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Men's soccer loses to Ireland, 3-0, finish eighth

by Martin Dale-Hench on September 14, 2009

In the final game of the 2009 Taipei Deaflympics men's soccer playoffs, the U.S. Soccer Team went scoreless for the third straight game, bowing out to their first opponent, Ireland, 3-0, on Sunday. The U.S. went without three key players due to red card suspensions from its previous game against Argentina. Meanwhile, its offensive struggles continued and the defense's woes increased. "It was our first time playing the 3-5-2 set," defender Jason Panarra said. "And our offense still didn't generate enough shots." The Irish defense barricaded all attempts near the goal, forcing the U.S. midfielders to shoot afar late in the game. Matthew Eby had the closest miss in the 63rd minute, hitting the crossbar from 30 meters. The ball bounced directly down, hit the goalkeeper and drifted away from the goal. The defense was porous the entire game, yielding Irish striker Joseph Watson much ground to dribble and feign kicks to keep the defense second-guessing. Watson easily scored Ireland's first goal in the 18th minute, running with the ball across the penalty area and evading three sliding defenders before tapping it past U.S. goalkeeper Toby Fitch. Fitch had seven saves, and he was busy in the second half, stopping six. "I was surprised with myself," Fitch said. "I sprained my ankle from a collision in the 13th minute, but I kept playing just fine." Ireland had possession of the ball for the majority of the game, developing sets with passes while the Americans often lobbed the ball past the Irish defense for the forwards to chase down. The U.S. only managed three shots the entire game. "We need more experience on the field," Fitch said. Ireland scored two late in the second half, one in the 83rd minute and another in the second minute of stoppage time. "I am very disappointed with our performance for the last two weeks," head coach Ken McDonald said. The U.S. lost six starters from its fourth place showing in the World Deaf Football Championships a year ago, McDonald said. "The replacements just didn't have the ability to compete at this level. The veterans from Greece had to work twice as hard to compensate for this," he said.
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