Grenada 0 4 United States: What we learned

July 6, 11:15 AMSoccer ExaminerNicholas Richards

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Go wild, Freddy. You're on the scoresheet! (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Some thoughts from Saturday's 4-0 Independence Day demolition of former US military whipping boy Grenada:

1. What did we learn about the US from this thrashing? Nothing. The Spice Boyz -- early front-runner for worst team nickname in sports; is David Beckham involved? -- were overmatched by a reserve side and made the US look like Brazil. This was never expected to be much of a match, but wow, Grenada was bad. Poor finishing, bad giveaways in dangerous positions, shoddy defending -- more on that in a moment -- and a genuine lack of skill or technical ability ensured that this was going to be a rout from the beginnning.

2. Freddy! Freddy Adu found the net for the second time in an American shirt. The young attacker scored the opener in the seventh minute, slotting home on a nice move from Robbie Rogers. Rogers befuddled his defender on the left wing, feigning a cross before cutting back inside the box to slide a perfect pass with the outside of his foot to Adu to finish with his right. This tournament will be critical for Adu to cement his place in the side for World Cup 2010 in South Africa next summer, especially since he did not see any action at the Confederations Cup in June. His defending can be a bit wayward, but he's still a young player -- he's only 20 (I swear). The key to Adu's development will be to see some action in Europe this year, whether it is for Benfica or another club in a loan deal.

3. Robbie Rogers. Because the team selected by Bob Bradley is more experiment than experienced -- no Tim Howard, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, etc. --  there were always going to be names that no one knew. Anyone that follows the US will know Rogers now. He looked to have real pace on the left, and his deliveries on the first and second goals were fantastic. He also finished well to make it 3-0 in the second half, going for placement over power to finish past the helpless Grenada keeper.

4. Grenada is bad. I can't state that enough. Did you see the second goal for the US? Rogers was given a mile to send in his cross. The keeper failed to react to the initial cross, sticking himself in no man's land. Two Grenada defenders simply ball-watched, allowing Stuart Holden to swoop in and head home off the underside of the crossbar for his first US goal in his debut. Appalling defending in all regards.

Up next for the US is Honduras on Wednesday night in Washington, D.C.