For at least 10 minutes in St Louis on Friday, it seemed recent bad form could pose serious problems for the US men’s national team in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.
But after going down a goal to Saint Vincent & the Grenadines inside five minutes, the Americans rallied and finished with a comfortable 6-1 win to open their World Cup qualifying campaign.
Oalex Anderson stunned the Americans in the fifth minute, dribbling into the box and bending a fine shot past goalkeeper Brad Guzan.
But Bobby Wood equalized just six minutes later, redirecting a DeAndre Yedlin cross with his head inside the far post, and Fabian Johnson, playing in a more advanced left-wing position, gave the Americans the lead on a free kick in the 29th minute that deflected through the wall and caught goalkeeper Winslow McDowell wrong-footed.
Once the Americans gained momentum, St Vincent, the Caribbean visitors comprised largely of semi-professionals, were unable to keep up.
Jermaine Jones flicked on a 31st-minute corner from Johnson towards Jozy Altidore, who headed it in at the back post. A 51st-minute set piece looked identical, as Wood flicked on Johnson’s delivery and Geoff Cameron headed it in far post.
Gyasi Zardes scored in the 59th minute on a low, close-range shot slotted past McDowell, and Altidore scored his second in the 75th minute, his shot taking a heavy deflection off a defender.
The Americans created a flurry of chances, outshooting St Vincent 20 to two and controlling 83% of the possession. Johnson, Wood and Zardes all had clean chances on goal that went wide.
Michael Bradley, arguably the game’s outstanding performer, nearly scored in the 22nd minute on a strong individual effort, weaving his way through four defenders and firing a blast that McDowell parried away. McDowell blocked close-range shots to deny Wood on breakaways in the 29th minute and 51st minute.
The widespread expectation for Friday was that the US would defeat tiny St Vincent with relative ease, which means the win doesn’t necessarily alleviate the pressure on coach Jürgen Klinsmann. US Soccer president Sunil Gulati told reporters before the match that “there are concerns” about the team’s direction and he met with Klinsmann earlier this month to discuss them.
The US men crashed out of the Concacaf Gold Cup in the semi-finals this summer for their worst finish in 15 years. That forced a play-off last month against Mexico for a 2017 Confederations Cup berth, which the US also lost.
Though 2018 World Cup qualification is on the line, the US drew a relatively soft group of opponents and Klinsmann appears keen to use the games to cap-tie some new players and give playing time to youngsters. St Vincent are the lowest-ranked team in Concacaf qualifying.
Liberian-born Darlington Nagbe, and Matthew Miazga, who has Polish citizenship, both entered the match in the second half, tying them to the US national team for the future.
The exclusion of Clint Dempsey was perhaps the biggest surprise of Klinsmann’s roster for the first qualifying games. Dempsey, 32, scored nine goals in 10 appearances this year but Klinsmann said he wanted to give younger players a chance. A surprise inclusion, however, was 34-year-old forward Alan Gordon.
Klinsmann announced ahead of Friday that Guzan would start in goal against St Vincent, with Tim Howard starting in the next match.
The lead-up to the game on a busy international Fifa date was marred by reports of deadly attacks in Paris, including outside the Stade de France, where France were hosting Germany in a friendly. US Soccer issued a statement to express condolences and provide assurances that security would be “at the highest level consistent with the national profile of this event” in St Louis.
The US continues their first round of World Cup qualifying on Tuesday against Trinidad & Tobago at Port of Spain.
