Soccerstoriesbook's Blog

Brazil, led by playmaker Neymar, defeated the U.S., 4-1, in a friendly before a crowd of 67,619 at FedEx Field in Landover, MD, in the second-to-last tune-up before the Americans open qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.

The 20-year-old Neymar converted a penalty kick to open the scoring and set up two other goals as the Brazilians improved to 16-1-0 against the   U.S., which was coming off a 5-1 rout of Scotland four days earlier in Jacksonville.  Neymar’s Santos teammate, goalkeeper Rafael, made three spectacular saves to frustrate the Americans.

Despite some bright spots–including the play of forward Herculez Gomez, who scored the lone American goal just before halftime to cut Brazil’s lead to 2-1–U.S. coach Juergen Klinsmann was upset not only with the officiating of Costa Rican referee Jeffrey Calderon but the overall play of his side.

“I think we need to get an edge–more nastier,” he said after the match.  ”Maybe we’re a little bit too naive.  Maybe we don’t want to hurt people.  But that’s what you’ve got to do.  You’ve got to do that at the end of the day.  We’ve got to step on their toes more and get them more frustrated and make a case with the referee maybe that’s wrong for us, not only the opponents.  There was a clear penalty on Herculez Gomez in the second half not given.  But it is what it is.”

Klinsmann also took exception with the penalty kick, awarded in the 12th minute for a handball in the box by defender Oguchi Onyewu, and Brazil’s fourth goal, scored in the 87th by Pato, whom the U.S. believed was offside.

Comment I:  Klinsmann was criticized in some quarters for his “nasty” remarks.  The U.S. wins clean, y’know, or it doesn’t win at all.

Probably a poor choice of words despite his command of the English language.  Most American coaches probably would have put it this way:  The U.S., for most of the first half, showed Brazil far too much respect and deserved to be down by two goals after 26 minutes.

(Obviously, one player he need not convert is midfielder Jermaine Jones, who could be described as a latter-day Chris Armas with real judgement/anger management issues.  His tackle from behind on Neymar–in front of the Brazil bench–was the latest addition to a long list of nasty incidents.)

Comment II:  After five years of faithfully giving us the Bob Bradley Bunker, the U.S., under Klinsmann, is attempting to become an attacking, risk-taking side.  It’s a work in progress, but some of the pieces don’t fit any longer.  Center backs Onyewu and captain Carlos Bocanegra, who was honored before the game for earning his 100th cap, now find themselves without a host of friendly midfielders directly in front of them when they retreat to the top of their own penalty area.  Klinsmann’s challenge in the coming months is to identify those fast, skillful players–converted midfielders, if need be–who may lack in defensive instincts but make up for it in smoothly getting the ball out of the back.

Comment III:  The early handball call against Onyewu that left the U.S. swimming upstream was correct.

There was a question of whether Onyewu was fully in the penalty area when he handled Leandro Damiao’s shot.  He was.

There was a question of whether the ball played Onyewu or Onyewu played the ball.  The shot struck the U.S. defender in the left arm, but he twisted in such a fashion–his right arm reaching across his body–that it appeared that he could have caught the ball instead of just knocking it down.

Referee Calderon got it right.