Americans can’t handle England’s ‘junior varsity’
CHICAGO – Even a second-rate England squad was too much for the Americans to handle.
Kieran Richardson scored twice in his first appearance for England on Saturday, leading his short-handed nation to a 2-1 victory over the United States in the teams’ first meeting in more than a decade.
The loss was the Americans’ first on U.S. soil in more than two years. Clint Dempsey prevented it from being a shutout with his first career goal late in the second half.
“Down 2-0 at the half, they could have really embarrassed themselves. But they hung in there and showed pride,” U.S. coach Bruce Arena said. “I told our young players, these experiences, they’ve got to benefit from.”
They’re going to have to, because the next couple of games count. While England now flies to New Jersey for another exhibition against Colombia, the Americans have World Cup qualifiers against Costa Rica next Saturday and Panama on June 8.
The United States currently is 2-1 in its region.
“We played fairly well,” Landon Donovan said. “They finished chances. We didn’t. I had a couple of good chances. We need to get more chances. We have to make the plays.”
Aside from the Americans’ stunning 1-0 victory at the 1950 World Cup – still considered one of the sport’s greatest upsets – the English have pretty much run roughshod on their little cousins. They’ve won six of their eight meetings, and came into Saturday’s game with a 31-7 advantage of shots on goal.
And except for one group of fans behind the south goal who held up a large American flag and a banner reading “Yank Army Don’t Tread on Me,” Soldier Field looked more like an English ground. Banners featuring the English flag and various English teams – Everton, Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur, just to name a few – covered every spare inch of the walls ringing the field and the first row of seats.
But the English youngsters showed the Americans plenty.
When Eddie Pope fouled Andy Johnson in the fourth minute, Richardson took the free kick and made a beautiful curving shot that was just out of reach of diving U.S. goalkeeper Kasey Keller.
When the ball settled into the net for a 1-0 lead, Richardson was mobbed by the rest of the English team.
He wasn’t done, either. In the 44th minute, Pope whiffed as he tried to knock down the ball on a throw-in, and Joe Cole darted in to collect the ball.
He made a perfect pass to a wide-open Richardson and, without missing a stride, the rookie took a shot from about the penalty mark to give England a 2-0 lead.
The Americans finally scored in the 79th minute, when Donovan took a free kick and Carlos Bocanegra flicked it while sliding in front of the goal.