Americans try to claim first place in region
With the U.S. men’s national team having completed qualification for the 2010 World Cup with one match to spare, it has safely and admirably turned its attention toward claiming first place in the region with a win in its qualifying finale.
But perhaps equally important, the match is a chance to squash the memories of the lowest point of that 18-month saga, which came on June 3 against the very same team it will face on Wednesday at RFK Stadium.
“You know along the way that not every result is going to go your way, and you have to treat it as a whole,” said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley. “If there was one game that we still would look back upon as being disappointing, it was the Costa Rica game.”
Bradley, whose stoicism has become legendary since taking over the U.S. team in 2007, admitted that he wasn’t pleased with how his team handled that match, giving up two goals in the first 13 minutes to make an already hostile environment at Estadio Ricardo Saprissa even more inhospitable.
But the U.S. (6-2-1, 19 points) responded by winning four of its next five games, the latest a stirring, World Cup berth-clinching 3-2 victory in Honduras last weekend. It was the third time in six qualifying wins in which the U.S. came from behind.
“There’s a lot of things there that we’re proud of, and now we want to finish things the right way,” said Bradley.
The Ticos (5-4-0, 15) are in third place in CONCACAF behind the U.S. and Mexico (6-3-0, 18) but need a victory — or for Honduras to tie or lose at El Salvador — to secure their own place in South Africa next summer. Knowing they’re going to come out flying, the U.S. players are postponing their celebrations.
“For me, being 24 and in my first go around with the national team, it’s a special feeling,” said U.S. midfielder Stuart Holden, “But at the same time, there’s one more game left before we can really let those emotions kick in and look back over qualifying and what we’ve accomplished as a group.”
