Jeff Larentowicz earns his second USMNT Cap
Subbing off the bench in the 76th minute against Belgium, the Colorado Rapid’s Jeff Larentowicz earned his second United States men’s national team cap. The U.S. National team played a 1 -0 defeat at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium on Tuesday. With only a little over fourteen minutes to evaluate his play, it was hard to truly rate his performance, but he stepped in and played a similar role as he does with the Rapids. Jeff plays as a defensive holding midfielder and is tasked with breaking up opposing attacks in our defensive half. This year for the Rapids, Larentowicz has seen career high numbers in goals scored (6) and has played in all 28 games so far. His six goals currently lead the Rapids tied with Caleb Folan and Conor Casey.
Larentowicz, who in my opinion, isn’t always the most exciting player to watch on the pitch is one of the most consistent players on our current Rapids roster and is well deserving of the U.S. national team call-up. It was great to see him get in the match in Belgium and earn valuable playing time against top talent in the world. With his recent national team training, he should come back to his club team, a little tired, but with a wealth of knowledge to pass along during the Rapid’s CONCACAF Champions League run. His style of play appears to be an important piece to Jurgen Klinsmann’s U.S. side but it also appears to be a very competitive position as well. Maurice Edu, Real Salt Lake’s Kyle Beckerman and Michael Bradley appear to be competing for this spot and all have more national team experience than Jeff. It still waits to be seen which players Klinsmann wants in his new system and he appears to be giving many an opportunity to earn their position in the new attack minded style of play. One thing is certain; his formation requires a central defensive midfielder and Larentowicz has earned his call-up. After seeing his second national team cap, it’s now up to him to show Klinsmann he deserves more minutes.
JMH
International Soccer, Rapids News and Analysis, US National Team
Inspiring. What a first half for the Colorado Rapids. This was the half of soccer I’ve been waiting for. Something inspiring. Something to cheer for. Colorado opened the first half score sheet with a goal from Jeff Larentowicz at the penalty spot in the 27th minute. Lady luck was on our side when Jeff’s goal was blocked by Greg Sutton and bounced back to the penalty mark giving Jeff a second chance. This time he didn’t miss. Two minutes later, Thierry Henry scores from a pass from Dwayne De Rosario in a crowed 18 yard box. Tied. In the 32’, the Rapids earned a free kick about 25 yards out. Pablo restarted quickly tapping the ball to Larentowicz who drill home a blast to the lower left corner, catching Sutton off guard. Before I could even send the tweet, 2-1 Rapids, the Red Bulls leveled the score from a cheeky little through pass from defender Roy Miller to the fast little Englishman, Luke Rodgers. He beat Kimura and Pickens to the ball and chipped in a goal from 10 yards out one minute after the Rapids took the lead. 2-2. That scoreline took us to the half. As the second half unfolded, each side saw a few good chances to pull ahead. At the end of stoppage time, the Rapids proudly walked off the field with a very well deserving tie. The final was 2-2.
Whenever I hear a fellow countryman is heading back stateside, I get all excited. As Tommy Boy would say, “Hello there pretty little pet, I love you. And then I stroke it, and I pet it, and I massage it. Hehe I love it, I love my little naughty pet!” Now of course this is a professional kind of excitement but just trying to illustrate how my eager imagination works. As you might have read, United States men’s national team player, Benny Feilhaber, is coming to the MLS. For the last 3 seasons Feilhaber has been playing in the Danish leagues with Aarhus Gymnastikforening (don’t worry, I can’t say it either) as more of an attacking midfielder. After watching the Colorado Rapids last two matches, our depth at center midfield has been uncovered. Pablo Mastroeni isn’t getting any younger (he’s actually the second oldest on the team at 34) and I can’t help believe that we won’t get a few more knocks in our midfield this season.
This match shows four devastatingly simple truths
However, having laid out the serious concerns, in the words of Third Eye Blind, “why don’t you step back from that ledge my friend.” Here are three encouraging signs
The Rapids began much like last season ended, with Omar causing more trouble for opposing defenses than Charlie Sheen caused for Two and a Half Men. At 8′ he broke a corner trap and sent the ball in across the 6 yard box, off GK Perkin’s fingertips, creating a sitter for Jeff Larentowicz.
The Columbus Crew came to…well, try very hard not to lose. Cummings predictably punished their hesitant approach and sent a low cross into the middle, Casey dummied, and Mastroeni sent it into the roof of the net. It was a well-deserved goal in the 25′, and every indication pointed to the Rapids getting a second.
If you scoured the Rapids for a brace of goals in an essential road game, you might list half dozen more likely candidates than Jeff Larentowicz. The red-crowned steel of the midfield did just that, and helped the Rapids earn a much needed point at home.
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