U.S. Men Eliminated From Olympics
Memo to the Galaxy: U.S. Men's Olympic Coach Peter Nowak is now available.
The U.S. played with 10 men for 87 minutes, saw Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan score an 88th minute penalty and Benny Feilhaber hit the post in second half stoppage time, but it wasn't enough as Nigeria beat the U.S. 2-1 early today in China.
With the defeat the U.S. failed to reach the next round of the Olympics and are eliminated from the tournament.
U.S. lineup: 18-Brad Guzan; 2-Marvell Wynne, 6-Maurice Edu, 15-Michael Parkhurst, 3-Michael Orozco; 14-Robbie Rogers, 7-Stuart Holden (9-Charlie Davies, 77), 16-Sacha Kljestan, 8-Danny Szetela (5-Dax McCarty, 69); 17-Brian McBride, 12-Jozy Altidore (10-Benny Feilhaber, 46).
The result must be a stinging blow for the Americans considering how close they came to making the next round against the Netherlands outright in their second group game only for the Dutch to equalize in the dying moments of stoppage time.
Below, Nigeria's Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi, right, fights for a header with the
United States' Maurice Edu, left, of Fontana.
AP Photo
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About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
Orozco is definitely the goat/chiva in this mess. Can anyone, if you're out there, provide some info about him?
I missed the foul. Was it a red? Seems as though the ref was biased a bit, so maybe Orozco isn't to blame.