US/Barbados running blog

US - Brad Guzan, Carlos Bocanegra, Pablo Oastroeni, Oguchi Onyewu, Steve Cherundolo, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Brian Ching, Michael Bradley, Heath Pearce, DaMarcus Beasley

Barbados, Alvin Rouse, Dyson James, Daryl Ferguson, Greg Belle, Paul Ifill, Jonathan Forte, Mark McCammon, Norman Forde, Jonathan Forte, Norman Forde, Jonathon Nurse, Rommelle Burgess

Landon gets honored for his 100th cap. Anthems. No one on Barbados sings along to their sweet, and gentle sounding anthem. Carlos and Pablo sing along to the U.S. one.
Kickoff!
1- GOAL! Boca holds the ball a bit, then moves forward into all the space that Barbados is giving him. Dempsey is putting his hand up, calling for the ball as he moves into the front line, and Carlos obligingly puts it over the top. The ball drops behind the defender, Alvin Rouse comes out, but Demps strikes a low shot behind him for the opening goal. 1-0 U.S. Demps has 10 for the US all time, by the way.
5- U.S. breakaway on the counter, Landon is out with the ball, passes off to Dempsey, who gets fouled. The FK is out for a corner. Beas takes it short, then gets it back and tries a chip shot that Rouse cleans up.
8 - Donovan is running things in the midfield.
10 - As the press box predicts a blowout, I'm reminded of the April 11, 2006 match versus Jamaica where the U.S. scored early and many predicted a blowout. Corner - LD takes, everybody misses, but then Ching gets a foot on the ball - wide.
Luis says, "Kenny Cooper would have had that."
11- Barbados corner. Gooch heads the ball away.
13 - GOAL! Cherundolo crosses in, where the trio of Ching, Dempsey and Bradley fight the Barbados defense to put the ball in. Rouse stops one attempt, but the rebound comes out to Bradley, who puts the ball away for his second U.S. goal and the second of the match. 2-0. U.S.
16 - I guess this match isn't going to turn out like the Jamaica one.
18 - Forde charges into Gooch while going for a high ball. Gooch takes offense and starts barking angrily at Forde. Both get yellows.
19 - Ching with a nice flick ahead in the box to Dempsey - who can't quite beat his defender to get to it. U.S. corner.
20 - GOAL! The corner is short, Landon lays the ball off for Pablo, who takes a crack at an outside shot. Perhaps unintentionally, Ching deflects the shot into the goal. 3-0 That's Brian's sixth goal for the U.S. (denying Pablo his first)
26 - Some of the players for Barbados just don't seem to want to work on defense. They camp out in a spot, expecting a ball to be sent their way.
27 - Pablo is coming out of the game, probably aggravated an injury. Adu replaces him.
28 - Adu nearly works a nice 1-2 with Beas, but the Barby defense breaks it up.
30 - Heath long pass to Chingy. Adu takes the corner. It's punched out by Rouse. Donovan gets the ball, settles it, then lays the ball off for Adu, who pops in a nice cross to Bradley in the box - the header is wide.
32 - Ilfill with some nice work beats Heath in the U.S. box, but the help is there. Ilfill still gets a shot off, but the defense deflects it and Guzan dives to catch the ball before it results in a corner.
36- Barby corner. Boco heads it out for a throw.
37 - Cherundolo with some good work up the wing earns a deep free kick. It's taken and the ball sent right across the goal, but no U.S. player can quite get there.
38 - Pablo has a strained left glute. His butt hurts, basically.
40 - Bradley cracks an outside shot - high. The crowd is generally subdued at this point, except for certain chants. "We're going to beat the blue-n-yellow team" to the tune of Yellow Submarine is one.
43 - Boca gets called for a weak foul. No one thinks much of the ball, but it gives Barbados a shot not far from the arc. The free kick gets taken into the wall, specifically, Adu takes a hard shot, but he's fine and trying to chase the ball.
45 - Forde with a shot, but Guzan snuffs it. Forde was offside anyway.
Halftime - The U.S. is on the way to an easy win. People who said I didn't put enough goals in the poll are probably right.
Outside on the HDC balcony, John Harkes was having a conversation with Benny Feilhaber on the concourse below - very Romeo and Juliet. Benny reported that his rehab is coming along fine. Sean Franklin was also down there, waiting for Benny to finish talking.
46 - Donovan is out on the wing now.
48 - Demps passes to Donovan, who lays the ball for Adu, who can't quite reach it. Demps should have passed to an open Ching - but perhaps he didn't look that way.
52 - LD to Adu, whose run gets cut off by a tackle.
55 - Bradley nice pass to Ching, but his shot bangs off Rouse's leg. Corner, taken by Adu - Rouse catches it.
56 - Adu in the box, lays back for Demps - who gets pushed off the ball by a defender.
57 - Ching to Bease in the box - shut down by defenders.
58 - Handball! Or it should have been. Ching to Demps in the box - Dempsey's shot goes off a defender, but no call.
59 - This one is a call. Adu couled near the top of the box. Bryan Neblet gets a yellow.
GOAL! Donovan takes it quickly before the Barbados defense really sets itself. He chips the ball deftly into the corner. 4-0 U.S. That's # 36 for Donovan all time.
63 - GOAL! Bradley passes to Ching in the box, who sends in a shot that rebounds off Rouse and falls well for Dempsey. He puts away the second opportunity. 5-0 U.S. Dempsey gets #11
66- LD cracks a volley attempt from a long Dempsey pass. Close, but over the bar.
70 - LD takes a corner - well. Right to Gooch's head, but Rouse makes a great stop to put it over the bar. next corner gets cleared.
73 - I guess Bob is making sure not to tire Clint - he's taken out of the match. Clint is tied with gooch and LD with 2 goals for the year and the USMNT lead.
Eddie Lewis nearly celebrates entering the game with a goal, but his header is blocked. Chingy tries to clean up and put the ball into net, but it gets waved off for offside.
77 - Heath gets taken down with a foul, setting up a U.S. freekick. LD serves it in, but its whistled for a goal kick as Rouse hits a wave of crashing U.S. players in the box.
80 - Yellow for Malcolm Marshall for a tackle on 'Dolo.
81 - LD comes out for EJ.
83 - GOAL! Pearce with a perfect dipping cross into the box for EJ, who puts away the header. 6-0 That's EJ's 12th alltime.
84 - GOAL! Chingy is credited with it, but that may not stand, because it looked like an own goal on the replay. Lewis had the cross. 7-0 U.S.
88 - GOAL! It's Dolo's turn to feed the Chingy beast. This one was definitely Brian's - a nice little redirect into the net. A record has been set. 8 goals is the largest U.S. margin of victory ever for the men's team. 8-0 U.S
Final whistle! The U.S. looked great, but then again, Barbados didn't really bunker much at all, which was surprising.