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Halftime Report: USA Versus Netherlands
A bad mistake by the Americans leaves them a goal behind.
Mar 3, 2010 3:46:00 PM
By Andrea Canales
Though they were solid enough defensively to hold off the Dutch in the early going of the match, the USA team lacked much inspiration in their play.
The Netherlands, team, meanwhile, exercised patience, controlling the ball well, probing for weaknesses. In the 8th minute, Eljero Elia beat Spector near the goal to get off a cross that led to a van der Weil shot, but Tim Howard was able to handle it well.
Howard also took care of another shot by Wesley Snjeider a few minutes later.
The best USA opportunity came when Robbie Findley used his speed to get behind the defense in the 16th minute, but his weak shot was easily saved.
There wasn't much threatening from the USA for long stretches, as the play went over the top far too often to unsettle the Dutch with any creative play.
It was an unfortunate event that seemed to energize the Americans.
Stuart Holden, who had turned in a nice half-hour of play, was scythed down by a late tackle by Nigel De Jong. The injury to his ankle was bad enough to require him to leave the field of play, giving DaMarcus Beasley the opportunity to come on and perform in the country where he played club soccer with PSV Eindhoven for years.
In the minute of play following Holden's injury, Jose Torres cracked a shot towards towards the net that didn't miss by much, ushering the best run of possession for the USA in the match. Beasley helped break up plays and create more attacks for a while
Seven minutes later, Joris Mathijsen slid in late on Altidore in the midfield. The foul led to another shot, as Altidore tried a turn-and-shoot from the free kick.
However, everything fell apart for the USA in the 39th minute. Snjeider attacked into the box and Jonathan Bornstein made the grave error of blatantly tugging on the midfielder's shirt. The referee didn't hesitate in pointing to the spot, and Kuyt calmly put the spotkick away against Howard.
Bornstein escaped compounding his error only a few minutes later when the referee waved off a valid call for a handball in the box, as the USA managed to make it to the half only a goal down.
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The Netherlands, team, meanwhile, exercised patience, controlling the ball well, probing for weaknesses. In the 8th minute, Eljero Elia beat Spector near the goal to get off a cross that led to a van der Weil shot, but Tim Howard was able to handle it well.
Howard also took care of another shot by Wesley Snjeider a few minutes later.
The best USA opportunity came when Robbie Findley used his speed to get behind the defense in the 16th minute, but his weak shot was easily saved.
There wasn't much threatening from the USA for long stretches, as the play went over the top far too often to unsettle the Dutch with any creative play.
It was an unfortunate event that seemed to energize the Americans.
Stuart Holden, who had turned in a nice half-hour of play, was scythed down by a late tackle by Nigel De Jong. The injury to his ankle was bad enough to require him to leave the field of play, giving DaMarcus Beasley the opportunity to come on and perform in the country where he played club soccer with PSV Eindhoven for years.
In the minute of play following Holden's injury, Jose Torres cracked a shot towards towards the net that didn't miss by much, ushering the best run of possession for the USA in the match. Beasley helped break up plays and create more attacks for a while
Seven minutes later, Joris Mathijsen slid in late on Altidore in the midfield. The foul led to another shot, as Altidore tried a turn-and-shoot from the free kick.
However, everything fell apart for the USA in the 39th minute. Snjeider attacked into the box and Jonathan Bornstein made the grave error of blatantly tugging on the midfielder's shirt. The referee didn't hesitate in pointing to the spot, and Kuyt calmly put the spotkick away against Howard.
Bornstein escaped compounding his error only a few minutes later when the referee waved off a valid call for a handball in the box, as the USA managed to make it to the half only a goal down.
Become a fan of Goal.com USA's Facebook fan page for all the latest news and insight into everything the related to the beautiful game
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