Stand Up

Two things spring to mind from last night's U.S. win over Trinidad & Tobago. First, Bobby Convey looked both very good and very bad in the course of however many minutes he ended up playing. Aggressive on the ball, but a little too aggressive off it. Both yellow cards were good calls. And he should have buried the breakaway.

Second, and speaking of cards, I have to give full credit to Landon Donovan for staying on his feet on the play that earned T&T a straight red at the close of the first half. The defender still reached out and pulled on him, so the foul was still there, and he was still the last man back, so that call worked for me, too.

Which brings us to today's Washington Post, and a whole lot of nitpicking. With regard to the foul on Landon, Stephen Goff states "Lawrence was ejected for pulling down Donovan from behind at the top of the box after yet another errant ball in the back." Donovan never went down, and Goff is relying too heavily on stock phrases to describe the situation. On the same note: "Convey, already suspended for the Mexico match after receiving his second yellow card of the round in the first half, was ejected in the 88th minute for a harsh tackle." Not harsh, late. The two are subjectively different, and "harsh" overstates the matter quite a bit.

Goff's a good writer, but again, here he seems to detract from the accuracy of what he's describing by using more "comfortable" soccer phraseology.

Oh, one more thing, and that's a tremendous finish from McBride on the goal. Having the presence of mind to open up his stance so he could put the ball to the far post just seems like one of those things you get from playing in the Premiership.