United States Vs. Venezuela: Ricardo Clark Scores Late Winner For USA

Anyhow, the US had the better of play and improved as the game went on. By the end of the match it was only the heroics of Leonardo Morales that was keeping them off the board. Eventually, however, a corner awarded in the seventh minute of injury time (there were originally supposed to be four, but Morales spent a lot of time on the ground injured) was nodded in at the first post by Clark.

It was virtually the last action of the match, and it was good enough to give the USA their first win against South American competition in 13 matches. Still, a win in a friendly’s secondary to playing well, and, uh. They didn’t.

The United States has had nearly 60 percent of the possession and has not allowed Venezuela to create a single good scoring opportunity, but most of their possession has not been in dangerous areas. The passing is good, but the movement isn’t. There are positives to take from the first half, but there simply weren’t enough chances from a U.S. perspective.

For additional coverage, head over to SB Nation Arizona, who is live at University of Phoenix Stadium for the game.

United States (4-2-3-1): Hamid; Pearce, Parkhurst, Cameron, DeLaGarza; Larentowitz, Jones; Shea, Zusi, Feilhaber; Bunbury

The back line players will be under the microscope the most, as they have a much better chance of cracking the first team than the likes of Hamid, Zusi, Feilhaber and Bunbury. Parkhurst is coming off of a great year in Denmark, while the other three members of the back line are among the best defenders in MLS.

For Jurgen Klinsmann and the U.S., everything starts with Venezuela. As is usually the case with January camp, the match will probably be ugly. The same is likely to be true when the Yanks play Panama on Wednesday, but these matches are about flash or being pretty or star power. If that was the goal of them they would have cancelled them long ago because January camp has none of that.

January camp is about getting a look at a couple players and finding that player or two that may fly below the radar. With World Cup qualifying starting in June, this January camp is more important than most and finding that player could pay bigger dividends than usual. Find that player or two and the matches are a success. That starts against Venezuela in Arizona.