By James Louis-Charles
HaitiTempo
Washington, DC — May 31, 2012
The Brazilian soccer team that came into Washington DC last night showed the U.S. there is still a gap between them and the Americans. Despite the fact The United States Men’s National team went into this friendly not lacking confidence in Jurgen Klinsmann’s more aggressive coaching style after beating Scotland in a lopsided match a few days prior to the game, it didn’t take long for the Brazilians to show their superiority.
The outcome of the game was decided soon after kickoff when the referee, Jeffrey Calderon of Costa Rica, awarded a somewhat controversial penalty kick to Brazil. Brazilian forward Damiao took a shot just outside of the U.S. penalty box with American defender Onyewu in the path of the ball heading toward goal. With mili-seconds to react and the ball going straight for his rib cage, Onyewu turned and braced himself with his arms to block the shot. But because the ball then hit his hand on his chest, the referee awarded a penalty shot, which young Brazilian superstar Neymar converted easily for the 1-0 lead.
With both teams playing an aggressive 4:3:3, this was the perfect scenario for Neymar to showcase his talent firsthand to the American public. However, Neymar wasn’t the usual selfish and showboating star we had come to expect from watching highlights of him with his club team Santos, in Brazil. With Marcelo playing left defense and making his runs down the left flank, and Neymar playing left Forward, the two of them complimented each other nicely on that side. Everyone was expecting the Neymar show, but they got his being Robin to Marcelo’s Batman instead.
What then of the Hulk who tore apart in Brazil’s friendly last week against Denmark?! Well, he must not have gotten mad enough to turn green because with the exception of a few flashes of him here and there, he wasn’t really a factor in this game.
Marcelo and Neymar pressing on the U.S. right side of the defense meant that Donovan playing right forward, Edu playing right midfield, and Cherundolo playing right defense, could mount a counter attack on the side the Brazilians were attacking. But that wasn’t the case as Marcelo and left midfield Romula stopped any attacks the Americans were attempting at them. The result was a pretty quiet night for Donovan, who just days ago had one of his most successful matches with a hat trick against Scotland.
Every now and then, the Americans kept possession of the ball in search of an opening, but they simply couldn’t penetrate the attacking third past the Brazilian defense. The Brazilians meanwhile kept attacking and almost made it 3-0 a couple of times, had it not been for the quick reflexes of a clearly frustrated U.S. keeper Tim Howard.
The Americans were finally able to muster something right before halftime. They attacked the left side with left midfield Bradley and left back Fabian Johnson linking up nicely to provide a low cross in front of the goal for Gomez to finish.
The score at halftime was 2-1, with Brazil leading.
The 2nd half started pretty much the way the 1st half began, with Brazil still pressing forward. Jurgen Klinsmann said after the game “We need to get nastier” because he thought his players lacked confidence against Brazil. Not surprisingly enough, German-American player Germaine Jones responded right after halftime with a hard tackle on Marcelo to intimidate the player who seemed to cause the Americans the most trouble. The referee responded by giving Jones the first warning of the match.
The mental message seemed to have worked as a few minutes later Marcelo, a player known as being too easily intimidated with Real Madrid, seems to have lost his composure with a hard tackle on an American player. He subsequently was awarded the second yellow card of the game.
Klinsmann inserted the slower Michael Parkhurst in the place of Cherundolo on defense midway through the 2nd half. I am not sure I understood the meaning of this substitution but it seemed to have provided more space for Neymar and Marcelo to abuse. Not surprisingly, Marcelo off a nice combination with…(who else?) Neymar, ended up putting the ball in the back of the net from a nice side volley for Brazil’s 3rd goal.
In the dying minutes, Marcelo ended up crossing the ball to a wide-open Pato, who nicely collected the ball off his chest and slotted it pass Howard for the 4th goal. This goal enticed a few laughs from the Brazilian journalists up in the press box and I am not sure why. Could it be because the scorer was Pato, a player who seemed to have fallen out of favor a little with his club team AC Milan? Or was it because the goal was scored too easily?
Klinsmann may have a point believing his side was simply too soft and lacked aggressiveness. While the make up of this Brazilian team may end up being mostly the team they use in the World Cup in Brazil a few years from now, this is a young team that is preparing for the Olympics. If they play in the Olympics the way they demolished this U.S. Senior side, then they should be the heavy favorite to win the Gold medals in Mens Soccer in London this summer.
JLC/HTP
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