Gyasi Zardes didn’t wait long to make an impact for the United States in its Gold Cup match against Haiti on Friday night.
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Still, other than Dempsey’s game winning contribution, there was little to show for the US team, who made several advances near the goal late in the first half, but failed nearly every time to truly get a strong force behind kicks. Greg Garza played the ball to Zardes on the left side of the box and as pressure closed in on the LA Galaxy forward he found Dempsey, who buried his third goal of the Gold Cup in the 47th minute.
The Americans clinched first place in Gold Cup Group A with a 1-0 win against Haiti that was tougher than expected but still a valuable experience. “I’m still eager to go out there and do my best and hopefully in the next couple of games I’ll get some goals”. “And sure enough, as the ball went across the box, Clint with a handsome finish, man”.
For the second straight match, an underdog pushed the US national team.
“He’s still in the process of getting his fitness and becoming 100 percent Jozy Altidore”, US manager Jurgen Klinsmann said.
“I felt OK, but still my sharpness just isn’t there yet”, Altidore said.
Make a difference he did, as the goal set the tone for the rest of the second half for the US. Haiti outshot the U.S, 6-3, in the first 45 minutes.
“They really kind of raided us on many occasions”, said Klinsmann. Haiti played as advertised, by digging in and looking for sudden counters, while the U.S. could not find any sort of rhythm to try and pass through them. They’re in very good shape. “And that’s what they did”.
And the first chance, when it came, was to Haiti.
The Hondurans came close to equalizing in the 66th minute, Eddy Hernandez was ruled offside after heading in the rebound of a shot off the crossbar by Mario Martinez following a free kick played short.
“What we were lacking was width in the first half”, Klinsmann said. He couldn’t have asked for a better gift than the one provided by Zardes and Dempsey. “And from there on, it looked much, much better”. Zardes started against Honduras on Tuesday.
Luis Carlos Tejada scored in the 21st minute for Panama, knocking the ball in with his chest from six yards out after a cross deflected off Honduras goalkeeper Donis Escober.
For the second time in three matches, Graham Zusi earned a start and did little with it. You can’t deny that he hustles, but effectiveness has been elusive for him for a troubling number of matches.
“He has a curious personality, he wants to constantly learn”. On the sideline Klinsmann looked incensed by the decision, and replays showed he had a point, though maybe he was just as raging at the general sloppiness from his own team thus far, and despite an increase in passing tempo from his team in the remainder of the half, there wasn’t a lot more to encourage him in that period.
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Zardes said though he was timid when he joined the squad, he’s finding confidence.
