US Men Defeat Guatemala in World Cup Qualifier

Our men's team hasn't won a soccer game in Guatemala since 1988 and we have never won a World Cup qualifier...until last night that is, when Beasley hit a corner to Bocanegra to give us a 1-0 victory. It was an ugly game all around with 40 fouls, 2 red cards, blood, riot gear and post game flare ups. Being able to pull an away win out of a game like that is an excellent sign for the team as we move forward. Some other random thoughts:

• Heath Pearce seemed to really struggle on our left side. So did Eddie Lewis for that matter. Our left side was killing us all game and we got lucky a few times that Guatemala did not capitalize. We need to figure that side of our defense out quickly.
• How much did you want to kill Carlos Ruiz after he kicked our keeper Tim Howard in the face? Man. I was pissed. Not as pissed as Howard though. Here is Howard in the post game conference:
  

"I think you would rather have him come and man up and say, 'Look, I don't like you, I’m going to kick you and I’m going to do all that.'" Howard said. "You can almost respect it in a funny way but he has this way about him where he kicks and punches, he's an asshole and he wants to come and be your friend. There’s just no place for it."

• Our defenders could end up being our highest scorers...Ching looked pretty non-existent until we got the lead and then needed to kill time. He really stepped up his game at that time. But overall, we really struggled on offense which should be no surprise at this point. I think I would prefer for us to find forwards with qualities that are not rip-offs of Brian McBride.