Tonight the US met Venezuela. This could perhaps be considered the US "B" squad, but they played with passion. They controlled the tempo, as with the match vs Morocco earlier this week, but they were also dangerous in the box.
Ching had an outstanding game. Yes, he scored the game winner in the 36th minute with a flying kick off a cross by Bobby Convey, but he also had outstanding header flicks, he held the ball well with his back to goal while making smart passes, even had some good dribbling runs. His effort wasn't saved for just the box either; he was active back in the halfway line to win the ball and start some of our attacks. His was one of the more prominent names called by the announcers.
In addition to his goal, he had an excellent shot just moments before the goal (after an awesome spin around the defender), had a great opportunity in the opening minutes of the game, had a shot saved around the 54th minute (in an attack that he started with a pass to Dempsey), and got his head on the ball off a set piece from Donovan towards the end of the game.
The only true error I saw from Ching was that he tried to drive the ball into the box during stoppage time rather than holding up the ball and running out the clock. Minor, I know.
Bruce Arena had this to say about Ching after the match: "He got a goal and did a good job working for 90 minutes. He did a good job holding the ball and drew some fouls, things our forwards have to do on a consistent basis, so it was good to see. I thought, to be honest, the first 15 to 20 minutes of the game tonight were shaky and then, once he got into it, he played well. Once he scored the goal, he played well."
I actually saw some good stuff from Ching within the first 5 minutes, but I'm no Arena.
Wanna know what's up with Ching? Check out his blog: http://blogs.chron.com/brianching/
Ching scores vs Ghana in the World Cup. You heard it here first.
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