No one in the American soccer press was overly impressed by the red white and blue’s 1-0 Gold Cup opener against Guatemala on Thursday. If anything, the match was punctuated by physical play, encapsulated best by the unnecessary challenge made by Oguchi Onyewu on Guatemala’s Rodriguez that earned him a second yellow card and a sending off in the 75th minute.
There were, however, some bright spots, Grahame L. Jones of the L.A. Times points out. For one thing, the goal, scored by Fulham’s Clint Dempsey, was the result of a fine build-up between DaMarcus Beasley and Taylor Twellman, whose perfect low center found the onrushing Dempsey to slot home after 26 minutes. But it didn’t get much prettier after that, although both Beasley and Landon Donovan always looked capable of making things happen — even after Onyewu was sent off.
The U.S. opener may not have been much to shout about, but Coach Bob Bradley was pleased, nevertheless. “Any time you start a tournament like the Gold Cup, the expectation is that the first game is going to be difficult,” he said. “Guatemala is a well-organized team. We saw that when we played them in Dallas [0-0 game in March].”