Late Donovan show sees US through
Posted: Jun 23 2010
The United States qualifed for the knockout stages of the World Cup in the most dramatic circumstances, defeating Algeria 1-0 at Loftus Versfeld.
There were plenty of chances throughout and both sides hit the woodwork, but it seemed that neither side would find a crucial winner. But deep into injury-time, Landon Donovan popped up to score a goal which sees them through as group winners.
Algeria were straight onto the front foot against the Americans. Straight from kick-off a long ball forward picked out Rafik Djebbour, whose knockdown found Karim Matmour, but the striker volleyed spectacularly over.
Djebbour had the best of the early chances, pouncing on another long ball forward that was hopelessly missed by Jay DeMerit. With time at the edge of the edge of the box, the AEK Athens man chested the ball down but volleyed against the bar.
With 20 minutes played, finally the USA created a clear chance. A strong break down the centre of the field from Michael Bradley was strongly arrested by a fine challenge, but the ball broke kindly to Gomez, whose initially shot was blocked by M’Bolhi. The rebound fell kindly for the striker, whose shot-come-cross was tapped home by Clint Dempsey, whose effort was wrongly disallowed for offside.
Ten minutes before the interval, the USA would create another wonderful chance. Landon Donavan had flashed in and out of the game in the early stages but released a terrific pass to Bradley. The midfielder’s first touch was excellent, but Madjid Bougherra’s presence was enough to take some of the string from the shot, which was saved.
Moments later Jose Altidore had one of the misses of the World Cup. Another strong run from Bradley allowed him to pick out Donavan, who eliminated the goalkeeper with a little dink. From no more than six yards, the Villarreal forward lashed over the top with only a couple of defenders to beat on the line.
In the second half, the US nearly struck the opening goal totally against the run of play. Altidore’s pace carried him clear of Bougherra down the left, allowing the attacker to pick out Dempsey on the edge of the area. With time to spare, the midfielder took aim, but shot against the inside of the post and then sliced the rebound wide of an open goal from a tight angle.
The US were still doing much of the pressing, but their star men were being kept quiet. Bradley stuck a free-kick sweetly, but it was straight at M’Bolhi, who punched clear. A similar chance was smacked wildly over by Dempsey and Buddle wasted an opportunity when played in behind the Algerian defence by a long punt.
A goal seemed that it wasn’t arriving, but as play became broken in stoppage time, the US countered at an exposed Algerian defence down the right. Though an initial shot was blocked by the keeper, but Donovan followed up to smash low into the net.
Antar Yahia was sent-off in the closing seconds for picking up a second yellow card.
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: 2010-06-23 18:52
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