The U.S. national team fell 1-0 to Sweden in a tightly contested match Wednesday evening at Ullevi Stadium in Goteborg, Sweden. The game's only goal came in the 56th minute on a blistering strike from Kim Kallstrom.
The USA had their chances in an even affair, including a 90th-minute header from Michael Bradley, but the Swedes held on for the victory.
The USA's first and best chance of the opening 45 minutes came early, in the third minute after a quick restart at midfield. Clint Dempsey fed Benny Feilhaber out wide right, who slotted a ball to the top of box where DaMarcus Beasley's first-timer skimmed wide of the left post.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was a real threat to the U.S. defense all game long, and at the quarter hour mark he had his first breakaway of the opening stanza. A ball over the top got past Oguchi Onyewu, leaving the 6-foot-6 striker in alone on U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard. The Everton 'keeper charged off his line to make the initial stop, but the rebound came back to Ibrahimovic. He quickly spun around and fired a left-footed shot toward goal, only to be foiled by Onyewu who had recovered to the goal line.
The USA had a chance just before the half-hour mark when they attacked on a counter. Beasley was a threat on the flank for much of the half, and he executed a delayed give-and-go with Dempsey. The recent Rangers signing crossed back looking for Dempsey at the penalty spot, but the pass was cleared straight back up the middle. Bradley ran onto the loose ball but his 25-yard strike went wide right.
Two minutes later, it was Ibrahimovic again getting behind the defense and in alone on goal. Howard closed the space, taking his shot in the left shoulder. The rebound caromed towards the right endline where Kennedy Barkircioglu ran it down and crossed it back into the area for Ibrahimovic, who banged a header off the crossbar.
The U.S. changed formations at halftime, bringing on Bobby Convey for Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids). The 4-2-3-1 formation saw Convey on the left, Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy) in the middle and Beasley on the right. Sweden also made a number of changes, bringing on three new players to start the second half.
Throughout the second half, the U.S. and Sweden took advantage of the six allowed substitutions, with Bob Bradley exhausting all of his allotment. Houston Dynamo forward Brian Ching, who replaced Josh Wolff on the roster, suffered a left calf strain before the match and ended up not suiting up.
In the 50th minute, Sweden captain Daniel Andersson unleashed a 20-yard blast, but Howard was able to get down and make the save.
The U.S. quickly pushed the other way and Beasley buzzed down the right sideline before slotting a pass into the penalty area toward Donovan, who cleverly dummied it for Dempsey. The Fulham midfielder tried to angle his shot for the far post, but didn't hit it cleanly and it was snared by goalkeeper Rami Shaaban.
Sweden finally broke the deadlock in the 56th minute when Kallstrom drilled a 20-yard shot after a receiving a nifty pass from Bakircioglu at the top corner of the box. Cutting inside from the left, Barkircioglu looked to have committed a foul when he pushed Steve Cherundolo, but no call was made and a split-second later Barkircioglu touched the ball to Kallstrom, who was running in the opposite direction. Kallstrom took a small touch before hammering a left-footed bender that blew past a diving Tim Howard.
The remaining two MLS players in the game, Donovan and Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), came off in the 64th minute for Kamani Hill and Jonathan Spector respectively, in advance of the two players joining their clubs for Thursday's Super Clasico at The Home Depot Center.
Sweden had two more good chances on the night, the first coming once again from Kallstrom in the 75th minute when his free kick went just a foot over the top left corner. Ten minutes later, substitute Dusan Djuric got past the U.S. defense on a counter-attack, but his shot was well wide left.
The U.S. had one final opportunity to score the equalizer off a free kick in the 90th minute. Convey served in the ball from the right sideline finding the head of Bradley, who hit a snap header on frame that Shaaban bobbled before covering up.
