Not every win is going to be Scotland caliber, sadly. The United States got three points in a solid but not all that dominant fashion on Friday evening against Antigua & Barbuda in their first World Cup Qualifier, but in all honesty it was more important to see a win than a pretty win. After all, they played plenty of pretty ball against Brazil and still came away with a 4-1 loss. (Rapids fans especially should know that pretty looking soccer doesn't always mean a result!)
It wasn't the absolute, 100% superb dominance we expected against a small Caribbean nation but it was still a pretty solid performance. The US outshot the competition by 12, including seven more shots on target. They ended up with barrels of well taken corner kicks and could very easily have had more goals than the three on the scoreboard in the end.
Even had it been as awful a game as critics have been crying it to be, this is still a US team learning things about itself.
(By the way, to anyone saying 'well it was just a tap in!', the United States has been filled with strikers who couldn't finish tap-ins the past few years, especially in the World Cup. Robbie Findley, anyone?)
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Matt Pollard 