Morning Afterthoughts - Olympic Running Diary

It's been a while since I've done a running diary. And since there's no Crew game this week, I figured I'd do one for the US - Japan match. I decided not to post until at least a day after the game, so everyone could watch without me givign away results. Enjoy!

Pregame:

Welcome to Tianjin, for the first match of the 2008 Olympics! The US men are starting three players named Michael (Parkhurst, Bradley, and Orozco), while the Japanese are starting two players with the last name "Honda". I bet they have good motors.

Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!! Does the fun ever start?


First Half:

1:46 - Apparently my shiny new Silverlight plugin does not allow me to hear the announcers commentary that went along with this game. Since it was Marcelo "Facts? Logic? What are those?" Balboa on the call, I think I'll be just fine listening only to the game sounds.


2:35 - One of the Michaels (Orozco) fouls one of the Hondas. I might type this more than once...

6:30 - Robbie Rogers tears up the left sideline for the US, and nearly draws a foul on the edge of the box. Lots of oohs and aaaahs from the pro-American crowd on that one.

8:37 - Freddy Adu attempts a backheel pass, and it fails miserably. Are we allowed to take the kid gloves off on him yet?

9:02 - Dangerous chance up the left side for Nippon, but Brad "Money Man" Guzan is up to the task and snuffs out the play before a shot is attempted.

Japan is getting better chances here, but the US is overall controlling the midfield.

10:51 - Robbie Rogers corrals the loose ball, than makes two defenders fall out of their jockstraps trying to stop him. He gets free on the edge of the box, passes to Maurice Edu, who wastes his chance. Good stuff from Robbie though...

14:03 - Another Michael (Bradley) launches a shot from 20 yards that the keeper handles with little problem. But it was a cannon ball of a shot. If he doesn't hit that right to the keeper it's a goal.

15:26 - After earning a free kick at midfield, Freddy Adu stands over the ball for 23 seconds until he decides where to kick it. Naturally, he kicks it into a gaggle of jerseys, and it's knocked out of bounds by the US.

Out of curiosity, anyone else out there think Adu is just trying to be too perfect? Instead of taking what the game gives him, he's looking for the perfect pass, the perfect opportunity, the perfect buildup. If he just pushed as hard as he could for 90 minutes, I think it would work better for him.

19:24 - Orozco gets stuck in pretty well here, and doesn't give an inch, though he concedes the corner. Nice bit if defending from him, however.

20:35 - Wow that was nice football by Japan. Off the corner, they play a little give and go, and get enough space to cross in front of and past a diving Guzan, leaving Masato Morshige with the ball at his feet at the near post with no one between him and 1-0. Unfortunately for him, he somehow tucks the ball outside of the near post, and blows his open chance.

That was great soccer by Japan all the way to the finish. If Morshige had just stood there, the ball had a better chance of bouncing off of him and rolling in that what he did with it.

21:57 - Well THAT was interesting. Rogers has the ball at midfield on the left sideline. Freddy Adu makes a diaganol run towards the left sideline from midfield. Rogers plays the ball with his right boot, thus causing it to tail away from Adu and out of bounds. Immediately, Adu screams back to Rogers "Robbie, Robbie...the inside of your LEFT foot!" (I can hear this because there is no match commentary audio, just the field mics.)

And you know what? Adu is right. Robbie could have and should have played that with his left. Good job by Freddy for being a bit of a coach there, whether his age warrants it or not.

23:45 - The US is pressing here, but they end up bunching up and giving away a foul to Japan. Not very pretty, boys...

27:55 - Another dangerous cross for Japan, but no one was on the end of it. Scary stuff, though.

32:14 - Robbie Rogers breaks another pair of cankles on the left side, and sends in a beautiful, near-post ball that absolutely no one gets on the end of. Dammit, McBride, where the hell are you?

Oh, you were camped out on the FAR post. My bad, OG.

32:38 - Freddy Adu gets a nice pass from Stuart Holden just outside the 18, flips it up on his knee, then nearly gets a highlight-reel goal, as he volleys it JUST over the bar. Keen stuff from him on that play.

33:17 - By the by, the Japanese keeper's kit is roughly the color of the bibs roadcrew workers have to wear. If his kit could talk, it would be shouting at us.

