U.S. Flat In WC Qualifier Loss To Jamaica

I never thought I would see the day where Team U.S.A. was defeated due to poor set play. While the first goal was sort of a fluke, as a perfectly placed ball went under the would-be blocking wall, the second goal was a “what in the world just happened” moment.

Taking nothing away from the Jamaica strikers; they took full advantage of their two chances. It is just a bit of a shame that a team that once had some pride in capitalizing on their on set plays, and not giving an once when the tables are turned, just went down the table three points to Jamaica.

“Jamaica deserved that win. They were hungrier and they were more determined,” U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. “We have to fix it now.”

“We have to do to do a better job with concentration,” American goalkeeper Tim Howard said. “To give away six, seven free kicks in that area is not good enough.”

“We need to figure out a way, whether it’s more width, whether it’s more crosses, whether it’s just doing a better job of keeping the ball,” Dempsey said.

“Next game we have to limit the mistakes and create more chances,” Edu said. “We are disappointed but we still have more games to play.”

You think? Party line quotes. We just had our asses handed to us, so what us is there to say except how does the U.S. fall to Jamaica for the first time ever? After wasting a strong Gomez effort, which resulted in a Dempsey goal inside of the 1′ mark (~30 seconds into the match), I felt good about coming away with at least a point, alas, I went to bet sick at what transpired on the Kingston pitch.

Granted, the U.S. was without Bradley and Donnovan, but where was the depth at midfield? I say it every time I write about U.S. soccer – our defense will be the death of this team.

Time to move on and regroup; September 11 Tuesday night home game against Jamaica, hosted by the Crew. I never thought I would see the day where the U.S. was down 3 points in the table, equal with Guatemala.

In another “I can’t believe it moment” – the U.S. Soccer Federation didn’t bother to try to ensure broadcasting rights for U.S. away games were picked up by a channel that a least allowed a few soccer fans to watch the match. beIN Sports is not exactly a household name. Instead I went to google and found an internet broadcast – no idea if European site Front Row Sports is on the up and up, but it did allow me to watch the miserable loss to Jamaica.

There were multiple streams available, and after settling on a decent one, the only real issue I had was trying to quickly close down any “adult” oriented ads before my 10-year old saw them. For much of the first half, it was very touch and go!

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