USA took a step toward shaking off the ghosts of 2015 with an aggressive effort in rainy Carson, California, on Sunday to equalize twice and eventually edge out Iceland, 3-2.
It was the late heroics from defender Steve Birnbaum in his second USA appearance that kept a sloppy defensive team performance from overshadowing a strong attacking effort. He nabbed the equalizing assist and game-winning goal, both on set pieces.
In the 90th minute, Birnbaum rose to connect with a Michael Bradley set piece, to head past goalkeeper Ögmundur Kristinsson. Centre-back Michael Oroczo pulled the US level for a second time in the 59th minute, finishing a header from Birnbaum off a Bradley corner.
Iceland were missing key personnel in attack, but still made the US pay dearly for defensive mistakes. Debutant Aron Sigurðarson scored Iceland’s second goal from a long-range, curling strike in the 66th minute after the American defense was caught off-guard.
USA coach Jürgen Klinsmann yet again experimented with a new defensive four, which had a rocky start, leading to an early Iceland goal in front of a sparse crowd at the StubHub Center. A weak clearance in the 12th minute landed at the feet of Kristinn Steindórsson, whose deflected shot left goalkeeper Luis Robles with no chance to save. Orozco was a late addition to the US training camp, with Klinsmann calling him in Friday after the squad had been training together for two and a half weeks.
As shaky as the USA defense looked when tested, the attack was strong, holding possession and out-shooting Iceland 16 to six. Jozy Altidore pulled USA level for the first time in the 20th minute after a nice sequence that started with Jermaine Jones in the Americans’ own half. Jones passed upfield to Gyasi Zardes, whose first time ball to Bradley was slipped into Altidore for a chip finish.
“It’s the first game of the year – we’re trying to get our legs under us still,” Altidore said. “We’re working really hard in training and it’s nice to play against a real opponent and gets a few minutes.”
“We have to get fitter, but that’s normal this time of the year,” he added. “We just need to be a little bit sharper. Sometimes that final pass wasn’t there, that first touch wasn’t there, but it will come in due time.”
Though Sunday’s affair was only a friendly, Klinsmann will be keen to put a rough 2015 behind him. The US crashed out of the Concacaf Gold Cup for their worst finish since 2000 and then lost a playoff against Mexico for a berth in next year’s Confederations Cup. The under-23 squad failed to guarantee a spot in this summer’s Olympics after losing to Honduras in the semi-final of the Concacaf qualifying tournament, a competition Klinsmann named as a top priority for last year.
Klinsmann took a different tact with his January camp leading up to Sunday’s match by calling in a mix of senior team and under-23 players that will face Colombia in a last-chance play-off for berth into the Rio Olympics. The senior squad, meanwhile, has 2018 World Cup qualifying and Copa America on the calendar later this year.
Iceland represented a strong first opponent of 2016 for the US, having recently qualified for Euro 2016, the smallest country ever to qualify for the tournament. But key absences in Sunday’s starting line-up included strikers Gylfi Sigurðsson, Alfreð Finnbogason and Kolbeinn Sigþórsson. Sunday was the first meeting between Iceland and the US since 1994, having previously gone 2-2-2 in six matches.
Klinsmann’s line-up showed an eye to the future as he handed out first caps while continuing to start a mix of veteran players like 34-year-old Jermaine Jones. Both Ethan Finlay and Kellyn Acosta earned their first caps for the senior team and Lee Nguyen earned his first start after seven previous caps. Cameroonian-American Tony Tchani and German-American Jerome Kiesewetter both made their US senior debuts as a second-half substitutes.
The US will return to the StubHub Center for another friendly on Friday against Canada. Qualifying for the 2018 World Cup resumes in March against Guatemala.
