USA fans have perhaps grown rather accustomed to this stage of World Cup qualifying being little more than a formality over the years, but this confidence was to be unfortunately cast into some doubt, along with a nation's prospects of qualifying for Brazil 2014, as a result of the unforeseen road bump that took the form of Jamaica's landmark win over the Americans in Kingston only a few days prior. A first minute Clint Dempsey goal was hardly the opening of the floodgates on that humid Jamaican night, and an uninspiringly tepid performance from Klinsmann's men in tandem with two free kick goals from Rodolph Austin and Luton Shelton respectively put the bow on a poor, poor night.
With that recent result in mind and the USA's ascendancy in the group cast aside, one could forgive American fans for viewing this most recent game with a trepidation that was hardly to be felt a few days prior. Anything less than three points out of Crew Stadium would have made the road to the final hexagonal stage of CONCACAF qualifying a tough one indeed, but mercifully when contrasted with the midfield selections we saw from the USA in Jamaica, the inclusions of Jose Torres and Graham Zusi served to show that the gravity and urgency of the situation at hand were not lost on Jürgen Klinsmann this time around.
As a result of this more attack oriented side, the first half was probably as good as we've seen during Klinsmann's reign as the top boss. Sure, Jamaica was playing very defensively and conceding pretty much every ounce of possession with the hopes of keeping the US at bay and at least scraping a draw out of a tough road match, but despite this perpetual wall of yellow in front of the Jamaica goal, the US crafted chance after chance, seemingly struck post after post, and Graham Zusi could have easily been working on his hat-trick by halftime. If not for the valiant first 45 minutes from Dwayne Miller in goal, this game might have been 4-0 on any other night.
The second half, however, left us with a bit more to scrutinize, despite the fact that this stanza would see the American's finally break through by way of Herculez Gomez's free kick--a free kick that Miller should have done a much, much better job with. Yet, despite all of the dominance displayed in the 55 minutes preceding Gomez's goal, one got the feeling that the Americans took the figurative foot off of the gas too soon instead of pushing on for a second goal, and the removal of Zusi for Maurice Edu in the 72nd only affirmed that Klinsmann was content with the scoreline, regardless of the fact that more than 20 minutes (including stoppage time) remained on the clock. I'm certainly not one to fault a manager for wanting to tighten things up and preseve a late lead, but I'd hardly consider that chunk of time remaining to be late in the going.
As it is, three points are three points, and with the way things have tightened up with the US, Jamaica and Guatemala in this group, those three points are as relevant as they come. With the US facing games at Antigua and Barbuda and at home against Guatemala, things would appear to be rather manageable at it stands, but this group may just have another twist in store for us. Guatemala, thanks to the aforementioned game in the States and a salivating game against Jamaica, might ruin someone's dreams in grand fashion.
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