When you get to this juncture, it's all about survival and not necessarily about playing pretty soccer. To get a win, you push, you pull, you grind it out.
That's exactly what the United States did in its 1-0 victory against Panama in Group A of the CONCACAF Olympic soccer qualifying tournament Thursday night.
Not very pretty, but certainly worth three points as Freddy Adu's 42nd-minute penalty kick was all the scoring the U.S. needed in the vital encounter at Raymond James Stadium.
"At this point of the tournament, we're going for results," said midfielder Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), one of five new players in the U.S. lineup. "We're not going to be the team playing the best style of football necessarily.
"We knew it's going to be a tough game. We were going to have to match their level of intensity on every play, whether it was a header or a loose ball or getting in front of the goal."
Forward Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls), who was fouled to set up Adu's penalty, agreed and elaborated.
"We refused to lose," he said. "I think the guys came out and did what we had to do. We got our feet dirty.
"In CONCACAF games especially, it's more fight than anything else that's going to win. Yes, you're going to play soccer. But these physical guys can take the soccer anyway from you really quick."
The victory put the USA (1-0-1, four points) into second place behind Honduras (2-0-0, six), which defeated undermanned Cuba 2-0 in the first game of Thursday's doubleheader.
The U.S. can qualify for next week's semifinals in Nashville before they play their final group game Saturday if Panama (0-2-0, 0) beats Cuba (0-1-1, one point) or if both sides tie in the opening match of that doubleheader. In fact, the U.S. could win the group if it beats Honduras that night.
U.S. coach Peter Nowak was impressed with his team's desire. "We got the result after a very hard fight on the field," he said.
Nowak felt the U.S. was much more patient against Panama.
"We just learned what happened (from) last Tuesday," he said. "Everyone was overanxious. I think in everyone's mind it was how many goals we were going to score against Cuba."
In some respects Thursday's game was an improvement over Tuesday's 1-1 tie with Cuba, when the U.S. defense left too many holes in the back.
Part of that was due to the revamped backline. Benched were outside fullbacks Hunter Freeman (New York Red Bulls) and Kamani Hill. So was central defender Patrick Ianni (Houston Dynamo). The only man left standing was Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake), who was moved from central defense to left fullback. In their place was right fullback Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC), Michael Orozco in the middle, and captain Maurice Edu (also Toronto FC), who was moved from holding midfielder to central defense.
"They did a very good job," Nowak said, adding that he was impressed with the backline's ability "to recover from situations and how to stay composed."
Nowak also did some tinkering with his midfield as Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew) and Kljestan were in the starting 11 in favor of forwards Robbie Findley and Charlie Davies.
Adu, a holdover from Tuesday's game, did not have the same impact as he did against Cuba. But he scored his second goal of the tournament after Altidore latched onto an Eddie Gaven feed and was taken down in the penalty area by goalkeeper Jose Calderon after beating defender Reinaldo Anderson. Calderon was awarded a yellow card by referee Dave Peterkin from Jamaica.
"I thought my first touch was a bit long," Altidore said. "Lucky for me, I saw the goalie coming out. I took a touch and he clipped me. It was good overall and a good finish by Freddy."
Indeed. Adu then placed a left-footed shot into the upper right side of the net.
Despite being favorites to win the group and qualify for Beijing, the U.S. has not come close to playing up to its potential.
Chances were at a premium against Panama and the USA's finishing hasn't lived up to its reputation with the likes of Adu, Altidore and Davies, among others.
"It's always tough for teams to get chances when teams are fighting for their lives," Kljestan said. "It was tough to break them down."
The U.S. also had trouble passing out of the back and in the midfield, where many passes were intercepted by Panama.
Honduras 2, Cuba 0
In Thursday's opener, 10-man Cuba played its collective hearts out, but fatigue finally caught up to the Caribbean side against Honduras.
Despite starting only 10 players, Cuba managed to play Honduras even until the 69th minute, when Marvin Sanchez scored from seven yards en route to a 2-0 victory. The Hondurans clinched a spot in the semifinals.
Sanchez fired a left-footed shot past goalkeeper Arael Arguelles to ruin the Cubans' dream of a tie, which would have been a major upset.
The Hondurans added an insurance goal in the 77th minute as captain Hendry Thomas scored from eight yards off a pass from Oscar Morales.
Cuba started with only 10 players, after seven players left the team the past two days. They reportedly have defected. An eighth couldn't play because he served a suspension due to a red card incurred Tuesday night's tie.
It was believed to be the first international match in which a team started with 10 players.
"We know it was a difficult result," Cuba coach Raul Gonzalez said. "It's asking a lot. I think we played well. We played hard."
In his opening statement, Gonzalez said "it was a great game for Cuba. We played with a lot of discipline."
Gonzalez walked out of the post-game press conference when a reporter asked a politically related question on the fourth question of the press conference.
The media was not asked to refrain from political questions in the press conference, although reporters were allowed to query the coach and team in the mixed zone outside the locker rooms.
A reporter asked what the Cubans were doing to maintain the rest of the team for Saturday's game against Panama and that an assistant coach was not with the team any longer.
Michael Lewis covers soccer for the New York Daily News and is editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He can be reached at SoccerWriter516@aol.com. Views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
