POSTED: Thursday November 19th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

U.S. FALLS TO DENMARK 3-1 IN FINAL MATCH OF 2009

Jeff Cunningham Gets First International Goal

•    Castillo Earns First U.S. Men’s National Team Cap With Second Half
Substitution

•    U.S. Awaits Their 2010 FIFA World Cup Opponents on Dec. 4



AARHUS, Denmark (Nov. 18, 2009) – Three quick second half goals by
Denmark canceled out a first half goal by Jeff Cunningham and provided
the Danes with a 3-1 victory against the U.S in their final match
of 2009.



Cunningham capitalized on a Danish mistake for the match’s first goal
in the 26th minute, but three substitutes made immediate impacts by
scoring for Denmark in the first 10 minutes after the break.



Speaking on the first half, U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Bob
Bradley said “I thought the first half tonight was solid.  We stayed
organized and got an opportunistic goal.” Remarking on the Danish
attack, Bradley continued by saying “Denmark as expected picked up the
pressure early in the second half. The six minute stretch really
teaches us some lessons in terms of our reactions and our ability when
a team really comes after us. That’s something we can really look at
closely and try to use down the road.”



The match was the second in five days in Europe as the U.S. begins
their preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and second straight
against a fellow World Cup qualifier. The U.S. was one of only five
teams to play two fellow World Cup qualified opponents on the final two
international matchdays of 2009.



The United States concludes 2009 as the top team in CONCACAF World Cup
qualification, besting rival Mexico by one point at the top of the
standings. The U.S. also reached the final of a FIFA international
tournament for the first time in their history, defeating No. 1 ranked
Spain in the semifinals of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup before
eventually falling 3-2 to Brazil in the championship match in South
Africa. The following month, a younger and less experienced U.S. team
marched through the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament, reaching the final
for the sixth time.



The U.S. now awaits the draw on Dec. 4 in South Africa to find out
their group opponents for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which you can follow
on ESPN2 at 11 a.m. ET or via Drawtracker on ussoccer.com.



 “2009 was still an excellent year,” said Bradley. “The main job was to
secure qualification for South Africa next June. Today Denmark picked
up the pressure early in the second half and the six minute stretch
really teaches us some lessons in terms of our reactions and our
ability when a team really comes after us. That’s something we can
really look at closely and try to use down the road.”



Similar to the match against Slovakia, Bradley tapped into the depth of
the U.S. player pool without the likes of Landon Donovan, Oguchi Onyewu
and Tim Howard. After making his first-ever appearance at center back
for the U.S. on Saturday against Slovakia, Jonathan Spector again
partnered with Carlos Bocanegra in the middle of defense. With Howard
staying in England to nurse a foot injury, Brad Guzan again started in
goal, while veteran Frankie Hejduk started at right back, and up top
Cunningham earned his first start for the U.S. in four years.



A trio of players were also added to the roster since the game against
Slovakia with the Houston Dynamo duo of Ricardo Clark and Stuart Holden
getting the starting nod, while Tigres defender Edgar Castillo, who
earned his first call-up to national team camp, came on as a
substitution in the 61st minute.



Despite playing Denmark five previous times, this was the team’s first
game in the Scandinavian nation and Denmark capitalized on an energized
crowd to get the first good chance of the match. After a foul by Benny
Feilhaber on the right side of the pitch, Jakob Poulsen quickly took
the free kick and dropped it in behind the U.S. defense for an
onrushing Jesper Grønkjær. The forward was in a full sprint with Hejduk
on his back and could not put his shot on frame, firing the volley over
the crossbar from eight yards out.



The U.S. responded with their own attack, earning a free kick in the
sixth minute. Holden’s cross didn’t find a teammate and the clearance
was passed out to Daniel Jensen, but Feilhaber stepped in to strip the
ball away. Taking one touch towards the box, the midfielder shot hard
towards the near post, but Danish goalkeeper Thomas Sørensen dived to
his left and pushed the shot aside.



The next 20 minutes saw probing attacks up and down the field by both
teams, but the slick pitch made final shots hard to come by.



The U.S. struck first in the 26th minute from the foot of Cunningham,
punishing the Danish defense for a mistake in their end. Sørensen had
possession and looked to pass it out to his left back, but neglected to
see the MLS Golden Boot winner lurking nearby. Pouncing on the casual
pass with his first touch, Cunningham took one more towards the top of
the box before letting fly with a left-footed shot that beat the
goalkeeper to the near post.



Cunningham’s goal was his first international strike, making him the
ninth player this year to get his first goal with the national team and
equaling a team record set in 1993. He’s also the 21st different player
to score in 2009, setting a new record for the Men’s National Team.



Denmark head coach Morten Olsen made three substitutions to start the
second half, bringing on Johan Absalonsen, William Kvist Jørgensen and
Søren Rieks. The change paid dividends immediately, as Absalonsen
pulled Denmark even in the 47th minute. Receiving a high cross into the
top of the box behind the U.S. defense, the forward collected and
turned towards the endline on the right side. Holding off Spector, the
Dane got a clean shot past Guzan and inside the near post.



