It was a good day to be making your national team debut if you were wearing the red, white, and blue Saturday at The Home Depot Center. Bob Bradley won in his first game in charge of the U.S., while Jonathan Bornstein and Kenny Cooper each scored in their first-ever appearances for their country to lead the USA to a 3-1 victory against Denmark.
Despite the quality result at the end, there were some early jitters that led to a slow start. Bradley used a starting 11 comprised entirely of MLS-based players, several of whom were inexperienced at the international level. The nerves accounted for some sloppy play early in the match.
"There were some nerves for sure. I thought that the first half had moments where the coordination on the field was on but the plays weren't," said Bradley. "We fouled up some simple plays and I thought we just needed to get some confidence in what we were doing."
The shaky start could have ended in disaster as Denmark actually opened the scoring in the 37th minute. The inexperienced lineup very easily could have panicked and given up a second goal. Instead the USA rallied and tied the game up right before the half when Landon Donovan converted a penalty kick won by Ricardo Clark.
In the second half the U.S. took charge, thanks in large part to the inclusion of Justin Mapp after the break. Mapp added tremendous energy and pace to the U.S. attack and a piece of individual brilliance led to the go-ahead goal.
"Justin is still a player who can do some special things," said Bradley. "I think we've seen it in MLS and it was nice to see him produce a neat piece of skill that led to the second goal."
Mapp beat a couple of defenders on a run through midfield before splitting two more defenders inside the penalty area to set up Bornstein's goal. Bornstein also heard Bradley sing his praises for his effort on the day.
"I know him well," said Bradley, who coached Bornstein in his rookie season with Chivas USA last year. "He's a player who never seems to be fazed by anything. He just has good instincts. As the game went along he realized he could do the job. I thought he had a very good second half."
The second half belonged to the young guns. In addition to Bornstein's goal, Cooper was greeted with cheers every time he touched the ball, and the crowd erupted when he slotted home a breakaway to put the game out of reach.
"It was exciting. It was a tremendous honor to be called into this camp in the first place," said Cooper. "The whole experience was a lot of fun. I think everyone put in a lot of hard work and I think we showed that today."
It was a collective effort that led to the first win ever for the USA against Denmark. Like the U.S., Denmark was using a squad based entirely of players who ply their trade domestically.
"It's important. Someone said that we had never beaten Denmark and that's unacceptable for us to be where we want to be," said Donovan. "A team based with all their league players versus a team basically with all our league players, we should be better and today we were."
The look for the U.S. team will be decidedly different the next time they take the field, when they face Mexico next month. That game falls on an FIFA international fixture date, meaning European-based players will be available for Bradley. But Saturday, the MLS gang had a chance to flex its muscle, and did so in convincing fashion once things got rolling.
Greg Daurio is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
