US-Spain LIVE Commentary and Blog

SECOND HALF

1-0 Full Time. A better effort than last week but still a huge gap in class between the US and its opponent is exposed.

Freddy Adu was my man of the match but of course we only saw him for 45 minutes.

Stoppage Time: Eddie Johnson with a weak shot from the right side. Tough angle for him.

Stoppage Time: Bad giveaway and Spain with a chance.

Minute 90: Bradley caught offsides but it wasn’t called, but he completely missed on the header. Good cut back and cross by Hejduk.

Minute 89: Senna’s long distance effort is just wide

Minute 88: Beasley’s corner cleared harmlessly, and then Eddie Johnson caught offsides.

Minute 87: Hejduk creates a chance, cleared for a corner

Minute 86: Foul on Bradley, lucky he didn’t get a second yellow. Mastroeni for Dempsey. This sub was made 40 minutes too late.

Minute 84: Fabergas has dominated today and he gets a well deserved applause on his way out.

Minute 82: The US looks totally gassed and looks like they have quit on the match. Two more subs left and Bradley needs to use them.

Minute 79: GOAL! 1-0 SPAIN. FABERGAS FINDS XAVI AND BOCANEGRA AND ONYEWU GET BEAT.

Minute 78: Good job on a counter attack by Josh Wolff, but Beasley shows a lack of patience and makes a mess of it

Minute 77: Bad giveaway and a yellow card for Michael Bradley. I’m not sure how many more mistakes he has to make to be finally subbed

Minute 75: Ramos shot hit without conviction and Guzan saves it without trouble

Minute 74: Guzan comes off his line and grabs the corner; Spain comes right back but Onyewu clears it.

Minute 73: Senna’s free kick is cleared for a corner

Minute 72: Good clearance again by Bocanegra. The US appears to be putting ten men behind the ball and playing for a draw.

Minute 71: Wolff for Lewis. I assume this means Beasley pushes out wide on the left and Wolff up top, but who knows. The US has little shape in the attack anyhow.

Minute 70: Hejduk with a critical tackle

Minute 69: The US looks unsure of itself when in possession and is playing very deep at the moment

Minute 67: Guzan with a great save

Minute 66: Pearce concedes a corner

The US attack looks completely non existent w/o Freddy Adu

Minute 65: Dempsey fouls Xavi

Minute 63: Off the cross bar! Guzan and the US saved by the woodwork. Guzan had that well covered though

Minute 61: Michael Bradley concedes a dangerous free kick, a clumsy reckless challenge.

Minute 60: It feels like 1999 all over again because Frankie Hejduk concedes a free kick in a dangerous position

Minute 59: The US is unable to string together two passes. Freddy Adu’s presence is being sorely missed.

Minute 57: Good clearance by Heath Pearce in the box

Minute 56: Hejduk conceded a corner

Minute 54: Bad giveaway by Michael Bradley, but Spain has two guys offsides.

Minute 52: Spain keeping possession but doing little with it.

Minute 49: Eddie Johnson misses from point blank range after a great cross from Eddie Lewis on the left flank. You have to finish that chance and that miss is evidence as to precisely why Eddie Johnson and the US are in such a rut right now.

Minute 48: Bocanegra down, but he gets up and shakes it off

Minute 47: Good chance for Spain but still nothing.

Should we assume Adu is injured or is this simply a planned sub by Bob Bradley? If it was it is totally not excusable.

Hejduk for Cherdundolo

Guzan for Howard

Beasley for Adu

FIRST HALF

The US looked ragged in the first 20 minutes and Spain should have taken better advantage of that. Spain has held possession well since but The US has kept its shape at the back and Freddy Adu has been outstanding, easily the best US player today. Clint Dempsey looks invisible and as we discussed on the American Soccer Show earlier today, it’s getting to be about time to drop Dempsey going forward. 0-0 the scoreline at HT.

Minute 45: HALFTIME: Good play from the US in the final 25 minutes, Freddy Adu and Heath Pearce have been the two best US players.

Minute 44: Adu draws a foul. Free Kick for US in an attacking position

Minute 43: Silva cross cleared by Bocanegra

Minute 41: Ramos cross goes looking for Torres but cleared by Cherdundolo

Minute 40: Foul on the US on the corner

Minute 39: EJ breakaway on a quick pass from Freddy Adu and Casillias makes a foot save to force a corner

Minute 38: The US giving the ball back all too cheaply much like last week against England

Minute 37: Eddie Lewis held by Sergio Ramos when Heath Pearce plays a ball forward but no call

Minute 36: The crowd you can sense is getting antsy

Minute 34: Eddie Lewis sends a free kick from a dangerous area wide and high

Minute 32: Xavi Alonso takes down Dempsey: Don’t know why he bothered. Dempsey isn’t going to threaten anyone.

Minute 30: Good tackle by Gooch on Fabergas

Minute 27: Spain maintaining possession now

The US has looked very good the last five minutes going forward with Freddy Adu providing the key moments

Minute 24: Torres nice shot, saved by Howard

Minute 23: No Landon Donovan = No success on set pieces. EJ offsides by a step after Adu found him.

Minute 22: Adu sends a dangerous ball across the goal mouth, cleared, corner USA

Minute 21: Right now the US looks like they have ZERO technical ability going forward outside of Bradley and Adu

Minute 19: Fabergas flagged for offsides. Harkes is mentioning that the US is not keeping its shape at the back. I agree.

Minute 18: Spain pilling on the pressure. Harkes implies he has been far from impressed with the US effort

Minute 17: Howard recovers to make a nice save.

The US continues to struggle to hold possession but the bottom line is Freddy Adu gives the US some technical skill in the attack that was sorely lacking last week at Wembley.

Minute 15: Eddie Lewis makes a nice run down the left side and draws a throw in

Minute 14: Eddie Johnson makes a mess of a nice ball from Adu. He may have been fouled but no call.

Minute 13: Xavi has a horrible first touch on a nice run and it goes over the touch line for a goal kick

Minute 12: Ramos misses the target badly

Minute 11: Torres beats Bocanegra, Bradley clears it for a corner

Bocanegra beat on a cross and Ramos heads it right to Howard. Could have been 1-0 Spain.

Minute 9: Dempsey challenges Casillias and is called for a foul in the box.

Minute 8: Howard deals with a tame Spanish effort easily

Minute 7: After a nice run of possession Eddie Johnson gives the ball away cheaply. I’m sure everyone is shocked by that!

Minute 5: It’s all in the midfield: The Third Half Chat is up and running if you want to join Jonathan Starling and myself over there. Or you can continue to read the live commentary here, or do both!

Minute 3: Edu fails to find Adu on a nice run. Spain clears it.

Minute 2: Torres makes a good run but the US defense deals with it

Minute 1: Freddy Adu putting pressure on Spain defense early by pressing

Rainy wet pitch which will make things interesting tonight.

John Harkes has spoken to Jozy Altidore about the move to Villereal and he says “Jozy’s head is spinning” or something of the sort.

PRE MATCH:

Torres and Silva start up front for Spain

Xabi Alanso, Fabergas, Xavi in the midfield.

The US lineup

———————————Howard—————————————-

—-Cherdundolo————Onyewu——-Bocanegra——————–Pearce

——————–Edu————————–Bradley———————–