La Liveblog: USA vs. El Salvador

Welcome to tonight's liveblog, where US Men's National team travels to El Salvador to face El Azul at the Estadio Cuscatlán. The US is in good shape after defeating Mexico, and a point tonight would be adeqeate but realistically this should be a win. The growth of soccer in the US can be seen in the ability of the national team to win games in Central America against hostile crowds, something that didn't happen with regularity until the start of this decade. El Salvador, meanwhile, drew Trinidad and Tobago in their first game, and will be looking to grind out a point at home against the regional Goliath. Expect an ugly, chippy affair.




While we await the team sheets, here is a bit of linkage for your enjoyment. The NY Times looks at the origin of Landycakes. The US soccer studio 90 show, which looks like it was edited in a blogger's basement, previews the game. Brad Guzan gives UF an EXCLUSIVE interview. Or how about some vintage Marxist journalism about the war between Honduras and El Salvador in 1970 that started over a World Cup qualifying match:

The first match was held on Sunday 8 June 1969, in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa.

Nobody in the world paid any attention.

The Salvadoran team arrived in Tegucigalpa on Saturday and spent a sleepless night in their hotel. The team could not sleep because it was the target of psychological warfare waged by the Honduran fans. A swarm of people encircled the hotel. The crowd threw stones at the windows and beat sheets of tin and empty barrels with sticks. They set off one string of firecrackers after another. They leaned on the horns of cars parked in front of the hotel. The fans whistled, screamed and sent up hostile chants. This went on all night. The idea was that a sleepy, edgy, exhausted team would be bound to lose. In Latin America these are common practices.

The next day Honduras defeated the sleepless El Salvador squad one-nil.

Eighteen-year-old Amelia Bolanios was sitting in front of the television in El Salvador when the Hondruan striker Roberto Cardona scored the winning goal in the final minute. She got up and ran to the desk which contained her father's pistol in a drawer. She then shot herself in the heart. "The young girl could not bear to see her fatherland brought to its knees," wrote the Salvadoran newspaper El Nacional the next day. The whole capital took part in the televised funeral of Amelia Bolanios. An army honour guard marched with a flag at the head of the procession. The president of the republic and his ministers walked behind the flag-draped coffin. behind the government came the Salvadoran soccer eleven who, booed, laughed at, and spat on at the Tegucigalpa airport, had returned to El Salvador on a special flight that morning.

But the return match of the series took place in San Salvador, the beautifully named Flor Blanca stadium, a week later. This time it was the Honduran team that spent a sleepless night. The screaming crowd of fans broke all the windows in the hotel and threw rotten eggs, dead rats, and stinking rags inside. The players were taken to the match in armored cars of the First Salvadoran Mechanized Division -- which saved them from revenge and bloodshed at the hands of the mob that lined the route, holding up portraits of the national heroine Amelia Bolanios.

The army surrounded the ground. On the pitch stood a cordon of soldiers from a crack regiment of the Guardian Nacional, armed with sub-machine-guns. During the playing of the Honduran national anthem the crowd roared and whistled. Next, instead of the Honduran flag -- which had been burnt before the eyes of the spectators, driving them mad with joy -- the hosts ran a dirty, tattered dishrag up the flag-pole. Under such conditions the players from Tegucigalpa did not, understandable, have their minds on the game. They had their minds on getting out alive. "We're awfully lucky that we lost," said the visiting coach, Mario Griffin, with relief.

El Salvador prevailed, three-nil.

The same armored cars carried the Honduran team straight from the playing field to the airport. A worse fate awaited the visiting fans. Kicked and beaten, they fled towards the border. Two of them died. Scores landed in hospital. One hundred and fifty of the visitors' cars were burned. The border between the two states was closed a few hours later.

Hopefully things are mas tranquillo tonight, but from the looks of the stadium, the 30,000 strong sold out crowd is going to be right on top of the pitch and and should be very crazy!

8:04 US lineup is in:

The U.S. Starters:
18-Brad Guzan;
2-Frankie Hejduk, 3-Carlos Bocanegra (capt.), 14-Danny Califf, 15-Heath Pearce;
8-Clint Dempsey, 12-Michael Bradley, 16-Sacha Kljestan, 7-DaMarcus Beasley;
10-Landon Donovan, 11-Brian Ching

Bench:
1-Marcus Hahnemann, 4-Pablo Mastroeni, 5-Jay DeMerit, 6- José Francisco Torres, 9-Jozy Altidore, 13-Maurice Edu, 17-Jonathan Spector

Gooch is hurt so Danny Califf will start in the middle. Did Jay DeMerit run over Bob Bradley's dog or something?

8:13 - Just put on my USMNT jersey (the oh so flattering white w/ horizontal stripes model). Drinking Lucky beer.

