USMNT v. Honduras, Game Thread

Submitted by Needs on

Game starting at 4, from Honduras, where it's 90. 

Biggest surprise is the US starting Omar Gonzalez and Geoff Cameron in central defense, inexperienced defender in a Central American qualifier may lead to some interesting calls.

Needs

February 6th, 2013 at 5:31 PM ^

Man, Chandler just worked by Costly. Backheel nutmeg.

And now the centerbacks give up a free header followed by a shot from 20' just wide. The US will be lucky to get out of here with a draw. Under siege.

swan flu

February 6th, 2013 at 5:47 PM ^

Cue the cramp-stoppages.

This is by no means a death knell for the US team. 9 more games, top 4 teams stay alive. Just have to win 4 of our 5 at home and get 4 or 5 points on the road.

smwilliams

February 6th, 2013 at 6:30 PM ^

Last time out 16 pts was the cutoff which means if they get 13 at home (4 wins and a draw) they'd have to get a win in Panama and a draw in Jamaica.



Certainly doable but this loss left them little margin for error. Two home draws or a home loss and a draw means they'd have to win at Azteca or in Costa Rica. Which probably ain't happening. Basically, they have to win (with no draws) every home date to feel 100% safe.

Needs

February 6th, 2013 at 6:43 PM ^

Costa Rica's worse than usual this cycle while Honduras is better. This isnt reason to worry excessively. And that game will hopefully be an outlier, with the long grass and the humidity. It did show the difficulties of qualifying in CONCACAF, particularly with a team playing predominantly in Europe.

smwilliams

February 6th, 2013 at 7:04 PM ^

I'm not excessively worried, but I think not being concerned is blind optimism. The 2-1 final didn't capture the lack of possession and the lack of communication in the back four.

In the 2010 cycle, they went 4-1-0 at home (draw at Costa Rica) and 2-1-2 on the road (draw at El Salvador, losses at Mexico and Costa Rica, wins at T&T and Honduras).

But, let's take Mexico as an example. They finished 1 point behind with 19 overall. They swept their home dates and went 1-1-3 on the road (win at Costa Rica, draw at T&T, losses at Honduras, El Salvador, and the U.S.)

Basically, the best chance for the U.S. to qualify safely is to win every home match (15 pts in total), win at Panama (3 pts), and pick up a draw in either Jamaica or Costa Rica or both.

A draw at home means they'd have to win in either Jamaica or Costa Rica. Again, doable, but it's not out of the realm of possibility that they lose both matches, either.

Yinka Double Dare

February 7th, 2013 at 10:07 AM ^

Well, the Reggae Boyz did everyone a big favor by drawing with Mexico in Mexico City.  Costa Rica got a nice point @Panama.  We're in dead last for the moment, but the other two games ending in draws is not a bad thing for us.  Also an indicator that the entire group is better than it usually is, which I think we already knew, but still.  In the past you would never see one of the teams figured most likely to miss the World Cup take a point off Mexico in Mexico.