Ice Station Kaiserslautern

There's a reason the World Cup is played in the summer. The US-Poland friendly, one of two taking place in the host nation of Germany this month, was practically whited out by blizzard-like conditions for much of the second half. The 80th minute even saw the introduction of a yellow ball for improved visibility on the field (though perhaps ironically, I found it harder to see on the TV).

The first half was pretty brutal. The US didn't look very good, with mediocre passing and a problematic tendency to allow effective Polish counterattacking. They also didn't get too many good offensive sequences going. I know the field was hard and it was freezing, but Poland didn't seem too bothered (although I guess they don't have a place in their country they can really retire to in the winter to avoid these sorts of conditions).

The second half was a different story. Even with the snow picking up, the US came out of halftime looking like a different team. Of course, to some degree they were, with a couple changes made at the break; both teams put in their B goalies to start the second half, in particular. Did Clint Dempsey's goal, just three minutes in, result from a minor mistake that Jerzy Dudek might not have made? Considering that Artur Boruc apologized to his coach, and the coach still told the media, "That's not enough; you need to concentrate more," I guess it did. But it was still Dempsey being in good position at the right time, and if Taylor Twellman isn't getting in there to disrupt Boruc's punch attempt, probably nothing happens. Either way, however, the US team looked markedly better in the second half - better than their first half form, but also just better than the Poles in general. The offense looked more dangerous, the defense made fewer mistakes, and Tim Howard was good in his few chances.

Still, does this game tell us much going forward? Maybe not. Certainly the US cannot afford to have a first half like that against Italy or the Czechs - or Ghana, for that matter. When you end up in a group with two of the best attacking teams in the world (and certainly in Europe), you have to play the best defense possible, and I think this team does have a good defense, or at least the pieces for it, but it took a half to show up in Kaiserslautern, and against another team it might have been fatal. Of course, there should be more training time, and there are still two more friendlies (though this was the only one with the full A team), so we'll see.

The match against Germany should be interesting. I assume it can't be a coincidence that the two major friendlies the US scheduled for March are against the two teams that defeated the US in 2002, and it's certainly not a coincidence that both are in Germany - counting today's win, the Americans have just two wins (to seven defeats and two draws) in Europe under Arena. (The other: a friendly win over... Poland, in Poland in 2004.) A little worrying for June? Well, yeah. But then, I'd be worried about the draw no matter where it was. Still, getting two major European sides, playing close to their home countries... a bit problematic. Let's see how the game on the 22nd preps the US for that kind of atmosphere.

In other news, I also watched the England-Uruguay game. Tough break for Uruguay, but then they really didn't deserve the win anyway - still, England seemed to mail it in for much of the first half and, ironically, really only started to cook when bench players entered - the tying goal was scored by sub Peter Crouch (bizarrely wearing a uniform with 12 on the back and 21 on the front, which cannot possibly be legal) and the winner set up by a great cross from Shaun Wright-Phillips. (To be fair to the starters, Joe Cole set up the first goal and scored the second.) Rio Ferdinand made several mistakes - maybe this guy still has a job at Man U because he cost so much, but how does he keep starting for the national team when everyone thinks he sucks? - but the defense was pretty strong overall despite the early loss of Wayne Bridge. Pouso's goal was brilliant; you can't defend against that. But apart from that, Uruguay had few real chances. I don't know if you'd say England deserved the win, but they were certainly the more dominant team for at least the second 45.