Air Johnson: USA Vs Antigua World Cup Qualifier Recap

The injuries mounted and the pitch was a big question mark during the last week.  Regardless, the USMNT was still a favorite heading into North Sound to take on Antigua and Barbuda.  The team stood in a three way tie for the group lead with Jamaica and Guatemala facing one another.  The starting lineup would look like this:

Howard; Cherundolo, Goodson, Cameron, Bocanegra; Williams; Zusi, Bradley, Dempsey; E. Johnson, Gómez

It was a line up that Pete nailed before the match, but it had many questioning positioning.

Eddie Johnson would get the start with 14 MLS goals in tow, but nine of them came with his head.  The lineup that Jurgen Klinsmann put forth seemed to have Johnson wide in a 4-4-2 or perhaps a flowing 4-1-3-1-1.  It would be confirmed 20 minutes before kickoff that Johnson was playing outside.  It was another head scratching move, but the match had yet to unfold.

June 8, 2012; Tampa FL, USA; USA head coach Jurgen Klinsmann on the sidelines against Antigua

For Antigua, injured forward Peter Byers, who scored the lone goal in the other qualifier, was available joining Dexter Blackstock as the best attacking options. The attack for both teams would have to deal with the rain on an already questionable surface.

Johnson would lose the ball in each of the first two times he touched it showing a bit of nervousness.  Danny Williams and Michael Bradley would help the USA keep possession early with Steve Cherundolo getting plenty of touches.  The narrow pitch seemed to negate any change in formation between a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3.  It is the minimum length and width required by FIFA, 70′ by 110′.

Middle third possession is the easiest way to describe the first eight minutes of the match.   The U.S. would get a corner in the ninth minute but did not threaten.  A&B had a threatening moment in the 12th minute as Blackstock headed the ball across for a skewed shot by Byers.

Finally the third corner in the 20th minute would pay off.  Bradley and Cherundolo worked well together and found Johnson cutting behind the defense.  Choppy possession would earn a corner that was clear right back to Graham Zusi.  Zusi would combine with Bradley to move back atop the 18 yard box for another cross.   The service was beautiful.  Johnson would time his run perfectly with a smashing header down off the ground and into the net.  June 15, 2008 was the last time that Eddie Johnson had scored for the National Team.

The lead would not last long as Blackstock would score in the 26th minute.  Byers, the leading scorer in Antigua and Barbuda history, would make a quality run down the right getting around Geoff Cameron.  Clarence Goodson would slip leaving Blackstock wide open for his first international goal.  The defending in the center of the pitch was absolutely horrible on this run.  A&B had went more than 200 minutes at home without a goal.

The pace of Byers and Blackstock were too much for the back line.  Carlos Bocanega was filling in at the left back and was somewhat invisible to this point.  The Benna Boys’ attackers would threaten twice more in the next five minutes until the USMNT would regain possession control.  Johnson would have another chance on a header that would be sent wide.  After a break due to a supposed injury to keeper Molvin James the rain would turn into a downpour with the match tied in the 38th minute.

June 8, 2012; Tampa FL, USA; USA midfielder Michael Bradley (4) dribbles the ball up field against Antigua

Bradley and Clint Dempsey would work together on a nice combination but Bradley’s shot would glance off the outside of the post.  Tim Howard would make his first save from 25 yards in the 41st minute.  Now the wind was kicking up in the face of the A&B keeper.  One minute of stoppage time would lead to nothing sending the teams level into halftime.

The U.S. needed to up the tempo and move more quickly to produce better chances.  Bradley, Zusi, and Johnson were great in the first half, but the whole team slowed down in the last 20 minutes.  Dempsey needed to assert himself.

The U.S. would start the second half going against the strong wind.  It was not pretty in the first ten minutes of the second half.  The U.S. had possession including a one-on-one situation for Herculez Gomez with Jones.  His first touch misled him.  The first substitution was used in the 56th minute when Jermaine Jones replaced Danny Williams.

The USA possession led to very little.  Zusi would send one way high and then send a pass to no one across the box.  Johnson yelled loudly at Zusi expecting a different ball.  Two-thirds of the match had passed and the attack was fleeting while A&B simply tried to find over the top balls.  The USA had committed ten fouls, received only five, and managed one shot on goal.  To add to the feel of the night, Jones would get a yellow for a dumb handball in less than ten minutes of match play.

There was no momentum.  The conditions continued to get worse.  A more direct approach was necessary and perhaps that is why Alan Gordon came in for Gomez in the 73rd minute.  It would be Gordon’s first international cap and now the team would have to find him so the midfielders could play off of him.  The final substitute of the match would be Sacha Kljestan coming on for Zusi in the 78th minute.  Zusi played a wonderful first 20 minutes, but faded quickly and seemed to lose focus.

Kljestan would go to a wide spot, a place he is not completely comfortable.  With Johnson and Gordon up top no balls were sent their way.  Kljestan’s shot from distance that was saved by James was the first shot on goal for the U.S in the second half.  The U.S. would get another shot when Bradley would glance a header off a corner that was kept out by the keeper and the bar.  The U.S. was finally showing a sense of urgency, but the question becomes why did it take so long.

Sir Vivian Richards Stadium looked like it would be a place of another disaster.  Then after the ball skipped out of bounds and smart throw to Gordon stuck in the corner would lead to a brace for Johnson.  Gordon finally made the cross that the team had needed and the A&B defense were unsettled.  Johnson was all alone and headed it back against the grain just before the clock hit 90:00.

A win or draw against Guatemala would mean the USMNT advances to the hexagonal round of qualifying.  Regardless, this was a horrible performance on an ugly night.  Klinsmann escaped and the team sits at ten points atop the table.  The MLS revival tour continued and the Goonies had a say with Eddie Johnson’s aerial ability letting us all exhale.

2-1 USMNT

Next match is Tuesday in Kansas City against Guatemala.