US/Japan friendly (Results included)

The final score really doesn't tell the whole story of what happened in this game. Zico's boys came out strong early in the first ten minutes, taking it to the host squad. The US came back and pressured the hell out of the back 3, starting with a Landon Donovan free kick that just missed. Taylor Twellman(the x-factor player in my preview) headed a nice set-up to Eddie Pope who kicked it past Jubilo's Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi. Twellman's New England teammate Clint Dempsey came back in the 39th minute to put another goal past Kawaguchi off a set up from Twellman and Kansas City's Josh Wolff. The score could have been much worse in the first half but Kawaguchi did a yeomans job in the nets to keep the score manageable, including stoning Twellman on a dangerous shot in the 29th minute.

Zico decided to scrap the 3-6-1 formation in the second half and at first it looked like it wouldn't matter with Taylor Twellman finally getting one for himself and putting the red white and blue up 3-0. The US team dominated most of the second half (at one point the corners were 13-1 in favor of the US) until JEF United FW Seichiro Maki put a nice goal past a painfully inept Los Angeles keeper Kevin Hartman. Akira Kaji of Gamba set up the play with a beautiful pass. The action went back and forth until injury time when Yokohama F Marinos and national team mainstay (and former Verdy player) Yuji Nakazawa went down to the ground to put a soft shot past the inexplicably frozen Hartman. Final score 3-2 United States over Japan in a game that really wasn't that close.

My 3 stars of the match:
Taylor Twellman, who had a hand in all 3 goals.
Kawaguchi, who was under a constant barrage all game but kept the score close.
Clint Dempsey, who had a nice goal and an awful celebration dance.......he was constantly pressing Japan until his removal.

Other thoughts:
The coaching was a bit baffling, especially the choice of keepers. Hartman isn't going to be on the World Cup team, he's old and he's not world quality anymore. He showed he was most effective when nobody was shooting near him at all and he couldn't clear to save his life. It would have been nice to see a younger guy like Brad Guzan or Zach Wells get a shot under live fire.......at least get someone in like Matt Reis who has a chance of being the third keeper . Keller has a lock on it and Hahneman will be number 2 or 3 (depending on Manchester United keeper Tim Howard and his mental condition). Zico on the other hand used Kawaguchi, who pretty much is a lock for the starting spot.........why not give Urawa's Tsuboi a chance to see if he really is up to playing on the world stage?

It was good to see the return of US striker and FC Dallas player Eddie Johnson and Yokohama FM forward Tatsuhiko Kubo return from injury and play in the game. Both were rising stars until injuries derailed them. Both were on torrential scoring paces with Kubo getting goals in 8 of the 12 national team appearances he made and Johnson scoring in all but one of his matches as a national teamer. Neither player had much impact on the game but it would be wonderful to see them both in action at full strength in the big dance.

Enjoyable game and the result saves me from being tormented by 14 year old Japanese boys who think they know everything.