The US U-23 team started Olympic qualifying in frustrating fashion on Tuesday with a 1-1 draw against Cuba. Soccer blogger Ives Galarcep panned the 4-2-3-1 formation deployed by Coach Peter Nowak in the first half and then derided his decision to take New York Red Bulls striker Jozy Altidore off at the start of the second half. Altidore looked isolated in the opening 45 minutes, but Galarcep said this was primarily due to the system played by the U.S.
“I know Altidore didn’t have a great first half but he is head and shoulders above [Charlie Davies, Robbie Findley and Chad Barrett],” who he said looked “awful.” “It is scary to think what the U.S. team would do without Altidore for an entire tournament.” Galarcep added that the U.S. defense also looked “extremely vulnerable” against Cuba, which had five players reportedly go missing after the game.
In an interview with The New York Times, center midfielder Freddy Adu, by far the Americans’ best performer on Tuesday, reflected on the frustrating result: “You go into the game ready to play whether you’re an underdog or not,” Adu said. “We had a lot of chances. We were a bit unlucky, but we’ll go back to the drawing board and fix what we need to.” Coach Peter Nowak added: “We just needed to keep our game in shape and keep calm. We know we can play better and should play better,” He admitted that “everything is now open in [Group A].”