The United States soccer team began its quest for a berth in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa the right way Sunday. Scoring their first goal just 53 seconds in off the foot of Clint Dempsey, the U.S. tacked on seven more in a downright thrashing of Barbados, whose team looked wildly over matched.
“It’s good to get the whole thing underway," said U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Bob Bradley, whose son Michael netted the second goal in the 8-0 destruction. "We spent a lot of time thinking about just getting off on the right foot, and a goal early like that certainly is getting off on the right foot. From there, it’s just an exercise of staying sharp, trying to play the right ball, the right timing, and finish off some of plays so we could have a margin. We were able to do that, so in those ways it was a definite success.”
Granted it was Barbados, who looks terrible even to a novice soccer fan, but the U.S. answered some critics who were concerned that they couldn’t score after they were blanked in their last three friendlies.
Dempsey’s goal was the fastest goal ever scored by the U.S. in a World Cup qualifier and the 8-0 rout was their largest margin of victory ever in the qualifying round.
The team travels to Barbados for a re-match on June 22nd. Barbados should just pray to keep it under a five-goal differential.
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