39:31 - After a Freddy Adu foul, Japan plays a quick restart, and Atsuto Uchida gets behind the US defense. His cross to Hiroyuki Taniguchi is thwarted by Marvel Wynne, who was the one who sent the nice ball up the field to spring Adu just a few seconds before.

Also, the name "Marvel" has only boldened my stance that the first child I have will be named "Top Cow".

40:38 - Good God...

On the ensuing corner kick, the ball bounces to Adu, who attempts to clear. His clearance is stopped by a Japanese defender, who gets the ball to Uchida, who once again finds Taniguchi alone in the box. His header, though, once again does not find the net. And though I can't see the flag from the camera angle, the replay clearly shows two of the Nippon offside. Whew...

Extra time - Strange way to end the half. Japan earned a corner kick, and as they were aligning themseves, the ref blew the whistle before the corner could be taken. Usually you see them let the play happen and then call time. Ah well.

Halftime 0-0

2nd Half:

46:29 Marvel Wynne does his best Frankie Hejduk impresonation, and blazes up the right hand side, sending in a cross that's deflected out to an unmarked Stuart Holden at the top of the box. Holden fires at keeper Shisaku Nishikawa, who can't handle the shot, and it scoots in for a

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!

It was poor play by the keeper, but we'll take it. 1-0 US.


50:48 - After losing possession in the midfield, Freddy Adu takes a stab at one of the Japanese players' ankles, resulting in a booking. We can again hear Adu, and he says "One foul? You're gonna book me after one foul?" Well, Fred, there was more than one...

63:55 - Japan nearly levels, as Yuto Nagatomo crosses into the box, Keisuke Honda just misses getting any part of his face on the ball. Man, the US is trating Brad Guzan like a piece of wet laundry out there.


65:50 - Freddy Adu carries the ball across the corner of the 18 yard box, and is shoved with two hands from behind. Even though it's in the box, there's no call. Unbelieveable...

72:51 - Honda just received a yellow for Japan for a hard and late tackle on Robbie Rogers. Robbie is grabbing the ankle, I'm hyper-ventilating. Fortunately, he hops up and seems to be OK.

Also, Japan just subbed in a player named Toyoda. So on the field, we've got two Hondas and a Toyota. We're an Ichiro Suzuki away from having my uncle's garage.

73:34 - Novak decides to sub out McBride, who's done nothing all game, for Jozy Altidore. Also, apparently the number "1" on the front of McBride's jersey got ripped off, because he looks like number 7 from the front, even though the back of his jersey says 17. Wonder if the jerseys were made in China?

76:35 - Takuya Honda is booked for fouling Altidore on a breakaway up the sideline. Upon further review via replay, it looks like Honda was boooked for grabbing Altidore's junk and pulling like he's trying to start a lawn mower.

80:24 - Shaking off the foul, Altidore creates a good chance, getting in on the keeper, but at a very poor angle. I know McBride is on the team, but why are we not starting Altidore?

82:10 - Stuart Holden gets a nice ovation for his efforts and goal as he is taken off for Benny Feilhaber. Good move by Novak to add Feilhaber here.

86:12 - There's a little karmic Zen weirdness for ya. Robbie Rogers gets subbed out for none other than former Crew mate Danny Szetela. Robbie took some knocks, hopefully he's OK. He too got a standing ovation when he left.

Out of curiosity, are we always going to have to call these guys by their cutesy nicknames? When will they be men? Daniel Szetela? Bob Rogers? How about Benjamin Feilhaber, or Fred Adu? The only one show should get to do the ending sounding like "y" thing is "Stewie" Holden, and that's just for the Family Guy reference.

88:48 - Brad Guzan gets a yellow for wasting time. Not so hot if he gets another one of those...

And that's it!!! Final: U.S. 1, Japan 0. MOTM is probably Holden or Rogers. Not pretty, but this was a game the US needed if it wants to advance.

With Nigeria and the Dutch playing to a tie, it's going to be an interesting group stage. The Natty lights take on the Netherlands this Sunday morning with a chance to seal a birth into the next round if we win. Pretty big "If" though, as this Dutch side is LOADED. The game is at 7:30am. Well, at least we got the late game...