Five minutes later the home side took the lead, this time through
Rieks. Denmark’s attack down the left side found Absalonsen with space.
Turning towards goal and entering the box, the striker drew the
defenders towards him—leaving Rieks open on the back post. With
Absalonsen sliding the pass across the six yard box, Rieks calmly shot
past Guzan to take the lead.



Three minutes later the final damage was done, this time on a strike
from Bernburg. A pass into the arc at the top of the box was aiming for
Lars Jacobsen, but the defender dove after light contact. With
Bocanegra and Spector trying to close down Rieks, the striker slipped a
pass between them to Bernburg, who had space to turn and fire past
Guzan for a third goal in nine minutes.



Bradley responded with three substitutions of his own in the 61st
minute, calling on Eddie Johnson, Robbie Rogers and newcomer Castillo
to replace Cunningham, Holden and Michael Bradley, respectively.



Castillo and Rogers did well to combine with Jozy Altidore eight
minutes later. Castillo’s pass up towards Altidore was touched back to
Rogers 22 yards from goal. Firing a hard shot towards the right,
Sørensen dove for the save and held onto the ball.



Content with a two goal lead, Denmark played for possession for the
remainder of the game, passing around the pitch in a bid to kill off
the clock. Two late free kicks and a Rogers corner caused some trouble
for Denmark, but a tight backline ushered the game to a victorious end.




Since taking the helm in 2007, Bradley is 6-6-0 against European
opponents, and 2-5-0 on European soil. The U.S. record in 2009 record
moved to 13-8-3. The teams had split their previous games with
identical 1-1-3 records before today’s match.



In other matches, five teams earned final spots in South Africa next
summer. Algeria defeated Egypt in a one-game playoff in Sudan 1-0 to
book a spot, while Portugal, Slovenia, Greece and France all won their
European playoffs. The final spot is up for grabs between Costa Rica
and Uruguay as the South Americans will host tonight’s second leg and
hold a 1-0 aggregate lead.

- U.S. Men’s National Team Match Report -

Match: United States vs. Denmark

Date: Nov. 18, 2009

Competition: International Friendly

Venue: NRGi Park – Aarhus, Denmark

Kickoff: 8:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. ET)

Attendance: 15,172

Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 46 degrees



Scoring Summary:    1    2    F

USA                           1    0    1

DEN                           0    3    3



USA – Jeff Cunningham            26th minute

DEN – Johan Absalonsen (Simon Kjær)    47

DEN – Søren Rieks (Johan Absalonsen)    52

DEN – Martin Bernburg (Søren Rieks)    55



Lineups:

  18-Brad Guzan; 22-Frankie Hejduk, 2-Jonathan Spector
(15-Jimmy Conrad, 70), 3-Carlos Bocanegra (capt.) (25-Clarence Goodson,
70), 12-Jonathan Bornstein; 7-Stuart Holden (19-Robbie Rogers, 61),
13-Ricardo Clark, 4-Michael Bradley (33-Edgar Castillo, 61), 5-Benny
Feilhaber; 17-Jozy Altidore (28-Dax McCarty, 80), 32-Jeff Cunningham
(36-Eddie Johnson, 61)

Subs not used: 35-Marcus Hahnemann

Head Coach: Bob Bradley

1-Thomas Sørensen; 6-Lars Jacobsen, 3-Simon Kjær, 4-Per
Krøldrup, 5-Michael Lumb; 7-Daniel Jensen (18-Johan Absalonsen, 46),
2-Christian Poulsen (13-William Kvist Jørgensen, 46), 8-Jacob Poulsen;
10- Martin Jørgensen (capt.) (19-Jesper Bech, 80), 9-Morten Rasmussen
(17-Martin Bernburg, 35, 20-Thomas Enevoldsen, 90), 11- Jesper Grønkjær
(15-Søren Rieks, 46)

Subs not used: 12-Anders Møller Christensen, 14- Leon Jessen, 16-Kim
Christensen

Head Coach: Morten Olsen



Stats Summary: USA / DEN           

Shots: 7 / 8

Shots on Goal: 3 / 5

Saves: 2 / 2

Corner Kicks: 3 / 4

Fouls: 9 / 14

Offside: 3 / 1



Misconduct Summary:

none



Officials:

Referee: Craig Thomson (SCO)

Assistant Referee 1: Alan Cunningham (SCO)

Assistant Referee 2: Gordon Middleton (SCO)

Fourth Official: Michael Svendsen (DEN)



ussoccer.com  Man of the Match:

Ricardo Clark

# # #

Keywords · US Soccer · Denmark · soccer · football · Jeff Cunningham · Edgar Castillo · Ricardo Clark

Name: Jim Moorhouse
Organization: US Soccer Federation
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