Altidore strike helps USMNT advance, despite many missed opportunities

Kansas City, KS - Following the first ever loss by a U.S. squad in opening round Gold Cup play, the U.S. Men needed at least a tie to move on to the 2011 Gold Cup Quarterfinals in Washington, D.C. Jozy Altiodore gave them that win with an unbelievable strike from distance about 10 minutes into the game.





The U.S. had a total of 19 shots, 9 of those shots on goal, but the Americans where unable to convert any of those attempts with exception of Jozy Altidores' (2 goals/3 games) amazing finish from distance which not only shocked the fans but apparently froze the Guadeloupe keeper, as he did not even attempt to react to the shot.

Leading the way with multiple misses was veteran national team player and Fulham midfielder Clint Dempsey. Dempsey had so many misses on what would normally be sure goals for the veteran that he could not help but smile following his final attempt from directly in front of the goal on a cross from Steve Cherundolo in the final minute of the match.

Head Coach Bob Bradley made a change to the U.S. line-up on top by replacing the young talented Juan Agudelo with the MLS leading goal scorer Chris Wondowloski.

Wondowloski worked hard but never seemed to get in sync with his teammates and had his own fare share of "can't miss" chances fail to find the back of the net. Bradley eventually took Wondowloski out in the secon half in favor of moving Dempsey up top.

With the poor performance that USMNT fans have grown all to familiar with it begs the question, will this team EVER become an elite international squad? The mentality just does not seem to be there to finish off far inferior opponents in tournament play. Even after going ahead early in the match, the U.S. went into prevent mode for the following 10 minutes.

Why not go after Guadeloupe with a strong attack and attempt to get a decisive second goal? On what looked to be the sure game clinching goal Clint Dempsey went into slow-mo and attempted to dribble across the goal line instead of finishing the shot, allowing the defender to come from behind and clear the ball. Would Dempsey have tried this move at Fulham? No way!

Having survived a lacluster first round the USMNT travels to RFK to face Jamaica on Sunday. Hopefully this team wakes up and decides to play more like the team that had asperiations to compete for a World Cup instead of a team expecting to coast through a regional tournament, anything other than a 2011 Gold Cup trophy would be a disaster both for U.S. Soccer as well as for Bob Bradley.

USMNT Gold Cup Stats and History

A Visual Guide to the importance of the Gold Cup

Follow VaSoccerNews live Quarterfinal Coverage From RFK. VaSoccerNews will be reporting live from RFK Stadium on Sunday, June 19th. You can follow the live blog right here on our site. Powered by CoveritLive.