United States goalkeeper Tim Howard admits team is still getting over loss to Panama

Posted Wednesday, June 15, 2011 by YAHOO Sport

The apathetic performances from the United States men’s national team continue to be a major dilemma for the team as it struggled to put away 87th ranked Guadeloupe.

That's right, 87th.

While most of the players appeared to be publicly content with the 1-0 victory over one of the Gold Cup’s weakest teams, starting goalkeeper Tim Howard described what was pretty obvious to those who watched the match.

“We had an OK performance but we were a little bit lifeless,” said Howard before adding, “It is kind of the way it’s been.”

While the U.S. came out of the gate strong with an emphatic goal by forward Jozy Altidore in opening 10 minutes, it was evident that nerves were beginning to kick in as the game progressed. Clint Dempsey missed an innumerable amount of easy close-range chances and none of Landon Donovan’s free kicks provided any threat to the Guadeloupe defense.

If it wasn’t for a top defensive effort and Michael Bradley’s continued stellar play in the midfield, there was a very good chance that the Caribbean team could have walked away from LIVESTRONG Sporting Park with a result.

Howard believes that the hangover from the 2-1 loss in Tampa against Panama is still affecting the team. Winning the game would have secured the team’s entry to the knockout stages and given it a chance to rest key players such as Donovan and Dempsey. Howard admits that the U.S. morale has been weakened from the disappointing performance from last weekend.

“I think the Panama game knocked some stuffing out of us,” said Howard. “It was difficult. We knew that we needed that result.”

Hoping to rebuild chemistry, Howard believes that having three full days to train before Sunday’s match against Jamaica will be important. The 32-year-old keeper is also looking forward to facing the Reggae Boyz, a team that has played beyond expectations in the Gold Cup.

Unlike the previous teams that the U.S. faced in Group C who bunkered down on defense looking for an upset, Howard anticipates that Jamaica will continue its attacking style of play in the quarterfinal match in D.C.

“We’ve seen the highlights and they have a good rhythm,” said Howard.

Howard hopes that the U.S. will feed off of the team’s aggressiveness and respond with a strong performance.

“I think that’s the type of game that we need, the pace is high and the tempo’s high. The team’s not sitting in, they are coming out feeling like we are the wounded animal and that they are going to get us,” said Howard. “That’s where we catch them.”