Riding a string of positive results—including a victory over Italy and a 5-1 drubbing of Scotland—the U.S. Men’s National team came into last night’s match against Brazil feeling confident. For the first time, fans of the team had seen a team playing with the cohesion and offensive spark that they’d been promised when Jurgen Klinsmann came on board as head coach last summer.
The confidence was only bolstered by the return of Clint Dempsey to the U.S. squad. Dempsey, who has been nursing a groin injury, would come on as a second-half sub—finally U.S. fans would get to see him link up with Landon Donovan. Things were looking up.
Confidence alone, however, won’t win you a game against Brazil. Neither will poor finishing, poor marking on corner kicks and several questionable calls from the ref. All of those things did the U.S. in last night, as they fell 4-1 in front of over 67,000 fans at FedEx Field. The turnout was the largest ever for a national team match in the D.C. area, and the third largest to witness a soccer game (D.C. United’s match against Real Madrid in ’09 and Barcelona vs. Manchester United in ’11 both drew more.)
Brazil’s first goal came courtesy of an early PK, awarded when U.S. defender Oguchi Onyewu handled the ball just inside the area. It was a questionable call at best—as the ball seemed to play Onyewu’s arm more than his arm played the ball—but the ref was quick to point to the spot. Brazilian phenom Neymar—whom Pele himself has referred to as the greatest player in the world—converted the ensuing kick, putting the “seleção” ahead 1-0 just 12 minutes in.
Their second goal wasn’t questionable at all—it came as a direct result of a missed assignment in the box, as Thiago Silva shook Onyewu off and calmly headed the ball home in the 26th minute. Neymar and Marcelo would combine for Brazil’s third, and Pato would put the nail in the coffin in the 87th minute, though he looked to be in an offside position.
The lone bright spot for the home side came by way of Hercules Gomez, who found himself on the end of a Fabian Johnson cross towards the end of the first half. U.S. Midfielder Micheal Bradley threaded a beautiful ball into the area which Johnson ran onto. Gomez headed the ball home from five yards out.
After the match, Klinsmann suggested his squad may be missing a bit of bite. “We need to get an edge,” Klinsmann said. “We’re maybe a little bit naive. Maybe we don’t want to hurt people. But that’s what you’ve got to do. We’ve got to step on their toes more and get them more frustrated.”
The 4-1 scoreline perhaps flatters Brazil a bit too much. The U.S. had its share of chances, but couldn’t finish. This could easily have been a 2-2 or 3-2 match.
“It’s a little hard to say you’re relatively satisfied after losing 4-1 but I think, all things considered, we played OK,” said Donovan after the match. “We fell asleep on a set piece and got punished for it. We fell asleep on the Marcelo goal a little bit and got punished for it. The other two goals I think were probably aided by poor officiating and it’s unfortunate. But I think the way we played, the chances we created – not many teams create that many chances against Brazil. I think we were a little unlucky not to score and maybe need to be a little sharper to score.”
The U.S. won’t have much time to bounce back from the loss, as they travel to Toronto to face D.C. United midfielder Dwayne De Rosario’s Canadian national side on Sunday (7PM, NBC Sports Network.) And then comes the real work—World Cup qualifying. They’ll get Antigua at home on June 8 and will travel to Guatemala on June 12.
