A Soccer Rant

These are highlights from the US - Brazil U20 World Cup game last night. The US won 2-1 with goals in each half by Jozy Altidore. Go back and watch all the highlights, because it was an amazing game, but feel free to skip ahead to the 2:55 mark(6:45 if it's counting forwards) to see Freddy Adu's moment of Braziliance that led to the game-winning goal.

I can't say enough about this game. Brazil is always a loaded team, and this year, it's no different. Brazil's tournament life was on the line, so to beat them when they needed to win (they still have a chance to qualify depending on how the rest of group play plays out) made for an even crazier atmosphere.

Brazil outplayed us at times and had more composure on the ball, but the US held their own. Brazil's forwards, Jo and Pato, were sick. Pato was the more hyped one coming in, I think there's already a confirmed bid by Chelsea. He tried to chip Chris Seitz, the US's keeper, at about the 60 minute mark. It goes just wide, but it still was a badass play. Jo was way more dangerous, though, held the ball really well, and almost scored a handful of times.

The US put in a performance that will be remembered for a long time. I can't think of one player that didn't have his moments. Robbie Rogers was great on the left wing, with his shot from distance in the first few minutes setting the stage. Sal Zizzo, who plays for UCLA, was going up against someone who plays at Real Madrid. Everyone had their moments, but three players put in performances that need to be addressed.

Altidore played his best game of the tournament. This tournament acts as a showcase for these players to prove what they have to European teams and to try and gain European contracts, and he helped out his cause as much as any. His first goal was a strike that any of the US forwards who played in either the Gold Cup and Copa America are incapable of hitting.

Chris Seitz, who somehow doesn't start for Real Salt Lake, put in one of the bravest performances I've seen by a US keeper. He had to deal with a lot of shots and a ton of activity in the penalty area, but he was fantastic. I don't know when exactly he got hurt, but sometime in the middle of the second half, he began limping and had to have Nate Sturgis start taking his free kicks. He stayed in the game though, and gutted out a last 15 minutes full of close calls.

Nobody shined brighter than Adu today, though. He had a reasonably quiet first half, but he won the ball that Altidore eventually finished and had some dangerous through balls. In the second half, he turned it up a few notches. He was consistently dangerous and combined really well with Altidore, especially evident when he and Jozy had a give-and-go where Adu backheeled back to Jozy for a great chance at goal. He also almost scored from a free kick that forced the Brazilian goalkeeper into a tip save over the bar.

And then there was the game-winning goal. ESPN was using the international feed, and they never showed the full replay that included the magical part of this play. I just caught Sportcenter's Top10, and they still aren't showing the whole play, but his circus act that got him out of the corner and in to position to put the shot on goal was INSANE. There's even a chance that a handball should've been called on his shot, so he almost just finished by himself.

All-in-all, a great game, a great result, and about 500 too many words in this post.