Sweet Home, Chicago

Thankfully, there was no hesitation from Carlos Bocanegra tonight.

Just 72 hours after he appeared hypnotized while Costa Rica's Pablo Herrera tore through the American penalty area to score the third goal in a humiliating World Cup qualifying defeat in San Jose, Bocanegra's assertiveness and courage resulted in a go-ahead goal that lifted the U.S. national team to a critical 2-1 win over Honduras before 55,647 at Chicago's Solder Field.

The swing reflected that of his team -- bewildered and listless on Wednesday, confident and organized tonight. Despite yielding yet another early goal, the Americans (3-1-1) settled down and controlled most of the game, thereby solidifying their hold on second place in CONCACAF's six-team final round. It also continued the U.S. national team's dominance on home soil. Since losing to Honduras in Washington, DC in September, 2001, the U.S. is 16-0-1 in World Cup qualifiers at home, outscoring its opponents by a Brazil-like 50-3. In all games against regional opponents (including Gold Cup and friendlies), it is an impressive 43-0-10.

Tonight's winning tally came in the 68th minute. Landon Donovan's corner kick sailed high toward the far post, where Clint Dempsey was able to nod it back toward the front of the goal. Former Chicago Fire defender Bocanegra was there, and dove head first toward a thicket of legs and boots to nod in the national team's biggest goal since Benny Feilhaber's volley won the Gold Cup in the same stadium two years ago.

The relief and joy on the players' faces as they raced toward the team bench to celebrate was obvious. A loss tonight would have raised serious questions about the direction of the entire national team program heading into the Confederations Cup and the second half of the World Cup qualifying schedule.

"We fought together," Bocanegra told ESPN after the match. "We stayed together again, just a team effort. It showed a lot of character to come back" from both Wednesday's defeat and Saturday's early deficit.


That deficit was largely the fault of Clint Dempsey, whose silly 4th-minute turn at midfield resulted in a turnover that left the U.S. in disarray. Birmingham City forward Carlo Costly made them pay with a well-placed shot inside the left post.

"We were just like, 'Not again'," Bocanegra said. "Credit to the guys. We were strong. We could have just sat back and said, 'Wow, there it goes again'."

Instead, the U.S. settled in and took control. Donovan was far more assertive tonight and while he didn't create any clear chances, his willingness to take space with the ball and take on defenders helped keep Honduras off balance. Colorado Rapids forward Conor Casey, a late call-up in place of the injured Brian Ching, also did well holding the ball and creating space for teammates. Ricardo Clark was a sound replacement for the suspended Michael Bradley, and Jonathan Bornstein and Jonathan Spector were far less of an adventure at outside back then DaMarcus Beasley and Marvell Wynne were in Costa Rica.

A deserved goal came in the 43rd minute. Oguchi Onyewu's long ball bounced and struck the hand of Honduran defender Mario Beata inside the penalty area, and Donovan buried the ensuing penalty kick with authority.

Honduras had a couple of chances in the second half, including a lucky bounce that Clark cleared off the goal line, but the Americans could have added to their total as well. The U.S. then survived four-plus minutes of tense stoppage time to earn the win over a quality opponent.

Meanwhile, Mexico was stunned, 2-1, in El Salvador, with former D.C. United player Eliseo Quintanilla converting the decisive penalty kick a few minutes from time. The results leave the Americans in excellent position, in second by a comfortable five points over El Salvador (1-1-2). Honduras is fourth at (1-2-1) and Mexico (1-3-0) a shocking fifth. In addition, it removes some of the stain of the awful Costa Rican experience, demonstrating that the U.S. does possess some of the necessary intangibles, after all.

"Obviously today was a big test," Feilhaber told ESPN."When we gave up that goal earlier it became an even bigger test. I think we showed it today, we got the guts to get back into the game and we got the ability to win games as well."

He continued: "I think it gives us a little bit of our confidence back. We know we should be the best team when we go out there on the field and we need to prove it."