Yanks Give Up Another Late Goal, Tie Switzerland 1-1
ZURICH—U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann left Stadion Letzigrund in good spirits Tuesday night, following his team’s 1-1 draw with 12th-ranked Switzerland. Of course, there was reason to be content, with an improved defensive performance and a relentless attack that looked far more dangerous than the one on display in Denmark last week.
But one sour memory will remain as Jozy Altidore’s sending off in the 68th minute negated Brek Shea’s second goal of the new year for the national team that gave the U.S. a half-time lead. But with the European-based players last run-out until the summer, Klinsmann found a reason to smile.
“Overall I saw a lot of good stuff from the entire group,” Klinsmann said. “They grinded it out and wanted a result really badly. It was enjoyable on the bench to feel that, to see that. Everyone was throwing themselves in there to get a result against a very good team.”
Returning back to the 4-4-2 diamond for the first time since October 15th against Honduras, the shift paid immediate dividends. The U.S. earned the majority of the clear-cut chances in the first half, pressing Switzerland back into its own half as Switzerland's star attacker Xherdan Shaqiri was left isolated in the U.S. half.
The tactical change seemed to benefit Alejandro Bedoya the most as the midfielder was shifted out to the right rather than playing in a central holding role as he did last week in Denmark. Bedoya was the facilitator of the U.S. attack throughout the first half, starting in the 15th minute with an inch-perfect cross to an open Gyasi Zardes at the far post.
With an open net in front of him, Zardes, who moved up top next to Altidore after Aron Johannsson was ruled out with a toe infection, skied the volley over the bar to let the best U.S. chance go astray. Twelve minutes later, Bedoya displayed his precision once again, sending a low pass across the face of goal that Michael Bradley pushed over the bar for the miss.
But the U.S. would have its moment right at the stroke of halftime as Shea delivered a wonderful left-footed free kick from just outside the box that flew past Swiss keeper Roman Burki and into the back of the net. Alfredo Morales created the chance for the U.S., driving to goal before being upended by midfielder Gokhan Inler.
The Orlando City left back immediately ran to the bench to celebrate as the final whistle rang just after.
“It was suited for more of a left-footer, and I think I was the only left-footed player out there,” Shea said. “I’ve been working on them, so I was happy to see it pay off. Obviously, I want to keep getting called in, keep playing, keep starting. So if I score it helps me out and helps the team out.”
“We had enough chances in the first half to put the game away,” Klinsmann said. “It was a beautiful free kick but we should have scored right before that...defensively and tactically, it was very good work. Obviously when you create chances in your half with an opportunity to go through three or four times in front of their goalkeeper, you want to put that thing in.”
The challenge prompted Luca Banti to reach for his pocket as a simple yellow was drawn. But before Banti could issue the booking, Altidore ripped into a foul-mouthed rant that led to a straight red card for dissent The U.S. played the final 20-plus minutes a man down.
“He used some verbal, um, words and I told the players: ‘You can do fouls, you can do certain things, but never joke with an Italian referee,’” Klinsmann said. “It’s unfortunate but it happened.”
Suddenly, the crowd of 16,000 made its presence felt as the Swiss doubled their shot total in the remaining minutes with a full-frontal assault on the U.S. goal, keeping goalkeeper William Yarbrough busy in his first national team appearance after coming on at the half for Nick Rimando.
Switzerland finally found the equalizer in the 80th minute off a corner kick as John Anthony Brooks nearly hit the chance in for an own goal just seconds before. But off a short corner, the cross ricocheted in the box before halftime substitute Valentin Stocker poked the chance in to seal matters at 1-1.
For the United States, it was the eighth goal the side has given up after the 80th minute since the World Cup in Brazil. But for Klinsmann, earning a result down a man was more notable than the recent trend of conceding late goals.
“It might be a theme, but it is not a problem because we know the reasons why certain things happen,” Klinsmann said. “We know why some games we ran out of gas and then made individual mistakes or maybe now it didn’t have to do with their physical condition. We are making progress. We’re getting closer to the 90 minutes than we were playing in the World Cup. This is good to see.”
Next up for the U.S. national team, Klinsmann will take the North American-based players to San Antonio on April 15 to face rival Mexico in a friendly before returning to Europe in June for friendlies with Netherlands and Germany.
Andrew Gastelum is a freelancer soccer writer. You can follow him on Twitter.
