The U.S. Tie Guatemala

Clint Dempsey planted the first goal of the night, MNT v Guatemala. The match ended 1-1.

Before I get into the actual game, I have to mention how annoyed I was Tuesday night to discover that USA v Guatemala was not being shown on ESPN. The men's national team's second game in the CONCACAF qualifiers for the World Cup was only available on Pay-Per-View for $29.95. Outrageous. Searching the Web for answers, I found this explanation on the U.S. Soccer site:

What happened regarding the World Cup qualifying match between the U.S. and Guatemala on June 12?
In this case, Traffic Sports acquired the television rights for the match – in both English and Spanish – without any obligation to resell the English-language rights for this particular game to a third party, including the United States. U.S. Soccer and its broadcast partners had discussions with Traffic Sports to purchase the rights, but in the end Traffic Sports opted to distribute the match on pay-per-view in the United States. In order to make the match available to fans here in the U.S., Traffic Sports is utilizing the services of Integrated Sports Media to handle the distribution via pay-per-view.

Will other away World Cup qualifying matches for the U.S. also be on pay-per-view?
Unfortunately, we are not able to answer that question at this time as ultimately the rights holder for each away qualifying match will make a determination on whether they will sell the rights to a broadcaster in the United States. U.S. Soccer and its broadcast partners will pursue every available option to purchase the rights for upcoming away World Cup qualifiers.


That's insane. I find it hard to believe that a foreign entity can own the rights to the airing of a game that includes our own national team. I hope this gets sorted out, I'm not going to pay to watch anymore games.

Now that that's off my chest, onto the game which I watched at Smithfield NYC for a $10 cover charge. (Boooo...)

The match started off beautifully--good possession, good passing and excellent blocking by Tim Howard coupled by a superb goal by Clint Dempsey who really showed off his talent.

In the second half, the U.S. came out confident and strong. Guatemala, in contrast, while undeniably driven, appeared disorganized and didn't pose much of a threat. The potential for a 2-0 finish seemed well within U.S.A's grasp until, in the fourth quarter, a random yellow card popped up against Fabian Johnson. Guatemala was given a free kick which was competently executed by Marco Pappa who sent the ball sailing into the right side of the goal inches from the head of Tim Howard. I'm not sure what happened to Howard, but he basically stood motionless and fixed to the ground like a He-Man action figure waiting to be jiggled by a giant hand. And so the game ended 1-1.

It was an inglorious ending for the U.S. that left fans, myself included, shaking their heads in frustration. No easy wins here. Clearly, this is going to be a slog.