8:24 El Salvadoran newspapers are full of warnings to fans not to engage in bad behavior, as CONCACAF is apparently not happy with what happened in the Trinidad and Tobago game. Apparently the Estadio Cuscatlan is at risk of suspension for future qualifiers.

8:33 - I'm such a sucker for these IBM commercials. Give me the petaflop!

8:43 - El Azul:

GK - Montes
D - Salazar, Gonzalez, Henriquez, Pachecho
MF - Martinez, Sanchez, Castillo, Romero
F - Quintanilla, Zeyala

I think that this is really more of a 4-5-1 with Zeyala as the target man and Quintanilla as the libero.

8:48 - Game is ESPN2 or Telefutura. Should be fun to see John Harkes and JP in their little isolation commentary booth. Did Pedro Gomez make the trip?

8:53- Full time at the Azteca. Sven and El Tri get a huge 2-0 win against Costa Rica. I was hoping to see him lose and then be fed piece by piece to the sharks in the Mexican press.

8:55 - Don't get me wrong, I actually like auto racing, and will probably be staying up very late to watch F1 tonight. But really, giant billboards accelerating in a straight line is a sport? Or do people just watch for the horrific wrecks?

9:00 - And we are live in San Salvador with JP. The fans are going absolutely bonkers. This should be lots of fun.

9:04 - Califf has been hurt for two months, says Harkes. Why on earth is he getting the start?

9:06 - Hey look, its Alexi Lalas! The Matt Millen of the MLS, everybody...

9:08 - ZOMG Jose Mourinho might coach the USMNT, says Rob Stone....Hahahahaha. Back in reality, my prediction for this game is 2-1 USA. Goals by Landycakes and Dempsey. A Califf miscue leads to one for Zeyala.

0 min - Kick off. And we can actually see the pitch. Excellent. Dempsey with a nice run through the middle and a shot on goal.

3 min- Some scrappy play in the midfield leads to a long shot for Ching. So far, the US is enjoying most of the possession. Another run of passes leads to a header for Donovan that goes wide.

5 min- Zeyala goes down like Drogba. And the Mexican ref tells him to get up. Ouch. Castillo gets a decent run at Hejduk, but his cross is dealt with easily. A long shot from the midfield eventually trickles wide of Guzan.

7 min- After a US turnover, Califf fouls Zeyala. Nothing comes of the enusing free kick, though. El Salvador are really giving the Nats a ton of space. Dempsey tries a bit of fancy football but loses it. Then Donovan comes streaking down the left side, but his cross just misses.

10- Frenetic midfield play, and eventually Castillo comes streaking down the left again. Hejduk is really getting his running in today. Beasley commits a professional foul in the midfield to slow down the move. The ensuing kick is blocked, and Dempsey clears.

13 min - The US is on their heels a bit more here, as Castillo continues to impress. El Salvador wins a corner, but the inswinger is wasted high over the back post. After some head tennis, Dempsey, who is in an attacking midfield role tonight, misses Ching with a throughball.

17 min - El Salvador counters down the right with Zeyala, who plays a neat one two and the ball falls to Quintanilla, who slots it home. 1-0 El Salvador.

19 min - Ching wins a corner on the right. Beasley's corner goes a mile high, but the SLV defense clears. The El Salvador goal is probably fantastic from the point of view of a good game, although it means that El Azul will definitely try to park the bus in front of the box. So this might be just like every Arsenal game I've watched this year.

21 min - This is where Micheal Bradley needs to take control of the midfield. Klejstien, by the way, looks terrible. And Dempsey needs to stop turning over the ball in the final third.

24 min - El Salvador is playing very well, sitting back and waiting for the counter. Harkes makes the good point that the US fullbacks are not coming forward and the team is very narrow. Maybe because Hejduk is scared shitless of getting beaten by Castillo. Donovan draws a foul in the attacking third. Dempsey with a decent strike by the keeper is there.

27 min - The US could use a bit of steel in the midfield right about now. Wouldn't be surprised to see Mastroeni in the second half.

38 min - Sorry about that, had some technical difficulties. Meanwhile, the US looks terrible in pretty much every phase of the game. They look almost shellshocked. The veterans really need to step up now.

41 min - Now we have reverted to long balls to Ching. Brilliant. I think Bradley needs to think about some subs at halftime. Another holding midfielder, and maybe someone like Torres.

43 min - Ching gets bowled over, and the US scores on the ensuing free kick. To bad about the offside trap that put all 5 of them offside.

45 min - A El Salvadoran player is down on the field and gets stretchered off. I hope you are all ready for 45 minutes of this in the second half. Meanwhile, Danny Califf gets lectured by Landycakes. Looks like he wants the d to push up more.

Half time - El Salvador wins another corner, but this time it goes right to Guzan. He almost hits a decent outlet pass, but just misses. And then the whistle goes. And then we get to see Alexi Lalas. I'm off for more bourbon.

