Football Station

Stuart Holden scored in the second minute of second-half stoppage time to earn the United States a 2-2 draw with Haiti and send it to the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup as the winner of Group B.

Holden’s equalizer extended the Americans’ unbeaten streak against home against CONCACAF opponents to 56 after Haiti jeopardized the string by scoring twice in the first four minutes of the second half. The result maintained the Americans’ unbeaten record in Gold Cup group play (23-2-0) and ensured a date with the third-placed team from Group A or C in the next round.

The Houston Dynamo maestro gave the United States a stunning equalizer deep into stoppage time.

“When you begin the tournament, the goal is to win your group and advance,” United States head coach Bob Bradley said. “The first thing that we said after the game is that we’ve accomplished that goal.”

Davy Arnaud opened the scoring for the United States, which started four players making their international debut, after six minutes. Holden split the Haitian defense with and incisive pass. Arnaud rushed onto the feed and tucked his left-footed effort to the side of onrushing goalkeeper Jean Dominique Zephirin.

“We scored an early goal, but it came so early that we hadn’t found a rhythm in the game yet,” Bradley said. “After that, we were still trying to find that rhythm. They were able to make some plays and cause some trouble.”

Holden nearly doubled the lead after 25 minutes when he was given time and space to fire from 30 yards. The long-distance drive rattled the underside of the crossbar, but did not bounce over the line.

Haiti threatened several times in the first half. Fabrice Noel cut inside and challenged U.S. goalkeeper Luis Robles, one of the debutantes, with a high drive. Robles parried it over his own head and had to rush back to push the effort away from his own goal line.

Moments after Jimmy Conrad put a header over the bar from a Holden corner kick, Robles made up for his earlier error by denying Sirin Vaniel from close range to ensure the U.S. would enter the halftime break with the advantage.

The lead didn’t last as Haiti scored twice within the first four minutes of the second half to seize control.

“We understood what I said (about what we had studied of the U.S.) at halftime and played a very spectacular second half, in my consideration,” Haiti coach Jairo Rios said.

Leonel Saint Preaux outmuscled U.S. left back Jay Heaps on the right wing before sending his cross to the far post. Robles was unable to get a touch and Virin nodded home at the far post to bring Haiti level.

Robles and Heaps were at the center of Haiti’s second goal four minutes later. Heaps cleared a pass along the end line into the center of the park as Robles rushed out tardily to do the same. Chery collected the clearance and lashed home spectacularly into the upper left corner from 25 yards.

Suddenly faced with the peril of not going through at the top of its group, the United States started to press in search of the equalizer. U.S. coach Bob Bradley inserted Charlie Davies, Kyle Beckerman and Brian Ching to spur the offense.

Holden headed a Colin Clark cross wide, while substitute Charlie Davies scuffed a chance under heavy pressure from Pierre Richard Bruny.

It looked like the U.S. would have to wait for the result in the nightcap between Honduras and Grenada to find out its final spot in the group until Holden scored in stoppage time to grab a point.

“It really hurts because it was one minute before the end of the match,” Rios said.

Analysis:  Again, for the United States, we can draw positives from the match, and, at the same time, looking at what went wrong and how to improve for the next round of the the Gold Cup.

The Good:  Stuart Holden not only netted a great equalizer, but he player superbly well all game.  On six minutes his pass cut open the Haitian defense (along with a great run from Arnaud), and from then on, he looked the most composed of the United States “C” team – if you will.  I saw the starting eleven today and wasn’t that pleased.  I’m sure Bradley felt compelled to rest some of his players for later on, but I wanted to see at least one or two names out there.

The Bad:  Jay Heaps.  He was getting beat by his man so regularly he may as well have not been there.  Not to mention, he seemed to have played a small part in causing the Haitian’s second goal (also unreal).  Where it looked like Robles was coming for the ball and calling for it (I’m not actually sure he was calling.  I wasn’t there) but Heaps played the ball to “safety” which coincidentally was the feet of Mones Chery for put the ball in an empty net from 25 yards out.  But hey, even if Robles was in goal and ready for the shot…he wasn’t going anywhere near that ball.

The Ugly:  The result.  We tied Haiti.  I felt like Bradley could have made some stronger lineup decisions.  But rather, he fielded a fairly untested and unexperieced group of players – four of which were uncapped.  I’m all for trying out new and young players, but typically I would think to field at least a few key names in the spine like Adu or Feilhaber (Feilhaber who now seems like he is benched until something goes wrong and he’s brought in to rectify the situation).

I can’t be overly critical.  We finished top of our group, rested our key players and pulled a draw out of a game that was a minute from close and us crashing out of the Gold Cup (something that would absolutely bring Bradley’s credibility as a coach into the spotlight).  Nevertheless, we’re through and into the knockout round.