Analysis

U.S. methodically closes out Barbados to advance in qualifying.

By Robert Wagman
SoccerTimes

(Monday, June 22, 2008) -- The United States men, coming into the away leg of the two-match CONCACAF second-round World Cup qualifying series with Barbados with an eight-goal cushion after the easy victory June 14 at The Home Depot Center, had little trouble finishing off their Caribbean foe with a 1-0 decision at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown.

Yesterday's game was played merely as a formality and the statistics supported a lack of motivation. . The U.S. had one shot on goal, Eddie Lewis' nice tally, while Barbados had none. It was a warm, humid afternoon and the Americans did what they had to do while expending as little energy as possible.

Freddy Adu and DaMarcus Beasley were nominally listed as the U.S. strikers. Coach Bob Bradley essentially went with a no-forward offense with both in the midfield of something resembling a 4-6-0 formation. Despite playing on a huge field laid out on the cricket oval, Barbados tried to play through the middle of the clogged midfield to little avail.

The U.S. attack, as it has been in any number of matches this year, was made up of players slotting through balls to teammates running out of the midfield. That is how the Americans scored the only goal when Adu laid a ball in front of Eddie Lewis for a neat conversion by the veteran left midfielder in the 21st minute. .

Barbados was more active in the second half. Against a tiring U.S. midfield, Rommell Burgess drilled a shot off the crossbar in the 57th minute after running onto a ball chested into his path by forward Mark McCammon. In the 85th minute, McCammon jarred the ball loose from goalkeeper Brad Guzan as he went high in the air and the loose ball was put in by John Parris, a tally negated when McCammon was ruled offside.

Barbados, with a week of training together, was better organized then it was last week, and with Wigan (England) central defender Emerson Boyce in the side - he was absent last week at the Home Depot Center - the Barbadian defense was a lot more solid then a week ago. Just as the clogged midfield gave the Barbadians few ways through, it also prevented the U.S. from creating many chances.

To a large extent, Bob Bradley put the heart of the U.S. Summer Olympics squad on the field. Midfielders, such as Adu, Michael Bradley, Danny Szetela, Sacha Kljestan, will likely be in Beijing in August.

From the group that walloped Barbados 8-0 in Carson, Landon Donovan, Brian Ching, Maurice Edu, Frankie Hejduk, Matt Reis and Pablo Mastroeni were allowed to return to their Major League Soccer clubs, Clint Dempsey and Steve Cherundolo were allowed to start their brief summer vacations. Goalkeeper Tim Howard is recovering from a sore back, while Eddie Johnson was sent home because of an unspecified illness.

Now the U.S. moves onto the CONCACAF qualifying semifinals in a group with Guatemala, Trinidad & Tobago and Cuba. The top two finishers in the six-match, round-robin competition will advance to six-nation final round.