings, Nigeria, Obvious Things, Stuart Holden Screwed Up Really Bad, US Soccer, USA Fans, What if?, World Soccer

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Comments

By So-paw | August 13th, 2008 at 8:53 am

I couldn’t agree with you any less. The U.S. looked awful in game one and were very lucky to get a victory. However, in the second game against the dutch they were BY FAR the better team in the last 60 minutes of that game. In fact they made Holland look like most European squads make the U.S. look. Complete domination in the second half of the Holland game. Then the Nigeria game comes about and the first two minutes the U.S. actually has some opportunities and look real good on the ball. The official hands out probably one of the most undeserved red cards I have ever seen…not only was the elbow to the chest, not the face, but it was about as weak as an 8 year old can throw…the official single handedly handed the game to Nigeria with that one call. In the 3rd minute of an advancement game?!?!?! Who is this guy kidding? I don’t care if it was a poor decision to even be in that situation that deserved no more than a yellow card, if that. I doubt that referee will be officiating any more olympic games after the committee reviews the tape.

The U.S. had the goods and the referee sucker punched them and stole them. That was an atrocious display of officiating.

Posted from United States

By Jon | August 13th, 2008 at 9:38 am

How about Holden’s inability to pass to (I believe) Sacha for what would have been a 3rd goal.

Oh well. I’m not mad at Holden. He made some dumb decisions, but he scored a goal.

I think we look at this and say there was potential. It’s too bad we didn’t get to see that potential realized. It was good experience though… will help with future World Cup teams.

Posted from United States

By Brooks Peck | August 13th, 2008 at 9:46 am

You really can’t blame the ref for that call. That was all on Orozco. You simply can’t throw an elbow in the general vicinity of an opposing player’s head right beside the ref and think you’re going to get away with it. You throw an elbow, you’re probably gonna see red. It’s simple as that.

Just look at this…

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=1844

Posted from United States

By Chris | August 13th, 2008 at 11:58 am

WHY?????? Why do I punish myself by supporting this team? I woke up early for this? So many invariable factors combined forces to sink the dream: Holden’s lust for glory on the 2 on 1 breakaway; Adu’s near decapitation of the Dutch goaltender; Bradley’s yellow card; Holden’s errant tackle; Orozco’s flying elbow; and topped off with Davies’ header hitting the cross bar. You just knew that was going to happen, didn’t you? That’s fate right there.

Posted from United States

By Guy | August 13th, 2008 at 11:59 am

I think it was a fair call by the reff plus I think there should have been even more red cards for the Usa plus a few penalties for the Nigerians, Usa played shitty and didnt deserve to win any game, in fact Usa shouldnt even have a football team they should just voluntarily drop out evrey year. Here’s something to make you happy though,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWS-FoXbjVI.

By Steve | August 13th, 2008 at 4:38 pm

wow, tahts really negative.
We playd our worst game against Japan by far and played nobley against NIgeria despite the harsh call and the 10 men.
Tough breaks is what it came down to. I am wondering if you watched the games actually…

This was by far the most talented team in the US’ history of particpation in this tournament. I think that showed even with a poor coach.

I have never seen a US team attack and create chances like that. WC 2014 should be a good one for the US. We just need to put everything together and get results.

By Dean | August 13th, 2008 at 7:25 pm

Let’s see now, players out of control in multiple games, the players selected can’t seem to score, the team as whole looks disorganized more times than not, what is the real problem? Duh, maybe the coach? I have disagreed with this coaching choice from the beginning. This team and coach were going nowhere, regardless of whether they tied Netherlands or not.

Posted from United States

By CW | August 13th, 2008 at 7:35 pm

So now that we’ve blown the kiddie-tournament, how do you guys see the true US starting XI shaping up for qualifying?
Here’s mine:

Altidore
Donovan
DMB, Adu, Bradley, Deuce
Left back is tough…
Bornstein, Blackmouth, Gooch, Wynn
Timmy H

Subs:
Cooper, Davies, or Ching
Edu, Feilhaber, Mapp?
DeMerit, Simek, Wingert (from RSL. You’ll laugh but the guy is awesome at either right or left back)
Guzan

Should never wear the colors again:
Twellman, EJ, Frankie H, Woof, Convey, OROZCO (unless it’s verde, blanco, y colorado), Rolfe, Gavin, and Pablo is borderline.

Posted from Germany

By rslackde | August 13th, 2008 at 8:19 pm

I thought that US Olympic team did a dis-service to the country during the game against nigeria. I can’t believe how immature some of the players acted, get over it and play the game. Whining about ref’s calls gets your nowhere but acts as a distraction.

And why wasn’t Davis in the entire game? How about looking for a foreign coach, if more competitive countries than our can why no us?

By Dustin | August 14th, 2008 at 4:31 am

No use debating the force or the direction the elbow took. Chest or head it’s a red card. Know why? Because FIFA says so, furthermore they send FIFA instructors to tell their referees so. Whine about the ref if you want to, but he’s a cop and he has to enforce the law or he’s not reffing anymore. I got a striking idea. Blame the Player. It’s not like this is a secret, you’re not supposed to throw elbows, it’s a big deal. The way I see it though you should expect this kind of reaction from US players. Just look at the MLS, it’s full of referees that are instructed by USSF to go easy on the players. Let them get away with bullshit like elbows and foolish fouls. Thats what leaves them with Yellow Card accumilation and getting stupid Red Cards. Final note, when I’m speeding I don’t say “I was only over but 10 MPH” because guess what, that’s speeding. You can’t say “I only elbow’d him a little bit.”

Posted from United States

By Rick | August 14th, 2008 at 12:54 pm

Carter, I also think your assessment was a little harsh, although I also mostly agree with you. In my mind, however, there is NO DOUBT that we’re coming along by leaps and bounds. The overall quality of play and talent and skill of the players far outdistances what we’ve had in the past (i.e., 5-10 years ago). Wynn, Jozy, Davies, Edu, and of course Adu and Bradley are all upgrades again over what we’ve had on the national team. The attacking, the ball control and flow of the game are all getting better. Finishing still mostly sucks, but that’s improved, too. Knowing what to do in the final third still leaves a lot to be desired, but overall, it’s improving.

What really shows, and what really needs work, is the lack of overall footballing intelligence, and I think that’s just going to take time. The quality of play is improving, but the game savvy isn’t there. We need better and more demanding coaching, and more competition; in other words, MLS has to improve–and it WILL–but it’s not going to happen overnight. Just because players make mistakes doesn’t mean they should be banned from national service. Most of these players will learn from their errors and we’ll have a better player pool because of it.

Posted from United States

By Carter Daly | August 14th, 2008 at 2:04 pm

Yes Rick, in the long run we are taking leaps and bounds in quality. But there is no way i’m going to think of that immediatley after we blow a golden opportunity to not only advance but possibly go a little bit farther in a tournament as stacked as these Olympics. Overall I agree with you on both accounts.

Posted from United States

By Andrew | August 15th, 2008 at 1:24 pm

I am new to the website and forgive me if this has already been discussed but does anyone else think we should have put another back on the field right away like Ianni? Or maybe subbed a little earlier? It was the same thing Arena did against Italy where I don’t think he used all the available subs being down a man (or two against Italy).

On a different note, I love Mcbride.. he works hard and scores some great goals but I hated the pairing with Jozy. They play the same big mans game. We needed someone who was a little bit trickier on the ball in my opinion.

Posted from United States

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