Sunday, March 27, 2016

Crew SC's Saravia Key in Historic Guatemala Win over USA

The United States has had a dominate run over Guatemala in recent years. We've been told that you have to go back to the Reagan Administration to find a match that Guatemala won outright. While that is true, there's a touch of agenda behind that statement. If you take a look at it from another perspective you see that that the US has only one win over Guatemala away from home soil in modern history (2008).

Overall the record for the US in Guatemala since 1977 is 1 Win, 5 Drawn, 4 loses. It's clearly a tough place to play.

Making it even tougher for this US this past Friday was the mid-field play of recent Columbus Crew SC signing (via "super-draft") Rodrigo Saravia.

Saravia went the full 90 minutes in the win. Playing a mainly disciplined mid role he helped keep US players like Mix Diskerud, Michael Bradley, Bobby Wood and Clint Dempsey from finding any space or room to create in the Guatemalan half.

The US is horrible with the ball and they did dominate the passing category 505 / 303. What that means is Opta says US had over 60% of Possession. It's a misleading stat. Possession of the ball is a relative term for the USMNT. One could argue that letting the US fumble around with made the game easier for Guatemala. They were doing the work for them.

A lot on the line Tuesday when these two face off again in Columbus. Inside the importance to World Cup qualifying, it will also be the first time Saravia plays a competitive match at Crew Stadium.

The United States have never lost to Guatemala at home. It's an ugly, lopsided record. Undefeated. 13 wins, 1 draw for the Stars and Stripes with Guatemala managing only 3 goals in those games. A draw alone will be an unbelievable result, especially considering the game is nestled in the heartland of the country.

A tough environment like this are where a player like Rodrigo Saravia can make a career, however. It's one of these magnificent moments that you only get with soccer.

Game kicks off Tuesday evening.

No comments: