USA World Cup qualifiers

USA 6-1 Cuba
Trinidad 2-1 USA

USA needed only one more win to qualify for the next level of World Cup qualification and they came out full throttle against the Cubans at RFK Stadium. Demarcus Beasley is a guy that occasionally shows great veteran leadership and other times he disappears completely in much-too-conservative play. Fortunately he was the former in this contest, finishing 2 sweet goals in the first half. Cuba did manage to get one back with a (lucky) toe-poke that clipped the underside of the crossbar. But the 2nd half was an American throttling.

Cuba is frankly not a very good squad. This does not bode well for the two players that defected during this trip in hopes of getting signed in the MLS. Hey, we take Cuban baseball players all the time, if these guys had 95MPH fastballs or 40-40 type skills, they'd have no problem catching on here. But sizzling mid-field play isn't exactly what Americans crave and political baggage isn't the kind of selling point the MLS is looking for. And, if the rest of the squad is any indication, these guys might not be good enough to play anyway. Yipes! Well, the upside is Janet Reno is long gone.

In the second match USA had the luxury of experimenting with lineups. I still don't understand why Freddy Adu and Jozey Altidore haven't been given the keys to the car yet. They are clearly the future and combining them with Donovan in the middle would make them the best bet for the present as well. Adu's diminutive size is a bit scary: he does get marked out of games but when he gets to the ball he's the best player on the field. And, frankly, Altidore is the finest finisher I've ever seen in an American uniform--no excuses for him to not be playing every minute of every game. I suspect by summer of '10, they'll both be firmly entrenched--I hope so anyway.

I didn't think Trinidad was any more talented than USA but they brought an intensity that USA couldn't match. And the refs blew two off-side calls foiling USA's best scoring chances, which didn't help. It was a disconcerting performance but USA didn't bring their A-team and it was an experimental opportunity so I'm willing to chalk this one up to the fact that Trinidad needed this one more than we did.