I just finished watching the USA vs Sweden friendly and despite the loss I'm somewhat happy with the way we played. It's a tough environment, playing in Sweden, and the fact that we've never played well on european soil doesn't help.
The dutch ref didn't help either, not that he was bad, but it seemed like a lot of 50/50 calls went Sweden's way. This includes the no-call on the push that led to the Sweden goal. Despite the push, it was a pretty phenomenal strike. If that what it takes for one of the top Euro teams to beat us on their own soil, when then we can't complain too much about that.
My biggest complaint is that, once again, we had trouble finishing opportunities that we should finish. And again thats due to not having a true striker. Dempsey and Donovan are both true midfielders, and when they are playing up front, we lose don't have a lot of finishing ability. We also have no size up front. Thankfully, Sweden also missed some very good opportunities, or this game could've been more than 1-0.
In terms of individual performances, I was happy with Tim Howard, he's a pretty clear step up from Keller. There wasn't much he could do on the goal, as it was a great strike and he was screened.
I was also happy with Onyewu, which is a surprise. He still fouls too much, but Sweden is a physical team, and at times we lack that physical presence. Onyewu was up against Imbrahimovic who is HUGE, and Onyewu generally did a good job in terms of positioning. He also had a nice stop on the line of an Imbrahimovic shot.
Finally, I thought Kamani Hill did some good things after coming in as a sub. He showed good pace, handled the ball, and generally did a good job with possession. I wouldn't mind seeing some more of him up front.
On the negative side, Jonathan Bornstein continues to disappoint me at left back. He didn't do anything terrible today, but he got beat a few times. He's supposed to be strong when stepping up and playing in an offensive role, but I didn't really see too much of that either. There's a few guys I'd rather see there, including Spector, who is more comfortable as a right back, but has done well at left back also.
Oh well. It wasn't a great performance, but it wasn't a bad performance. We've certainly closed the talent gap on Sweden and some of the other Euro teams. We're certainly not quite on par with Germany, England, France, etc. With the next match being in a couple of weeks against Brazil, we'll get another idea of how far we've come.