By Ridge Mahoney
Soccer America Magazine Senior Editor
in Foxboro, Mass.
Ugly it was, but sometimes ugly wins.
Through little fault of its own, the U.S. labored to infuse any flow to its play as it lurched past El Salvador, 2-0, at Gillette Stadium Saturday. A roughshod, chippy Salvadoran team resorted to fouling and playacting to drain life out of the U.S. attack, taking every opportunity to stretch out stoppages.
Goals by Brian Ching and Landon Donovan were barely sufficient reward for sporadic yet thorough U.S. dominance. El Salvador's grand total of one shot (to 19 for the U.S.) neatly sums up the Central American nation's woeful failures when inventiveness or creativity were required.
Yet the Salvadorans, when they weren't rolling around on the ground or piling into the net during a melee resulting from their goalkeeper Santos Rivera putting his foot in the face of a fallen DaMarcus Beasley or bitterly protesting — with justification — the sending-off of Denis Alas for wearing a necklace, were stubborn foes.
Only four saves were required from Rivera, whose boot into Beasley sparked only the second stormiest controversy of the match. That honor went to referee Neal Brizan's decision to send off Alas in the 26th minute for wearing jewelry, after he'd been cautioned for a more conventional offense — a late tackle on Bobby Convey — 18 minutes earlier.
(The day before the game, representatives of both teams had been handed a three-page document outlining strict enforcement of recent FIFA decrees prohibiting players from wearing jewelry during the match. Brizan's decision received nearly universal derision from all concerned and he was apparently unaware Alas had been wearing the necklace until alerted by the fourth official, who'd been tipped off by players on the U.S. bench.)
The Salvadorans' disruptive tactics unhinged the efforts of Claudio Reyna and Donovan to establish tempo, but they were so anemic offensively they rarely built an attack and their few attempts to counter were stamped out.
U.S. coach Bruce Arena instructed outside backs Convey and Steve Cherundolo to push forward in the belief the Salvadoran's lack of wide play would offer considerable time and space.
Cherundolo set up Donovan for the second U.S. goal with a ball up the right wing. Donovan dribbled laterally across the goalmouth and bent the ball around a pair of defenders into the lower corner. Cobi Jones replaced Cherundolo right after the goal and played the 20 minutes at right back.
Convey had plenty of space in the first half and set up Ching for his goal in the fifth minute after Ching, more than 30 yards from goal, played a short ball Convey teed up and measured while Ching pushed forward. When the cross came, Ching escaped Salvadoran captain Victor Velasquez to head the ball in off the post.
Central defenders Cory Gibbs and Carlos Bocanegra won their duels and keeper Tim Howard had little to do aside from the rare cross and a sliding scoop of a ball Bocanegra let run as Edwin Gonzalez barreled into the penalty area.
Kerry Zavagnin hit a few balls out of the play with teammates wide open, but in general did a decent job of connecting through the center of midfield as Reyna's partner and even got forth himself on a few occasions, twice firing shots wide from distance.
Conor Casey and Ching, paired up front, won a lot of balls in the air and also linked up with Donovan, playing on the right side of midfield, when the U.S. garnered enough touches to string something together. Brizan cautioned Casey for diving after defender Erick Prado had twice pulled Casey's jersey as the U.S. forward bulled past him.
Arena made seven changes from the starting 11 against Jamaica, and more moves are likely for game against Panama (a surprise 2-1 winner over Jamaica in Kingston) Wednesday night in Panama City.
The depth he has infused into the team for the past two seasons is bearing fruit, as Frankie Hejduk, Greg Vanney, Brian McBride (who replaced Casey in the second half), Eddie Lewis and Kasey Keller could all be recalled, as could Eddie Pope, who was a late scratch because of a minor injury but is expected to be available Wednesday. Arena released Eddie Gaven and Jonny Walker (MetroStars) and Eddie Johnson (Dallas) to play for their MLS teams Saturday night.