Jovan's Musk

The storylines were pretty obvious going in. The parallels to ex-living ex-president Reagan's invasion with overwhelming force, save the slight inconsistency that the Spice Boyz of Grenada were coming here, were everywhere. It wasn't a question of whether or not we'd win, but by how much, and who would get left off the US squad on the return leg.

Of course, things don't always quite go the way you expect. Ask the Fire as they helped launch Columbus into the upper reaches of the Eastern Conference a few weeks ago. Ask Jamaica, one of several victims of unfortunate and unexpected CONCACAF results over the weekend.

Which isn't to say the U.S. didn't dominate en route to a 3-0 victory, behind two goals from Chicago Fire midfielder DaMarcus Beasley and one very important stoppage time strike from the keeper of the worst hair on the team, Greg Vanney. Bruce Arena's squad came out fast and furious, with the best metric being 7 corner kicks earned in the first ten minutes of the match.

One reason for this opening flurry appears to have been young striker Conor Casey. When Casey was subbed out in the 20th minute after spraining a ligament in his knee, the American offense did not adapt quickly to Jovan Kirovski. And I don't think it's a matter of Kirovski not cutting it, either. The former European journeyman and current Galaxy forward made some nice runs, and had a stellar backheel to midfielder Landon Donovan that Donovan wasn't able to return. Things just weren't in sync. The U.S. didn't get it's next corner kick until the 36th minute.

It certainly didn't help that Grenada abandoned playing ten men behind the ball early in the game, opting instead for eleven men on the goal line. I swear, I've never seen so many goal line clearances. It didn't last, though, as Beasley found himself wide open at the far post while captain Claudio Reyna found himself wide open thirty yards upfield on the flank in first half stoppage time, and sent in a ball that Beasley easily headed into the net. Earlier in the match, Run DMB contested weakly for a couple of headers, and I think I even said out loud, to noone in particular, that he was probably less likely than Steve Cherundolo -- who's really short, natch -- to score with his head.

Back to Kirovski, though. I don't know if it's because he's finally come home to a league where he'll actually play, or what, but I'm warming up to him. Especially when you consider the brilliant piece of running without the ball that freed Beasley up for goal number two. Particularly in America, we seem so obsessed with statistics that we have a hard time appreciating guys who move well away from the ball. Some guys, like Landon Donovan, move well off the ball in order to receive the ball. What Kirovski did is so much more thankless, because he simply pulled a defender away from the play so another guy could get all the credit and all the glory, and that's the kind of guy you want on your team. I've been critical of his selection to the senior men's team in the past, but he certainly made a case for himself this weekend.

Meanwhile, back in Major League Soccer, no one seems to want the top spot in the Eastern Conference. The Fire have tried giving it away for the third time, if my memory serves, and each of those Fire losses has effected a series of results throughout the league that have left them in first place despite dropping a match. I don't count on that sort of luck continuing, but it's a silver lining of sorts, especially when you figure that striker Ante Razov may have gotten himself back on track in the losing effort with two goals, one of which exorcised the demon of the missed penalty kick in last year's MLS Cup.