Thursday Night: U.S. Squeaks By "Physical" Guatemala, 1-0

The US opened up defense of their CONCACAF Gold Cup chamionship on Thursday night with a 1-0 win over Guatemala who were a typical freaking Latin American team... Guatemala went into tackles & challenges overly physical all night long, dove & flopped excellently as well. Couple with a Latin referee & it all added up to the U.S. squeaking by on the lone goal & then having to hang on for dear life in the final quarter hour b/c the US was a down a man & the players were hesitant to go into tackles b/c of the inconsistency of the refereeing.

Guatemala was by far the more physical side but somehow the US was the team with all the yellows... ridiculous!

The US' lone goal was scored in the 1st half by Clint Dempsey after a throw in from DaMarcus Beasley found Taylor Twellman on the left & he caught the Guatemalan defender flat footed & went by him & delivered a low cross for Dempsey to ram home.

Lineups
United States: Tim Howard; Frankie Hejduk, Oguchi Onyweu, Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Bornstein; Michael Bradley, Benny Feilhaber (Jay DeMerit, 81'), Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley; Taylor Twellman (Steve Ralston, 71'), Clint Dempsey (Eddie Johnson, 61')

Guatemala: Ricardo Tregueno; Leonel Noriega (Luis Swisher, 89'), Claudio Albizuris, Pablo Melgar, Henry Medina, Gustavo Cabrera; Jose Contreras, Marvin Avila (Carlos Figueroa, 81'), Roberto Gomez (Mario Rodriguez, 71'); Carlos Quinones, Carlos Ruiz

Goals
1-0 USA 26' Dempsey (Twellman)

Cards
42' USA Hejduk
56' USA Onyewu
67' GUA Gomez
73' USA Onyewu
77' USA Bocanegra
86' GUA Noriega

US ratings (out of 10)
GK: Tim Howard, 6.5- Played well & did ok staying in the game early when the US was taking the game to Guatemala.

RB: Frankie Hejduk, 5.5- Did ok making runs forward but caught up field a few times too many & in one instance led to him horse-collaring a Guatemalan defender leading to a FK in a dangerous area.

LB: Jonathan Bornstein, 5.5- Same thing as Hejduk pretty much. Bornstein still needs to pick his spots better when he makes his runs upfield. Luckily he's fairly fast otherwise Avila would've smoked him on a few occasions.

CD: Oguchi Onyewu, 6- I'm giving Gooch a 6 b/c he was sent-off but he really should've earned a 6.5 possibly even a 7 but for the thoroughly idiotic inconsistency of the referee's calls on physical challenges in favor of Guatemala. Gooch's 1st yellow was given to him after HE was fouled by Ruiz. So go figure that one out...

CD: Carlos Bocanegra, 6- Again another 6 when I want to award 6.5 b/c of the inconsistency of the Mexican ref, but I'll go with the 6 b/c Bocanegra did let Ruiz frustrate him a little too much late on.

RM: Landon Donovan, 6.5- Ran well with the ball at the Guatemalan defense & on several occasions was cynical fouled to stop him. Did well in this as well as in one instance he was literally bodychecked by a defender & held his emotions in check really well after the incident.

LM: DaMarcus Beasley, 6.5- Did what he does best, made some nice runs on the wing but still needs to do a lot better at his balls in the box & crosses.

CM: Michael Bradley, 6- Tackled well, played decent overall but still got caught upfield a little too often, but again, he's only 19.

CM: Benny Feilhaber, 7- Really starting to be a fan of his. Passed well, played well enough considering his age & the physicalness of this game but playing in Germany was probably used to it. Still makes some naive mistakes sometimes but that's due to his youth, not his talent.

CF: Taylor Twellman, 6.5- Played well, won headers & distributed the ball well, had the assist on the goal

ST: Clint Dempsey, 6.5- Scored the goal, played well, but still tried to dribble too often, IMO.

Subs
61' for Clint Dempsey, Eddie Johnson, ST, 6- Ran at the defense well but couldn't find a rhythym to his finishing on the end of the runs. Still, with his speed worried the Guatemalan defense enough they couldn't totally bomb forward at the end.

71' for Taylor Twellman, Steve Ralston, RM, 6- Did ok in short appearance.

81' for Benny Feilhaber, Jay DeMerit, CD, 6- Came into play CD to shore up the defense after Gooch was sent off. Had a couple good clearances & interventions in his short stint.

US Man of the Match: Benny Feilhaber- As stated above I'm really starting like this kid. He has good passing vision, likes to get forward & has nice passing touch as well. He's still young & is a little raw but he looks to have good potential to eventually become a solid fixture in the midfield for the US.