The United States men's National Team took a big stride toward qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa with a hard fought victory Wednesday night in Guatemala City. Normally you can brush aside a win here, but the U.S. traditional fares about as well as a snowball in July when it plays qualifiers in Central America. Despite playing a rather nondescript offensive game, the U.S. pulled out the victory thanks to the head of captain Carlos Bocanegra from a corner kick. Overall the game was ugly, with American Eddie Lewis being carted off the field after a nasty collision left his face covered in blood.
Both teams ended with 10 men, as the game had seven yellow cards and two reds -- including Gustavo Cabrera's ejection for the elbow to Lewis' head.
Here's a good recap with some pictures of Lewis' snitched up face.
Overall, I was very upset watching this match due to the Guatemalans very dirty overall tactics.I tried to censor myself a little bit, but how can Carlos Ruiz kick Tim Howard in the head only to have Howard get a yellow card for apparent time wasting? (Here's a link to the AP story.)
Despite the bumps and bruises, the U.S. got the result and that's the way to stick it to the cynical tactics of Guatemala. The next qualifier is Sept. 6 in Cuba, which could get as ugly for different reasons all together.
Oddly enough, there are rumors floating around that Ruiz is being moved by the Los Angeles Galaxy to Toronto FC to clear salary cap space to sign Lewis. Go figure. If it was my call Ruiz would be sold to Siberia FC.
