Following the old adage of 'getting 3 points at home, and no less than 1 point on the road', the US National team fought back from being down 2-0 on the road to CONCACAF rival El Salvador to manage a 2-2 draw and get back a vital point in World Cup qualifying.
As Paul Oberjuerge of the New York Times reported, the old math is apparently still in force: add 3 points for home victories to 1 point for road ties and gain a spot in the World Cup, eventually. El Salvador outplayed the United States for 70-plus minutes at Estadio Cuscatlán on Saturday night, surging to a two-goal lead before 30,500 roaring fans and dispelled the idea of the Americans counting on road victories to speed them through qualifying.
The United States rallied sharply in the final 15 minutes to salvage a 2-2 tie, happy for the 1 point that keeps it on pace to make the World Cup the usual way, one grinding match at a time.
“I think all the teams in Concacaf are getting better, and this is going to be a real battle this time around to qualify,” said Frankie Hejduk, the veteran defender who scored one goal and set up the other. “We’ve got to understand that, and I think we do.”
Winning on the road is always a challenge, and is even greater in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America, Caribbean) - Mexico and Central America has always been difficult for the United States; it is now 6-18-10 in World Cup qualifier road matches against the countries from Mexico south to Panama.
Where some will look at Saturday's match as dropped points by not winning, coming back from two goals down to get a valuable point keeps the US in the poll position for qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.
"In some ways we feel like we lost a couple points today," said US striker Landon Donovan. "At the end of the day, if we win our home games and tie on the road, then that’s plenty to get us through.”
No comments:
Post a Comment