No. 40—USA vs. Canada Soccer—USA Displayed World Class Soccer Abilities

by Soccer Coach Albert M. Luongo

On March 20, 3008, USA beat Canada in Nashville TN 3 to 0. The USA dominated the field in this game with short, low-ball passing and aggressiveness to win the loose ball. Sometimes though, they were too aggressive as is often the case with American style soccer. One such extreme example of this was when USA’s Altidore’s inexcusable collision with Canada’s goalkeeper Wagner. It was followed by a shove to the goalkeeper. What was the referee thinking when he did not issue red card or even yellow card Altidore? With this said, this win means that USA will go on to play in the 2010 Olympics.

Canada on the other hand, had difficulty getting past the midfield and often backed off by not pressurizing their opponents. At times however Canada had a few good attacks and won the loose ball with good shoulder-charging but could not score. Several of their shots were in haste and went extremely high. Thus, the USA goalkeeper Chris Seitz was hardly tested during this game.

The scoring went like this. At minute 26, USA's Freddy Adu scored on a free kick from the right side about 5 yards from the penalty area. He curved the ball around a 2 man wall (a 3 or 4 man wall might have prevented the goal). The ball deflected off the right hand of Canada’s goalkeeper Wagner and went into the left-hand corner.

At approximately 3 minutes into the second half, USA’s Adu scored again on another free kick as he took the shot from the right side outside of the penalty area. He placed it over the wall. At minute 78, a pass went to USA’s Kljestan from the left wing. There was a breach in the defensive wall, giving Kljestan a clear shot at the Canadian goal as he stood near its center at about the penalty spot. He put the ball near the inside left post making the score 3-0.

Finally in the second half, yellow cards were issued, but at this time the referee’s authority was not respected.

Analysis
I was glad to finally see a USA game or team that did not disappoint me. Too frequently, I had observed long ball soccer, sloppy passing and trapping, and excessive roughness. This roughness seems to come from the grass roots of USA soccer as it is often passed on by our experiences with American football. I observed this roughness first hand with my earlier soccer experiences: Often I had to instruct foreign born players with my shoulder-charging drill in order for them to effectively deal with such roughness coming from competing American teams. While the American roughness still shows through, skillful playing seems to have caught on—at least with this team. These displayed skills will be necessary for the USA to effectively compete in the 2010 Olympics. I give my complements to the USA coaches and manager, but caution them that excessive roughness can cause players to be ejected, producing an obvious disadvantage.

One more note on the USA team. Continual pressurization of their opponents indicates that they are in top physical form from their training and conditioning. This too is an important ingredient for high competitive matches.

I cannot condone liberal referees. Their job is to enforce the FIFA Laws of the Game (Note: it is necessary to scroll down when reaching this web site).

All of the above information is the author's opinion. This article in no way is meant to degrade, discredit or defame any team or person. Its sole purpose is to improve the skills of young soccer players, coaches and the game itself.