By: Mike Wagenman
For the United States Men's Soccer Team, the key to their early success in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup has been resilience. Their 2-0 win over Jamaica on Sunday advocated that. In the group stage, after suffering a baffling defeat to Panama, the US squad needed a win over Guadeloupe to advance to the elimination round. The resilient bunch rallied together, through a number of missed opportunities and scoring chances, to squeeze out a 1-0 win. The United States then drew Jamaica in the first game of the elimination round, a team who collected all nine points in group play and had yet to surrender a goal.
Just hours before kickoff against the Jamaican National Team, Landon Donovan pulled himself from the starting lineup, citing travel fatigue as one of his reasons for being unfit. The United States would have to show resilience and muscle out a win without their star midfielder. Then, just 12 minutes into the match, top striker Jozy Altidore went down with a hamstring injury trying to run down a long ball. Resilience would have to come in the form of 18-year old striker Juan Agudelo.
In the biggest game of his life, Agudelo made some dazzling, awe-inspiring moves and cuts around Jamaican defenders, leaving many in his wake. He provided much needed energy for a United States side that had been a bit lethargic so far in the tournament.
The first half on Sunday was riddled with missed opportunities from the United States. Jermaine Jones failed to connect on a rebound shot on the slide, Kljestan could not convert on an open shot, and countless corners were safely cleared by the Jamaican side. The United States were one incredible Howard save and one Jamaican rebound put high over the crossbar from trailing 1-0 going into the half.
But, the resilient US team came out firing in the second half, as Jermaine Jones hit a rocket off a redirection from a corner into the back left of the net. A second half red card on Jamaica left open space for Landon Donovan (who came on in the 65th minute to a roar from the USA fans), Juan Agudelo, and Clint Dempsey to maneuver as Agudelo eventually layed a beautiful cross from the right side directly onto Dempsey's foot for an easy, open net goal. This open net, unlike the one against Guadeloupe, was not missed by Dempsey.
All in all, every United States player had a great game on Sunday. The unsung hero, Tim Howard, recorded save after save on some difficult shots, and did many things, such as preventing corners, that will not show up in the stat sheet. The US will face either El Salvador or Panama on Wednesday in the next round of the Gold Cup. The growing support of this team has been evident throughout the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 Gold Cup, and hopefully for the United States team, they can ride the support to a title.
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