US 4-1 Haiti
The Americans wanted to make a big splash with their first match and sure enough they did routing Haiti 4-1.
"The U.S. opened the scoring in the 26th minute when Andre Akpan redirected a long, looping cross from Anthony Wallace around Haiti goalkeeper Peterson Occenat and into the net. The scored doubled before halftime, as Akpan's point blank shot on a corner kick went off the post and trickled across the goal line as Occenat scrambled to try to stop it.
Four minutes after the half, Wallace and Akpan were involved again in a U.S. goal as left forward Robbie Rogers sent a cross that Akpan dummied and Wallace drove home. Rogers set up Akpan on the final goal with a back-post cross that Akpan finished inside the opposite post.
Haiti's lone goal came in the 74th minute when Etienne Yveson score a penalty that was awarded when Quavas Kirk pulled the shirt of the mark as he tried to get between the attacker and the goal."
The US is now in a prime position to take one of the top two spots in the group and earn a spot in the 2007 U-20 World Cup. It is good to know that even without Michael Bradley the team can dominate.
Next up for the US is Guatemala on Friday at 6:30pm ET.
"The U.S. opened the scoring in the 26th minute when Andre Akpan redirected a long, looping cross from Anthony Wallace around Haiti goalkeeper Peterson Occenat and into the net. The scored doubled before halftime, as Akpan's point blank shot on a corner kick went off the post and trickled across the goal line as Occenat scrambled to try to stop it.
Four minutes after the half, Wallace and Akpan were involved again in a U.S. goal as left forward Robbie Rogers sent a cross that Akpan dummied and Wallace drove home. Rogers set up Akpan on the final goal with a back-post cross that Akpan finished inside the opposite post.
Haiti's lone goal came in the 74th minute when Etienne Yveson score a penalty that was awarded when Quavas Kirk pulled the shirt of the mark as he tried to get between the attacker and the goal."
The US is now in a prime position to take one of the top two spots in the group and earn a spot in the 2007 U-20 World Cup. It is good to know that even without Michael Bradley the team can dominate.
Next up for the US is Guatemala on Friday at 6:30pm ET.
Labels: US MNT
posted by Mike H at 11:10 PM
2 Comments:
As an FC Dallas fan, I love reading about Anthony Wallace wreaking havoc on the Haitian side.
"GREAT WIN FOR THE U.S. MEN NATIONAL TEAM. NOW IF WE COULD ONLY HAVE MORE COLLURFUL EXCITEMENT IN THE BOOTH!"
Talk about taking the air out of the game. Over analyzing, boring play by play and lame sarcastic comments is all that comes out of the ESPN2 booth at yesterdays U.S. MNT vs. Denmark match. It’s a wonder why soccer doesn't take off when the voice of it takes on the form of a former coach and a has-been footballer who combine make for a lame professor and pupil session. It's not that they don't know their soccer trivia nor lack knowledge of the games tactics but it's just that, they know too much and become a heavy academic load on the game without excitement. They spend 45 minutes explaining all the tactical mistakes and small details to the point that most folks don't care to know and toon away. And when the moment of climax arrives in a score, all we get is a softhearted lame announcement of "goal." Or haw about my personal favorite, "it's in the net." Give me a break! You ESPN2 guys need to take a page out of the rest worlds sports announcers and make it entertaining for a change.
The most successful pro games in the U.S. have the most colorful linguistics czars to ever announce a game. The Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vince Scully can take a game as slow as a 3 hour game of baseball and whip it into the most colorful experience a fan can have. Let’s not forget the beloved Los Angeles Lakers Chick Hern and his "Chickizms". You remember, "The mustard fell out of the hotdog. He put him in the popcorn machine. And my favorite, "SLAMM DUNK!!!" Yes that's what I'm talking about, “Excitement!”
If the folks at ESPN2 want to take a more clinical approach to it they can hire a sports psychologist to run a simple test on the effects of lame boring announcers with all the insight on the game as opposed to a colorful play-by-play czar. I wonder who would win my vote. I think my 6 year old answered that question just yesterday when she said, "Daddy push the yellow button on the remote and change it to Spanish; I would rather listen to soccer in Spanish rather than in English because English is boring." She doesn't speak Spanish, but when her attention span speaks it yells out, "Goooooaaalllll!!!!"
I think in psychology it's called a positive reinforcment/ possitive reaction.
Sports Psychology Consultants Inc.,
Pasadena California
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