AARHUS, Denmark – It was another late collapse for the US national team, and it cost them two leads in a 3-2 loss Wednesday night against Denmark at NRGi Park.
And once again head coach Jurgen Klinsmann was left explaining why the US broke down over the last 10 minutes under the quick-footed Danish passing game, punctuated by a Nicklas Bendtner hat trick with his final two goals coming in the 83rd and 91st minutes.
“Obviously, what we don’t like are late goals because of losing focus for a second or losing your marker or heavy legs,” Klinsmann said after the match. “You never want to give a game away where you’re up 2-1. Overall, it’s a bit frustrating in the end, especially when you lose last minute.”
Well-taken goals from US forwards Jozy Altidore and Aaron Johannsson weren’t enough to hold back the Danes as the backline of John Brooks and Michael Orozco in central defense, Greg Garza on the left and Timothy Chandler on the right struggled throughout the night.
“If you make three goals in a game, you get all the compliments in the world,” Klinsmann said with a laugh. “And [Bendtner] deserves them for that performance, absolutely.”
Despite a 1-1 scoreline at halftime, Denmark dominated the first half with 64-percent possession and an aggressive attack strategy. The USMNT attempted to counter in the second by putting additional pressure on the midfield and shutting down passing lanes, which apparently led to players tiring out by the end of the match.
“Denmark is a very good possession-oriented team,” Klinsmann said. “That’s part of the style that [Denmark head coach] Morten Olsen developed over many, many years here. And they do that that really well with their technical capabilities; they move off the ball really well.”
The loss is the Yanks fourth in their past five matches, an ominous start with another challenging match looming Tuesday against Switzerland ahead of upcoming friendlies against Mexico, Netherlands and Germany. Klinsmann said that despite the loss, he believes the team is still in good shape since January training camp.
“There’s still stuff to improve, but overall I think they did a lot of really great work tonight,” he said. “There was a lot of good stuff taken from this game, definitely. What we need to do is step it up in terms of managing the game all 90 minutes.”
