Ukraine Tops United States In Friendly Match

 2-0 

Political instability in the Ukraine was the looming factor in today's international friendly match against the United States.  The match was originally scheduled to be played in the Ukraine, but civil unrest and a foreign military presents forced the match to be relocated.  The United States met the Ukrainian national team in Cyprus for the friendly in a near empty stadium.

The Ukraine opted to fielded a more experienced side while the United States had a more jumbled line-up as coach Jürgen Klinsmann continues to search for the right combination.  The defense for the U.S. was particularly suspect with a struggling veteran Oguchi Onyewu and an inexperienced John Anthony Brooks in front of Howard in goal.

The Ukraine scored early in the first-half when Denis Garmash beat the offsides-trap to create a shot on target.  Keeper Tim Howard did well to stop the initial shot, but the rebound came back to Garmash.  He then laid the ball off to Yevhen Yarmolenko who scored with an easy tap-in finish (12').

After the break both teams made several changes over the course of the second-half as friendlies allow more substitutions than tournament matches.  One of the substututes for the Ukraine was Marko Devic who was quick to contribute.  A long ball over the top allowed Devic to run right through the U.S. defense and get a shot at goal.  Again keeper Howard made a good save to deny the initial shot, but the rebound fell to Devic who scored with the second chance (67').

The United States were outplayed for nearly the entire match.  There was a moment in the second-half when the U.S. showed signs of producing a goal, but the best chances did not find the net.  Starting forward Josy Altidore only had one real chance and he missed high with a header.  Clint Dempsey's best chance was really a half-chance that was snuffed out by Ukraine keeper Pyatov coming off his line.

Winning was not nessessarily the goal for the United States in today's friendly match, rather further assessment for Jürgen Klinsmann heading into the World Cup.  The Ukraine team did not qualify for the World Cup so for them the match was about pride and maybe even distraction.  In this sense the match was a success for both nations as the Ukraine get the satisfaction of victory and Klinsman now knows more about his players.  Most noticably, Klinsman knows John Anthony Brooks is nowhere near ready for the national side.