Compelling Soccer

The US Squad heads to Bratislava, Slovakia to face the Slovaks for the first time in their team's history.

The US team's starting lineup will be:

G Brad Guzan

D Steve Cherundolo

D Carlos Bocanegra

D Jonathan Spector

D Jonathan Bornstein

M Robbie Rogers

M Michael Bradley

M Benny Feilhaber

M Clint Dempsey

F Jozy Altidore

F Conor Casey

Surprisingly Spector is in the center, rather than the left. This confuses me since the knock on Spector was that he wasn't a natural left back as he doesn't play there much with West Ham. He never plays it for the US team.

Oh well. Kickoff is about to start.

1 min: Pair of corners for the US. Rogers took the two. The US nearly scored on the second one, but it was waived off due to a handball.

3rd min: Slovakia counters but can't do much with it. They play a cross out for a goal kick.

4th min: Feilhaber plays a ball cross the field just outside the box. Dempsey makes a clever tap back to Cherundolo who sends it into the box. It's put on goal, but nothing comes of it.

7th min: Unimpressive start so far for Casey. He looks slow out there and his size hasn't been much of a factor as he's muscled off the ball twice; once off midfield and once in the box after a well done Cherundolo run.

9th min: Forgot to mention: Casey got beaten off the ball by Martin Skrtel. Having watched plenty of Skrtel this year, color me unimpressed.

10th min: Rogers looks decent early on. Made a nice run, brought it to a stop and then served a cross that was just inches too high.

11th min: Slovakia's has had very little of the play so far. They've only had sustained possession twice thus far.

12th min: A through ball down the flank is played for Casey. But he lacks the speed to get it. Ugh. That looked downright pathetic.

14th min: Slovakia looks poor on the ball. The US defense has barely been pressured and when they have been, they've been well up to the task. Even Bornstein looked good.

15th min: Best players early on? Robbie Rogers and Michael Bradley. Yes THAT Robbie Rogers. I may well be eating crow on that one.

17th min: Foul and Dempsey is limping. Wouldn't surprise me if he just plays the half.

19th min: US finally pressured but they hold. Casey then wins a free kick at midfield against Skrtel.

20th min: He have a Dempsey/Altidore sighting. But Dempsey's pass is wide. Dempsey then took a shot on the next possession the went just wide.

23rd min: Example of a decent point made with the wrong idea. The commentators were talking about adjusting to the refs and what they've learned in the Confederations Cup with all the red cards. The tone played into the idea that the foreign refs are out to get the US team. However, the point was undermined when mentioning all the yellows the US had in qualifying. The good point is that they may have improved their discipline. The bad point is that somehow they weren't at fault.

26th min: Slovakia penalty. I thought it was a bad call at first, but upon the replays, Bornstein got beat and grabbed on. Hamsik buries it and it's 1-0 Slovakia.

29th min: Great build up with passing between Bradley, Rogers resulting in an Altidore chance. His shot isn't a strong one though and is saved.

30th min: Bornstein goes up the left, gets stripped and Slovakia counters. Nothing comes of it, but it's been a pretty lousy five minutes for Bornstein. Costa Rica seems like a long time ago...

31st min: Another good counter featuring Feilhaber to Dempsey to Rogers and then Cherundolo with a cross that couldn't be properly met. It started with a good tackle with from Bradley.

32 min: Bornstein is getting embarrassed right now. Just burned every time Slovakia comes down their right.

36th min: Not a bad shot by Feilhaber from distance. Saved.

37th min: I'm going to lay the blame on the forwards here. The midfield for the US looks strong. I'd rate all four guys as playing fairly well right now. The forwards just aren't making themselves available. Dempsey drives a free kick on goal that is saved at the last minute for a corner.

38th min: Nothing comes of it. The US ends up playing it back in but it goes out for a goal kick.

41th min: Bornstein does one thing well; plays contributes to the offense. He plays a good cross in the box. Feilhaber's header is threatening, but is saved. Before, Rogers had a nice run. He's showing much better sense than he ever did in the Gold Cup.

Half time: Wow. Zero minutes of stoppage time. The half may have actually ended a few seconds EARLY.

