Slovenia vs USA, First Half: A Reverse Of The Ellis Park History
The action in the match started with Clint Dempsey elbowing his marker with less than a minute gone down the clock. This ugly scene was forgotten later as the match resumed with both side playing an entertaining game.
The 2010 World Cup’s most tiny nation geographically, Slovenia, stunned the world’s most powerful country the USA when Birsa opened the scoring sheet with a screaming goal scored from outside the D. What a shock! After only 13 minutes gone, the Slovenians were on their way to making another giant killing to follow the one against Russia in the play-off which fired them into the finals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Inside the 35th minute of the match, Cesar of Slovenia conceded a free-kick and was flashed a harsh yellow card for fouling Jozy Altidore according to the referee. Actually, it rather seemed like the American striker had ran into the defender.
The resulting free-kick was well executed by Torres, but Slovenia’s goalkeeper marvelously punched the shot away at the near post. That would have been a beautiful equalizer had the save not been done. The United States found some rhythm forward with Jozy Altidore, Findley, and Donovan getting their act together but they found it still very hard to get the ball into Slovenia’s net.
Landon Donovan was inches away from sliding the ball past the goal line; that would have offered the USA an equalizer. But Slovenia’s Brecko amazingly cleared the ball out for a corner.
After that, the Europeans went 2-0 up in the blink of an eye. They countered on the attack and Ljubijankic kept his cool to drive his shot home. Unbelievable! The Slovenians were playing like top seeds, ravaging USA’s defense mercilessly on the counter attack. It was only the referee’s blow at half time that saved the USA as it stopped the Slovenians from completing another genuine attack on goal.
So the United States were 2-0 down at the break. This situation certainly reminded them of what occurred a year ago at the same venue, the Ellis Park Stadium, when they were leading Brazil 2-0 at half time in the final of the 2009 Confederations Cup. Against Slovenia, the USA were actually enduring a reverse of that story.
Now, did they have the guts to emulate Brazil’s 3-2 comeback? The second period revealed the rest of the tale.
Slovenia vs USA, Second Half: USA robbed!
Three minutes into the second half and it was game on for the USA! Landon Donovan blasted a right footed shot into the roof of the net from a very tight angle after profiting from a defensive mistake from Slovenia to make it 2-1 after 48 minutes.
Going forward in search of a third goal to kill off the United States’ hopes for a comeback, the Slovenians left spaces in their own half – only to allow their opponents to terrorize them on the counter attack. Jozy Altidore wasn’t quite effective around the penalty box but he still managed to have Suler booked for fouling him with a professional foul at the 69th minute.
Landon Donovan was in charge of getting USA’s equalizer through a free-kick. After a lot of confusion inside the box, Jozy Altidore fired a shot which Handanovic awesomely caught with his two hands. The Americans were still 2-1 down with only 20 minutes of normal time remaining.
As the USA increased the pace in the game, Slovenia were tempted to make more tackles in attempt to defend their lead. But their challenges rather got them into the referee’s book. Kirm and Jokic both picked up yellow cards for committing fouls.
Time was running out and the Americans’ problem then was to beat Slovenia’s goalkeeper whom seemed very much alert, until he became helpless at the 82nd minute. Michael Bradley, the son of the USA’s current coach Bob Bradley, fired a volley from close range to level the score line at 2-2.
Substitute Edu thought he had become the match hero when he got the ball at the back of the net for the third time for the USA. But the referee ruled the goal out, declaring it as an offside one. Actually, replays proved Coulibaly’s decision to be very controversial.
Zlatko Dedic, the man who netted Slovenia’s winning goal in his side’s play-off tie against Russia, came onto the pitch as he replaced Birsa. The United States and Slovenia both pressed on looking for the winning goal. Novakovic and Radosavljevic almost caught Tim Howard.
But in the end, the final result was a 2-2 draw; quite a disappointing result for both sides. So the USA only have 2 points after two games. Slovenia remain on top with 4 points ahead of England’s clash against Algeria. The Americans will hope that Edu's wrongly disallowed goal won't cause them to exit from the first round at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
