PENAL! PENAL! PENAL!

Two victories off penalty kicks send the Americans to the semi-finals of Concacaf Olympic qualifying, with a likely matchup against Canada as of the time of this writing. I think the US is probably the favorite to win at this point, despite some pretty unconvincing victories.


1. Stuart Holden - Looked like maybe the Man of the Match for the second game in a row. Holden's dominance in this tournament, as well as the departure of Ngwenya, makes me think he could have a big impact for the Dynamo this year.


1. Sal Zizzo - Showed a lot of energy and some good touch. Makes me wonder though if he's got enough fitness to go the full 90.
2. Michael Orozco - The only defensive player who started in both clean sheet victories. I think Orozco has earned his way into the regular starting XI.


1. Chad Barrett - You knew this was coming. Add Barrett to the list of American forwards who have squandered opportunities on the national scene. If you get booed by the home fans, you're probably going to wind up on my Rail list.

So after these three matches, the US has certainly not dominated, but we've learned a good deal about our players, we've got some confidence, and I think Nowak has put us into a good position to win. We've likely got a semifinals matchup against a Canadian team with a couple of familiar names that just destroyed Guatemala.

Here's my starting XI for the Canada match, which will be essentially our most important match since this one:
G: Seitz
D: Hill, Edu, Orozco, Sturgis
M: Zizzo, Kljestan, Adu, McCarty, Holden
F: Altidore

What do I think Nowak will use? Pretty much the same, but probably Gaven for Zizzo. Or maybe add Ianni to the back and move Edu up to the wing.

Doing just enough to advance, but not much more

Admittedly, I only watched the entire first half and bits and pieces of the second half last night (What?! Lost was on!) so this list might be incomplete, or even incorrect entirely.


1.Nathan Sturgis - Wait wasn't he in the Rail list on Tuesday? There was a definitive improvement in the backline against Panama over the backline against Cuba. A lot of that probably had to do with the additions of Wynn and Orozco, but Sturgis played noticeably better too.
2.Stuart Holden - Provided the enthusiasm and agressiveness that was really missing in the first match from Findley and Davies. This is the first time I'd seen him play with the national team, and now I've taken to thinking that he could be a contributor with the senior squad in some qualifying matches later this year.


1.Sasha Kljestan - He's certainly got some skill, but I just don't get the obsession with him by a lot of fans. He was absolutely an improvement over Findley, and is good enough to start for the U23s, but I just don't see him replacing DMB (or even Convey) on the full national team yet.


1.Dax McCarty - How many times did he give the ball away and then immediately foul the opposing player? He had a poor game in possession, but still did an adequate job of breaking up some plays. You could argue that Dax might be too small to play the "bruiser" role, but this guy would disagree.

The US team has certainly not been impressive, but it looks like they're doing enough to be able to advance out of this group. But can this team beat Mexico? Because that do-or-die matchup in the semifinals feels inevitable. I personally think we have the talent to match Mexico (Dos Santos and Adu pretty much cancel each other out). So far, we've played down to the level of our competition. The question is whether or not we will be able to play up to the level of our competition against Mexico and/or Guatemala. Honduras will be a good test.