It wasn't the kind of game that fills U.S. Men's National Team fans with hope and pride, but in the end the USMNT's MLS contingent got the job done and defeated Venezuela 1-0 in stoppage time on Saturday night.
It was the inevitable set piece, a Ricardo Clark header off a Jermaine Jones corner, that decided the result at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Team USA launched 15 ambitious but largely respectable shots, but Venezuela goalkeeper Jose Morales was only forced to make four saves. Still, it was the USMNT's first win over a South American team since Ecuador in March, 2007.
Camp Cupcake
Every January, the top MLS-based players get called up to National Team camp to be reviewed for a chance to represent the nation in two international friendlies. Because these friendlies aren't scheduled on FIFA dates, head coach Jurgen Klinsmann is only allowed to call up players whose domestic leagues are currently on break. Consequently, MLS is always well-represented.
The downside is that it's a squad of players from many MLS clubs and a few international clubs thrown together and all looking for individual accolades so as to get the chance to play with the first team in friendlies and genuine competition. The more helpful a player is, the better he makes his teammates look, who effectively are competing with him for a rare spot. There were individual opportunities taken last night that would have had better results if the team had meshed better and individuals sacrificed more, but the players know they don't have many chances to impress the USMNT staff. In fact, the screening process might be more effective if more young MLS players were given the opportunity to train with the first team and come off the bench in first team friendlies to show how helpful they can be, as opposed to how individually talented they can be.
Teal Bunbury and Brek Shea spent an impressive amount of time on the ball and flung themselves at every opportunity, but might have been more effective laying off and setting up plays instead of taking unlikely shots.
Defenders A.J. DeLaGarza and Zach Lloyd and midfielder Graham Zusi made promising performances, particularly considering it was DeLaGarza's and Zusi's first time representing the USA. The U.S. defense held Venezuela to a single shot on goal, making goalkeeper Bill Hamid's job easy.
"Overall I thought we had a very good performance tonight," said U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who collected his second straight victory. "We created a ton of chances and really didn't give them any good opportunities."
The Camp Cupcake squad play their second and final friendly versus Panama on Wednesday, January 25 at Estadio Rommel Fernandez in Panama City. Kickoff is set for 8:30 p.m. ET, and the match will be televised live on Galavision and ESPN3.
What's next?
It will be interesting to see if Klinsmann selects any of these hopefuls for the February 29 friendly against four-time World Cup champion Italy at Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa or the U.S.-based Olympic qualifying in March. Obviously, Italy-USA is not a match the USMNT are expected to win, but Klinsmann will not want to lose badly and he must send the team through to the Olympics. However, since Klinsmann replaced former coach Bob Bradley on August 4, the make-up and style of the USMNT has not yet really visibly changed. Although most knowledgeable fans know that new results require patience, the changes that will affect those new results have yet to reveal themselves.
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-- U.S. Men's National Team Game Report --
Match: USA vs. Venezuela
Date: Jan. 21, 2012
Competition: International Friendly
Venue: University of Phoenix Stadium; Glendale, Ariz.
Kickoff: 7 p.m. MT
Attendance: 22,403
Weather: indoors
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
USA 0 1 1
Venezuela 0 0 0
USA - Ricardo Clark (Jermaine Jones) 90+6 minute
Lineups:
USA: 1-Bill Hamid; 2-A.J. DeLaGarza, 4-Michael Parkhurst, 5-Geoff Cameron, 3-Heath Pearce (13-Zach Loyd, 72); 6-Jeff Larentowicz (15-Ricardo Clark, 62), 8-Jermaine Jones (capt.); 7-Graham Zusi (18-C.J. Sapong, 74), 10-Benny Feilhaber (17-Chris Wondolowksi, 62), 11-Brek Shea; 9-Teal Bunbury (16-Brad Evans, 88)
Subs not used: 12-Nick Rimando, 14-Jeff Parke
Head Coach: Jurgen Klinsmann
VEN: 1-Jose Morales; 2-Carlos Rivero, 3-Carlos Salazar, 4-Jose Manuel Velasquez, 21-Andres Rouga; 5-Miguel Mea Vitali (23-Emilio Renteria, 78); 10-Alejandro Guerra (14-Diego Guerrero, 89), 8-Francisco Flores, 6-Agnel Flores, 7-Edgar Perez Greco (17-Angel Chourio, 73); 15-Alejandro Moreno (9-Richard Blanco, 86)
Subs not used: 11- Jose Reyes, 12- Alan Liebeskind, 13-John Chancellor, 16-Ruben Arocha, 19-Rubert Quijada, 20-Javier Gonzalez, 24-Diomar Diaz, 25-Darwin Machis
Head coach: Cesar Farias
Stats Summary: USA / VEN
Shots: 15 / 6
Shots on Goal: 5 / 1
Saves: 1 / 4
Corner Kicks: 7 / 0
Fouls: 15 / 13
Offside: 0 / 4
Misconduct Summary:
VEN - Jose Velasquez (caution) 44th minute
VEN - Carlos Salazar (caution) 46
USA - Jermaine Jones (caution) 67
VEN - Francisco Flores (caution) 90+2
VEN - Emilio Renteria (caution) 90+3
VEN - Jose Velasquez (sent off) 90+7
Officials:
Referee: Roberto Garcia (MEX)
Assistant Referee 1: Marcos Quintero (MEX)
Assistant Referee 2: Hector Delgadillo (MEX)
Fourth Official: Terry Vaughn (USA)
Budweiser Man of the Match: Jermaine Jones
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