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Nats notes: Donovan to Altidore, Donovan to Altidore, Donovan to Altidore
Jozy Altidore scored three goals on assists from Landon Donovan as the United States beat Trinidad & Tobago 3-0 Wednesday in a World Cup qualifier in Memphis, Tenn.
The victory helped the Americans retain their hold on first place in the CONCACAF qualifying region.
Donovan hooked up with Altidore in the 13th minute, and the pair combined for two more goals in the second half.
“It’s pretty cool,” Altidore told Nashville newspaper The Tennesseean. “Most important is we came out, and the guys rebounded from the El Salvador game, and we made a statement — made a statement we are one of the teams to be reckoned with in CONCACAF.”
Altidore, 19, also scored in a 2-2 tie on Saturday at El Salvador, giving him four goals in five days for the national team. He has five goals in six games in qualifying.
CONCACAF STANDINGS
The top three teams automatically qualify for the 2010 World Cup. The fourth-place team will meet the fifth-place team from the South American qualifying zone in a two-game playoff.
United States, 2-0-1, seven points
Costa Rica, 2-1-0, six points
Honduras, 1-1-1, four points
Mexico, 1-2-0, three points
El Salvador, 0-1-2, two points
Trinidad & Tobago, 0-1-2, two points
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Donovan was my man of the match. He set up all three goals, and he looked for Altidore on the third goal rather than trying to score. Donovan was the most creative player on the field. His thoughts were on pushing the ball forward rather than pushing it toward the open man, which much of the team was content to do in the second half. Altidore was the U.S. Soccer Federation’s man of the match. You can read more on the game at the USSF site.
After a first half in which the U.S. dominated with patient buildup and short, quick passes, the U.S. settled back into a comfort zone and tried to force more long balls from the back of the field. This approach was never successful on Wednesday, and the confidence of Trinidad, which could barely manage four or five consecutive passes in the first half, began to grow. The visitors managed three or four legitimate scoring opportunities in the first 20 minutes of the second half, whereas there was little threat from the team in the opening 45. Altidore’s second goal, in the 71st minute, burst the T&T bubble, and the result was not in doubt afterward.
Colorado Rapids captain Pablo Mastroeni had a solid game as a holding midfielder for the U.S. At one point, with the U.S. leading 1-0, the T&T players tried to convince the referee that Pablo had played the ball with his arm inside the penalty box, but no foul was called.
The crowd of 27,959, was the largest to watch a soccer game in Tennessee history. The previous record was 26,141 for a U.S. match against Morocco in the same stadium in 2006.
Altidore scored more goals in the second hafl (2) than any American player had ever scored as a teenager (1).
Before the match, the teams and fans paused for a moment of silence for 19 fans killed recently before a match at Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Read more about that at The New York Times.
Next up for the U.S.: June 3 at Costa Rica and June 6 vs. Honduras at Chicago. Mexico lost 3-1 at Honduras on Wednesday.
George Tanner is a former writer and editor for the Rocky Mountain News; the Greeley Tribune; The Daily Independent of Ridgecrest, Calif.; the Durango Herald; and the Boulder Daily Camera. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado and an associate professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver. E-mail him at ColoradoSoccerNow@gmail.com.
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I thought Pablo played a great game. Fans are always wanting to replace him … but I can’t remember the last time he turned in a poor performance. I think if we had his grit against El Salvador, we’d be sitting atop the group with nine points right now. Never gets the credit he should.
marty, i agree completely. his game has an element of nastiness that just isn’t there in ricardo clark or any of the others on the short list of defensive midfielders. just think of gennaro gattuso. how valuable is/was gattuso to the italians? the next best american in the nasty category might be beckerman.
Beckerman? Soooo NOT an international quality player. He’s something like 10th on the depth chart? That’s for a reason, you know.
i’ve long been on record as not being the biggest fan of beckerman, especially in his earlier years with the rapids. but he has grown into a formidable player. he has tremendous leadership. he is a significant defense presence. and he has honed his offensive skills to the point that i’m sure RSL counts on him producing a certain number of goals each year. my point here, though, is that if the u.s. national team at some point no longer sees pablo as a viable option when looking for a defensive midfielder, i think beckerman brings youth, energy, defense, piss and vinegar. it’s a lot of what pablo has to offer. i think beckerman has learned a great deal playing with and against players like pablo and clint mathis. although beckerman may be no. 10 on the depth chart now, i suggest he offers an intriguing mix of skills if bob bradley wants a defensive midfielder. other than pablo, that is.
But if he wasn’t a former Rapid you’d have the same opinion everybody else does — Beckerman isn’t even part of the discussion. Just saying.
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Our goal at ColoradoSoccerNow.com is to cover the sport in this state like no one else, from colleges to the Colorado Rapids, from the W-League to the U.S. men's and women's national teams.
About George: George Tanner fell in love with the Tampa Bay Rowdies and the North American Soccer League while living in the Tampa, Fla., area in the mid-1970s. He got his first taste of newspapering while following the Rowdies every day in the Tampa Tribune, and from there grew the seeds of a journalism career in which he has worked at the Colorado Springs Sun; the Daily Camera in Boulder; the Durango Herald; The Daily Independent in Ridgecrest, Calif.; the Greeley Tribune; and the Rocky Mountain News.
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