Wounded US Must Focus on Brazil

Thankfully, the Brazilian national team doesn't feature any American-born turncoats. It does, however, include Kaka, Dani Alves, Robinho and a handful of other players with enough talent to run the U.S. national team out of Pretoria's Loftus Versfeld stadium.


"Having played in a few tournaments in this format now, the first game is definitely important," U.S. forward Landon Donovan said. "But, equally important is our next game and we still have a chance to advance if we get a result tomorrow. We learned [at the 2006 World Cup] after losing to the Czech Republic in the first game, only getting a point out of the second game still gave us a chance to advance against Ghana in the third game. So, Italy is gone now. It was a good opportunity but it's gone and now we have to focus on Brazil."

Focus has been an occasional stumbling block for this team. The Americans were spooked and unprepared for their qualifier in Costa Rica two weeks ago, falling behind by two after just 13 minutes. They yielded an early strike to Honduras a few days later, and looked good against the Italians on Monday before Ricardo Clark leaped into a pointless midfield tackle and got himself ejected.

Should the referee have kept both his ego and the red card in his pocket? Yes. But Clark shouldn't have taken the risk, and his decision to do so revealed a troubling lack of discipline and foresight. The U.S. did show ample heart over the next hour and could have scored more than once. But Bradley's delay in removing the tiring Benny Feilhaber, and the dagger through that heart that was the brace from New Jersey native Giuseppe Rossi, resulted in the sort of defeat that stings for a while.

But the Americans don't have a while, and if they're smart they'll use what they accomplished against Italy to boost their confidence. Ignore the scoreline and Clark's red mist, and you'll find a team that played relatively evenly with the world champs at equal strength, created two excellent scoring chances through Donovan that were scuttled by Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore, and had some moments of promising possession deep in the second half.

Jay DeMerit had a decent game in central defense in place of the injured Carlos Bocanegra, whose potential return on Thursday gives Bradley some interesting options. He may also consider Sacha Kljestan or Jose Francisco Torres in place of Feilhaber or even Clint Dempsey, whose national team contributions have waned lately. Either way, the midfield lineup will change due to Clark's suspension.

"If we had 11 players out there against Italy for the whole game, we would have won or tied at least," Bocanegra told FIFA.com. "It was no fluke that we were up against Italy and pressing them even after going a man down. We want to prove that against the Brazilians. We can fight with anyone. We've played Brazil a few times recently and we've managed to get goals against them, so there's no reason we can't do it again."

The U.S. scored twice on the Selecao in a September 2007 friendly in Chicago (a 4-2 loss). The Egyptians scored three in Monday's opener, but also yielded four, and there's likely not much that can be inferred from that scoreline other than the fact that Brazil usually figures out how to score as many goals as they'll need.

"This is now a must-win game for us. There's no option for us but to get at them and try to get a result," said Donovan, whose willingness to carry the ball and take on defenders over the past two games has been refreshing. Perhaps that mindset will liberate the Americans somewhat, knowing that the scenario has granted them permission to go forward. This team plays better when the shackles are off.

"When you play Brazil, you have to be able to attack them as well. In moments when they're defending with a group of six, there are spaces to attack," Bob Bradley said. "It's the challenge to take the game to Brazil. Brazil will play their game. They will try to attack us. Obviously, that will require good organization and good defending but as we discussed, when we win the ball, there will be spaces. Like always, it will come down to our ability to take advantage of some of those situations and our ability to make plays."

We will find out Thursday morning if any Americans, at least any who actually play for the U.S. national team, can make those plays when the opportunity arises.