One more road trip. One more match. One Gold Cup Final that could be
the cherry on top of the sundae that is the best stretch of play in
the 100-year history of US Men's Soccer. Jurgen Klinsmann is 90+
minutes of action away from putting any and all critics on mute for
one entire year, and the fact of the matter is that the US coach and
his Waldo-striped army should absolutely be hoisting a trophy come
July 28.
Anything but a win on Sunday will be unacceptable in the eyes of
American supporters.
United States 3-1 Honduras: Order restored
Remember when Landon Donovan went on a hiatus and subsequently found
himself in Klinsmann's doghouse? It seems like ages ago. Donovan
announced his return to US Soccer in a big way in the July 5 friendly
against Guatemala, and his star has merely gotten brighter and
brighter since. In the past three weeks, Donovan went from being a
fringe player who had to prove himself to his coach to a definite
member of the 2014 World Cup squad to someone who has guaranteed
himself a spot in the starting XI for what will likely be the final
World Cup Qualifiers of his career.
Donovan was again the engine of the US attack on Wednesday, having a
hand in all three of the team's tallies (two goals and a brilliant
through ball that set up the Eddie Johnson strike). It's possible that
the biggest highlight of the night that involved the LA Galaxy star
came when he was subbed off 18 minutes from time. The first person to
meet Donovan was his coach, who almost immediately embraced who will,
regardless of what occurs on Sunday, be his team's MVP of this
tournament.
Welcome home, Landon. We missed you, maybe even more than we could
have imagined.
United States 3-1 Honduras: Up top
It took literally a handful of seconds during a US attack on Wednesday
to remember what the previously mentioned Johnson brings to the table
that Chris Wondolowski, try as he might, cannot routinely produce.
Johnson used his pace and strength to beat a defender to a Donovan
through ball and then hold his man off as he fired off a hit from 17
yards out that swooped around goalkeeper Donis Escobar for the
match-opener. Wondo finds the back of the net through his positioning
and by doing the so-called "dirty work" inside the penalty area.
Johnson is a true forward and a finisher, and the type of player you
want starting up top in a Final.
It would be overly harsh to suggest that Donovan and Wondolowski
didn't mesh in previous Gold Cup matches; rather, they were two
different guys who were fighting for the same cause. In Donovan and
Johnson, Klinsmann has himself a true partnership, one in which
Donovan can contribute both up front and in the midfield as a
distributor for the Seattle Sounders forward. Donovan and Johnson make
up the competition's top one-two punch as the Final draws near, and
thus don't be shocked if the duo is responsible for the goal that wins
the Gold Cup.
United States 3-1 Honduras: Mexico losing is nice and all, but...
Now it's all on Team USA to finish the job. That Panama, not Mexico,
has been the second-best team in the tournament and deserves to play
for the trophy will not matter at all if the Americans stumble. The
United States will enter Sunday as the favorite, a team that will have
a noticeable home-field advantage unless thousands of Mexican football
supporters descend on the Windy City with the sole purpose of rooting
against the US.
Two things worry me about Panama: They're good on attacking set
pieces, plays in which the US have leaked goals throughout this
tournament, and they've also been playing like a confident side that
knows it has nothing to lose. Who expected Panama to beat Mexico TWICE
in under three weeks? Who expected that they, not Mexico, would be
standing in the way of US and Gold Cup glory?
There have always been excuses whenever the US have struggled under
Klinsmann. New philosophies were being preached, and players were
trying to adjust to a new system. The manager hadn't yet had enough
time for find his first-choice lineup. CONCACAF has gotten much, much
better in a brief amount of time.
All of that goes out the window on Sunday, the first actual "must-win"
game of the Klinsmann era. Win, and it's job done, the result that had
been coming since that 6-1 drubbing of Belize. Fall short, and July
2013 will forever be labeled as nothing more than yet another failure
for US Soccer.
No pressure.
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