Now, we all knew what the outcome of the game would be. (It ended up being 3-0 Brazil, but I expected worse.) I don’t think any of us entertained any serious notions of the Yanks pulling off the upset of the powerhouse that is Brazil, with their Kaká and their Robinho and their Fabiano. (Not to mention their goalkeeper, Júlio César — as my friend Dave said, is he going to get stabbed in the back by one of his teammates? “Et tu, Kaká?”)
What I didn’t expect was for us to look completely and utterly incompetent. I mean, yeah, I expected the time of possession to be heavily in Brazil’s favour, but I did anticipate some sort of defence out of the U.S. side. Then again, we were missing defenders Carlos Bocanegra, Steve Cherundolo and Frankie Hejduk, so there was a mountain to climb by itself.
And also for us not to give up the ball on ridiculous miscues just when we get an offence going. It looked like a case of being star-struck, or stage fright, or something.
Some thoughts:
- Landon Donovan played well, and even had some good moves in the forward area.
- Brazil’s first goal came on a free kick from about 20 yards out, but that free kick was based on a foul that shouldn’t have been called. Not that I’m making excuses (plus, it was beautiful ball placement by Maicon), but still. Giving up a goal in the first six minutes is a definite killer.
- U.S. goalie Tim Howard had no chance on the second Brazil goal, a breakaway by Robinho in the 19th minute.
- Things settle down a bit in the second half (hey, we held them to one goal!), but I didn’t bother to watch. So I didn’t see what the fuss was about when Sacha Kljestan was sent off in the 56th minute.
- Speaking of time of possession, the U.S. had only three shots (none on goal) in the first half, notching only two more (again none on goal) in the second. I think a couple may have hit the crossbar. Brazil had 14 shots, eight of which were on goal.
- DeMarcus Beasley sucks.
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