Halftime Thoughts: The US should have done better with their possession. They had control of the play but couldn't finish. That's on the forwards unfortunately. It hasn't been pretty for Altidore or Casey thus far. For Casey, he's looking less and less like and international quality player every time I see him.

Bornstein is back to being awful. Again, I think he has skills on offense. But on defense he's atrocious and simply cannot be allowed to start in the World Cup. Teams will attack him constantly. You can't have a defender who can't defend. Sorry. I want to see the penalty highlight again, but he still got beat on the inside. Bad move.

The midfield though has been very impressive. Full stars go to Robbie Rogers. He cheated on the inside a bit, but that was okay because of the overlapping runs Cherundolo was doing. This game is the best I've seen him play Internationally. This might be blasphemy, but I think he might be a better fit on the wing than Stuart Holden.

Bradley, Dempsey and Feilhaber have all had their moments. Dempsey critics will complain but he was fine in that half. He had some good shots and some nice touches; you just have to accept that he's going to make turnovers too. Bradley was a rock in defense and made some nice passes contributing to the attack. Feilhaber has been good in support and has two quality shots on goal.

We'll see what changes Bradley makes at half. This is a friendly so there isn't a sub limit.

2nd half start: Eddie Johnson on. Conor Casey off. Let's see some speed from the FIP.

49th min: Good effort again from Rogers winning the ball back at midfield after a US turnover. Bradley also makes a good play on a sliding tackle.

51st min: Not a bad break by the US squad as Dempsey sends a through ball to FIP. But FIP's first touch pushes it too far and his shot hits the side of the net. Still he looks more threatening than Casey ever did.

52nd min: Slovakia counters on the wing and the attack moves down the right side of course. Bornstein nowhere to be found. They get a good shot, but Guzan is up to the task.

54th min: More Slovakia countering. A good through ball gets past Bocanegra who proceeds to try to make a really poor and late slide tackle, the type that can give up a penalty and get you sent off. He misses it and a clear chance is on goal, albeit from an angle. Guzan is there and makes his best save of the match.

57th min: Bornstein whines about a throw in call. I think you've got bigger issues than that Johnny.

62nd min: There hasn't been much going on thus far. Lots of midfield play. Few quality chances for the US.

64th min: Rogers wins a free kick from a dangerous spot. Dempsey's shot deflected off the wall and it fell just wide for a corner. Good play by the Slovakia goalie on the kick. Rogers has been okay on corners. Nothing's compared to Jose Francisco Torres' amazing one against Costa Rica though.

68th min: Bornstein looks like absolute crap. Two touches, two turnovers. He should be pulled off.

70th min: Skrtel makes a slide tackle on Bradley that looked bad but actually got all ball first. Then Bornstein decides to make what he thought of the ref's decision known by making a rough tackle of his own. There he got the man mainly.

72nd min: Sub time. Clarence Goodson coming on for Boca. Dax McCarty is on for Clint Dempsey.

73rd min: Welcome to the senior side Dax. First touch, taken down for a foul.

74th min: Off a free kick for Slovakia the play breaks down and somehow a Slovakia player gets in behind the defense one on one against Guzan. But Guzan is there. He looks every bit capable of filling in for Howard right now.

79th min: Feilhaber whipped a shot that looked like a rocket. Skrtel got in the way and went down in a heap. He looks okay now though, but that had to sting.

80th min: Poor play by Goodson allows a break on goal. Goodson gets back and slides, getting at least part of the ball so no penalty is called.

82nd min: Two more subs. Jeff Cunningham for Jozy and Sasha Kljestan for Rogers.

85th min: Kljestan looks awful right now. Somethings don't change.

86th min: I suppose Kljestan deserves credit for his free kicks; he does that well as his ball into the box is just missed by Cunningham. But otherwise, yeech.

90th min: Good idea off a free kick as Bornstein flies down the wing unmarked. His cross is played on the ground but isn't hard enough and is saved.

Full time: Seconds before it ends Cherundolo hobbles to the sideline and grabs his knee in pain. Great, just great. This one ends 1-0 Slovakia but the US may have just lost another important player.