By now the US needed shock therapy. Bradley brought in Steve Cherundolo, Oguchi Onyewu, Jose Torres, and Robbie Findley on resumption of the second half. Out went Spector, Goodson, Clark, and Benny Feilhaber. The moribund attack received an instant lift.
46 minutes +: Michael Bradley almost gave the USA the equalizer on the onset as Bocanegra floats in a long cross into the box, nicely controlled by Donovan, who cuts the ball back but Bradley has his shot blocked by Servet Cetin in the nick of time.
Findley was a revelation as he showed serious attacking purpose. Altidore by now had dropped back deep into ball retrieval mode.
54 minutes+: Altidore lays a pass to Findley who curls his shot with his left foot just wide of the goalpost.
57 minutes +:The breakthrough came in breathtaking fashion in the 57th minute. Jay De Merit punts a ball down the field finding Findley who controls it nicely, turns, and cheekily chips it over to a streaking Donovan who swipes it past Volkan Demirel at the first touch and cuts the ball across goalmouth. Altidore is at hand to guide it into goal. The 55,000 fans at Financial Field erupt in joy.
58 minutes+ :Findley a minute later after contributing to the goal, combines with Donovan again, to run the ball on the right but his curling cross goes just wide.
61 minutes +: A goalmouth scramble finds Emre whose drilled shot is saved by a diving Onyewu to save a likely goal. A defensive gem.
67 minutes+: Donovan shows some great pace to outhustle the Turkish defense but his grounder just flashes wide off the goal.
74 minutes+: The Turkish citadel falls as Deuce latches onto a pass by Donovan and using his strength fights off Sabri Sarioglu’s challenge while maintaining his balance to slip the ball underneath the outstretched hands of Demirel. The USA are up finally.
The Turks mount a furious campaign to find a equalizer but the US weather the storm well.
86th minutes+: Stuart Holden finds Michael Bradley surging into the box. Instead of taking the shot at goal, the midfielder cuts to the ball to Dempsey. The Fulham striker’s effort goes wide to the left.
88th minute+: Torres free kick curls and strikes the side netting taking everybody by surprise.
Torres improved the midfield controlling the ball, showing flashes of creativity, while Findley combined well with Donovan down the wing to shake things up with his speed. Carlos Bocanegra and Steve Cherundolo provided good service into the danger area. Clint Dempsey kept his reputation as a big time scorer intact.
Jozy Altidore in a great bit of improvisation and sacrifice dropped down. The Hull City forward showed some neat touches while assisting on attack. The US created a good deal of unpredictability with no obvious target man in the second half. There was a much better flow to the US game.