Mike Woitalla of Soccer America recaps the US 2-0 loss to Brazil at Giants Stadium last night.
The Americans may not have played polished soccer during the World Cup and they conceded early goals in three of their four games. But they never gave up. They battled until the end and scored late goals. They shook off controversial referee decisions. They got non-soccer fans excited about the sport.
When they reunited for their first game since South Africa to play Brazil in front of 77,223 fans, one would have hoped for a little bit of an encore.
It started with promise. The Americans came out fast. In the third minute, Maurice Edu found Edson Buddle, who precisely passed to Landon Donovan as he stormed into the penalty area. Thiago Silva bumped Donovan off balance and Andres Santos poked the ball to safety.
Exciting stuff so early in the game.
Perhaps Coach Bob Bradley, whose contract runs out in December, had motivated his players well and they’d prove he should stay on.
But Brazil found its rhythm, gained momentum, and the Americans seemed resigned to letting the visitors control the game.
“I felt we had a good first 20-25 minutes,” said Bradley. “Early on, the ball was moving quickly and we had good energy. The fact that we were not able to sustain that certainly is more of an indication of where the players are at this point in the year in terms of preseasons and things like that.”
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