Half time - So that Jose interview was promo for the World Soccer Challenge, right? Because there is no way in hell he ever comes over here to manage. In any case, I should probably plug the UF roadie to Baltimore. Chelsea, AC Milan, lazy preseason football to milk money out of dumb Americans! More info here.

45 min - Finally, a shot of the booth! Harkes has the look of fear in his eyes. And we are off for the second half.

47 min - El Salvador continues to enjoy nice possession, as Quintinalla puts a good cross through the box. The US fullbacks need to press up the field more and force the El Salvadoran wingers to defend.

49 min - A long ball to Ching is headed back to Dempsey, but the shot is very weak. He is kind of all by himself up there. Torres and Altidore are warming up.

52 min - Its like everyone is huffing paint out there. Or chickens with heads cut off, etc...Finally Beasley gets a ball down the left, but totally fumbles the throw in. Haven't these guys played together before? Now a ball on the right to Ching, who does a great job crossing it into the box, but nothing there.

54 min - Mini Bradley commits a dumb foul on the top of the box. Bob looks on in displeasure. Fortunately Quintanilla rockets the free kick over the wall and into row Z.

57 min - Califf looks to be the culprit in the deeper than it should be US backline. Bocanegra keeps telling him to move up, but he looks a little tentative out there. Bradley picks up a card for a tackle in the midfield. We could see a sub for him soon. In fact, it would be nice to see subs right about now.

60 min - This has really been a dog shit for breakfast performance from the US so far. Dempsey wins a free kick next to the corner flag, and Beasley swings a nice free kick into the box that is headed over. The keeper appears to have hurt himself. This may take a while. And we are about to see Jozy Altidore! Get in!

62 min- Pierce is taken off, and we are going three in a back, baby. Perhaps the 3-4-3, or is Donovan going to slide back into the midfield to create some offense?....Meanwhile the keeper is still down in the goal.

64 min - A US freekick from about 45 yards out. Landon delivers a nice one, but El Salvador is able to counter. This time, at least, the US is able to handle Castillo easily.

67- Now its all US as El Salvador is sitting back waiting for the counter. But its all long balls right now. Not a lot from the midfield. Bradley makes a good run who passes it to Jozy. But Jozy has the touch of man who hasn't played since December and coughs it up. Meanwhile, Klesjtian has a go from 25 yards but its over the bar.

70 - A nice move between Beasley and Kles ends in a Bradley shot to the knees. But Montes is apparently healthy enough to get to it. He looks soooooo injured right now. And then he goes out Paul Robinson style for a ball in the box and is nearly beaten by Ching.

72 - Klejstian finally gets the hook and on comes Torres, who is rapidly becoming my new favorite MNT player. But then Castillo gets free in the box and puts one by Guzan! 2-0 El Salvador. This is a shocker. And they are climbing the fences in San Salvador!

75 - Montes finally peaces out, and now its proverbial gut check time for the US. Does anyone have the ability to make something happen here? A bit of magic is sorely needed. And I'm not sure who on the field has that ability.

77 - Jooooooooooooooooooooooooozy. 2-1 El Salvador. A hell of a ball from Hejduk, and Jozy slots it cooly with his head past the keeper.

80 - Every time we get a whistle half of the El Salvadoran team falls like a grenade just went off. This is high quality gamesmanship here. We should be getting at least 5 minutes of stoppage time.

82 - The US continues to pump long balls into the box, and El Salvador doesn't know what to do. A lot of second chances for the US. Meanwhile Quintanilla goes down and Bradley starts to talk shit. Get in!

86 - Its all happening now! The US needs to look at Hejduk who is in acres of space out on the right side. I can barely type...

88 - FRANKIE FRANKIE FRANKIE. A corner that the goalie doesn't even get close to, and Hejduk heads it in. 2-2. GET IN!

90 - A very dangerous free kick is dealt with by the wall, and Landon gets behind the defense on a long ball but the reinforcements don't manage to get a shot on goal.

94 - This game is there for the taking if the US can get a decent change. Meanwhile Bradley goes out with a cut and Edu comes on. Lets get one more!

96 - Jozy sets up Ching for a sitter, but he shoots it right at the keeper. Agh....Another long ball it the box that the keeper misses, and the bike from Jozy goes just wide. And we have a bit of a skirmish. The whistle tweets for full time. Wow.

I don't know about you all, but I was on tenterhooks at the end there. The US looked very rattled in the first half, but managed to cobble together a nice response thanks to Jozy and Frankie Hejduk. Its hard to be disappointed with a road point, but you can bet Bradley is seething. We might see a much different midfield on Wednesday against T&T. I loved Torres and would like to see him again. Thanks for stopping by and have a great night.