It' not quite time to panic.
Yet.
After getting pounded by Germany 4-1 in its last World Cup warmup match, the U.S. sludged to a 1-1 tie with Jamaica last night. At home. While these games are only friendlies, the results certainly aren't inspiring much confidence with the World Cup less than two months away.
Granted, the U.S. was missing several key players, most notably Brian McBride, Claudio Reyna, and Demarcus Beasley. Thing is, in friendlies everyone is testing players and lineups, not to mention battling with clubs to have players released. It's not like Germany was at full speed last month, nor was Jamaica fielding its strongest team last night. That excuse only goes so far. I'm sorry, but a country currently ranked fith in the world (or sixth?) shouldn't be held to a draw at home by Jamaica.
Of course, the world rankings are absolute garbage, but still. For the love of Bruce Murray, beat Jamaica at home.
Once again, the U.S. defense was prone to being broken down like a Barry Bonds alibi. A mere four minutes in, Jamaica's Teafore Bennett made Frankie Hejduk look silly (which isn't difficult) and was sprung free on a break and finished. Which was a nice welcome back to Tony Meola, who was making his first appearance for the national team in four years to earn his 100th cap. Four minutes in and the goalkeeping legend was made to look like a goat. Why is Hejduk still in the national team picture? Seriously? I don't get it.
Now, Bennett is a 19-year old kid just getting his feet wet at the international level. I shudder to think of what the Italians or Czechs might do to the U.S. at this point.
Even worse, the U.S. failed to create any legitimate scoring chances of its own in the course of play. Ben Olsen's equalizer, a weak shot, came when the Jamaican defense was caught napping after a quick restart by Landon Donovon. It was far from a goal worth hanging your hat on, especially since any goalkeeper other than Jamaica's Donovon Rickett's, who I think may just be legitimately crazy, would have saved it. Chris Albright had a couple of near-misses on headers, but both came off of free kicks. Other than that, the U.S. was alarmingly insufficient at breaking down the Jamaican defense with anything resembling creativity. Again, the Italians would toy with such a feeble attack.
Clint Dempsey was the only U.S. player who looked even somewhat exciting.
Like I said, it's too early to dismiss the U.S.'s chances in Germany this summer. These are practice games. Certainly, a few of the missing names will make a big difference. But I'm having a hard time seeing us getting out of the first round. Maybe I'm just being pessimistic. I hope so.
