Clint Dempsey shines for U.S. team without Donovan

Clint Dempsey scores the U.S.' lone goal
Photo courtesy of AP

It was a day of firsts for the U.S. Men’s National Team Wednesday.  In descending order the USMNT defeated Italy for the first time ever, wore a spanking new away jersey, and Terrence Boyd made his first international start.  The match, held in Genoa, Italy, was a close one with the Italians pressing in a 1-0 defeat.  The man they call ‘Deuce’, Clint Dempsey, scored his 25^th goal internationally to lead the yanks to victory.  It was a difficult win for the U.S. team, with the back line threatened early and often.  Andrea Pirlo played excellent balls over the top, but the Italians couldn’t thwart Tim Howard or the linesmen.  The U.S. team is off until the end of May when they will play Scotland, Brazil, and Canada before starting World Cup qualifying in June.  Without Landon Donovan, Oguchi Onweyu, and Timmy Chandler, American fans should draw mostly positives looking ahead at those matches.

            The first thing, which wasn’t learned today but proven correct yet again: Clint Dempsey is an elite player.  Dempsey has created a friendly competition with Landon Donovan for the best player on the U.S. team.  Both players one-upped each other over and over again while Donovan was on loan for Everton.  The two stars have not played together under Jurgen Klinsmann yet and it will be very interesting to see what type of play they will be able to produce together.  Dempsey’s goal would not have been possible without the excellent touch from Jozy Altidore.  Altidore did a wonderful job bringing the ball down and laying it off for Dempsey to put away.  Throughout the game, Altidore gave the ball away too often, but was able to make good use of his body, particularly in the second half.  Although inconsistent, Altidore showed more good than bad and should give fans hope that he can play up top for years to come.

Michael Bradley persevers
Photo courtesy of AP

            Moving backwards from up top Michael Bradley and Maurice Edu both had strong showings in the center, specifically Bradley.  After moving to Italy this past year, Bradley has won over many Italians, and more importantly, Jurgen Klinsmann.  After the match Klinsmann said of Bradley, “He had an outstanding game… He made a huge step forward coming here to Italy”.  Bradley was terrific in spoiling Italian runs before they were able to penetrate the U.S. back line.  This was especially important today when the defenders were not at full strength due to injuries and were often out of sync.

            Fabian Johnson and Tim Howard also played well and made up for many of their teammates' mistakes.  The back line was often caught off guard by the likes of Pirlo and Sebastion Giovinco.  There were a few close off-sides calls that went against the Italians and could have led to good chances.  Italy easily could have come away with a victory today and have Americans debating whether we will ever be able to get over “the hump”.  But, we won, and now it is time to enjoy our first victory over the perennial European contender in Italy.  Although we play Scotland May 26^th, everyone has their eye on the May 30^th matchup with Brazil at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.  Hopefully Dempsey and Donovan will both be on the field to get a little revenge after the heartbreaking Confederations' Cup final.