On a quiet night in Nashville, Tennessee the US walked over a Cuba side that watched the Yanks possess and then finish time after time. The Yanks won the match to the sweet smell of a 6-0 victory but even that hefty scoreline does not tell the complete story.
Here are some high level notes to take-away from the game if you weren’t able to find Mun2 in the depths of your cable box or stream the game from CONCACAF’s website who’s announcer stated that Brek Shea plays for DC United and that Freddy Adu is still part of the U-20 team.
– Cuba sat deep behind the ball for the entire match. I mean they didn’t even try to make a tackle in the midfield. They just watched Diskerud, Adu, and Corona pass the ball around with absolutely no pressure and this lasted the full 90 minutes.
– Things got real ugly for Cuba when their #4 (Macias) earned a straight red for elbowing Agudelo in the face. Agudelo immediately fell down to the pitch, but upon replay it was tough to conclude if the elbow was intended to strike the American but nevertheless Cuba played with 10-men for 70 minutes as a result!
– Joe Corona had a hat-trick and was named man of the match! After a first half brace which saw him deliver two quality finishes, Corona capped off the night with a 3rd in the 88th.
– If Corona was the BEER delivery-man on the night, Diskerud had to be the supplier. Mix was all over the pitch and assisted on Corona’s 2nd and 3rd goals, playing the role of magician and pastor all at once with his clever moves and calming presence. It was a real promising performance overall from Mix.
– Brek Shea was a beast down both flanks, particularly on the left, assisting on Agudelo’s header goal (2nd for the US) and creating the Yanks 4th, which ended up being an own goal after the Cuban defender did some sort of weird dance move and had the ball hit his back leg and go into the net. Agudelo was furious by the way that he wasn’t able to poke his foot out for the finish.
– Adu had the goal of the night taking one touch to settle the ball and then rocketing it into the top right corner of the net. It was a classic Adu skillful, blow you off your seat finish and it was clear he was gunning for it all night against a pitiful 10-man Cuba squad. Adu had a masterful game with nobody pressuring him but the question remains when the kitchen gets hot and a real, big-time game stares him in the face, will he deliver?
US Starting Lineup:
Hamid; Sarkodie, Opara, Kitchen, Valentin; Jeffrey, Diskerud, Corona; Adu (c), Agudelo, Shea
Subs: Bunbury in for Agudelo (47’), Gyau in for Shea (57’), and Okugo in for Jeffrey (63’)
How deep is this team???
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