U.S. Olympic qualifying squad disappointing in 1-1 draw with Cuba

It was a disappointing night for the U.S. Olympic qualifying squad. Despite the better chances the team drew 1-1 with Cuba.
The United States came out very sharp and in the early minutes had a shot from Freddy Adu hit off the post. Adu on the night looked good and has clearly benefitted from his experience overseas at Benfica in Portugal. Adu gave the U.S. the early lead but the mistake ultimately was not finishing off Cuba early by getting a second or third goal.
Cuba would then get settled in and produce an equalizer after slack U.S. defending right before halftime to take things into the locker room with momentum.
The Cubans spent the entire evening playing for the counter-attack and it’s mission became to earn a point by defending very deep. One wonders how a few more technical players like Arturo Alvarez and even Benny Feilhaber would have done being inserted into the game at this point.
Adu remained the biggest threat with Dax McCarty providing inspiration out of central midfield yet the U.S. many times just seemed to dwell on the ball and not move it quickly enough. Robbie Findlay missed a golden opportunity one on one with the Cuban goalkeeper while a longer range shot hit by McCarty was turned away .
Average performance got the U.S. a less than average result. Despite creating a few more chances the U.S. looked sluggish for large stretches of this match and could not change the tempo.
Houston Dynamo central defender Patrick Ianni started and played 90 minutes while Stuart Holden did not play. He also may have been a good choice in this game.
The lack of ability to hold the ball up front was exhibited by Chad Barrett who had a difficult night after coming off the bench.
Jozy Altidore played the first 45 minutes and also was less than sharp.
All in all a night of disappointment.