Slovenia 2-0 USA: Valter Birsa & Milivoje Novakovic Have Europeans Cruising At Half-Time

Slovenia led the USA 2-0 at the break, having dominated much of the first period, leaving themselves on the verge of the knockout phase.

The expectation in the early stages of the game was that the Europeans would sit back and simply soak up pressure, but that wasn’t the case. Matjaz Kek’s outfit looked the livelier side are a stodgy, disjointed start to the match.

Zlatan Ljubijankic headed a free kick over the American goal before a cross from Birsa nearly picked out Milivoje Novakovic. Slowly the pressure was building, yet there seemed to be little danger when Birsa gathered possession 25 yards from goal and smacked a swerving drive past the impassive Tim Howard.

Though Jose Altidore, Robbie Findlay and Landon Donovan injected moments of pace into the USA’s offence, these were all too fleeting. Samir Handanovic in the Slovenian goal would enjoy a relatively easy start. The goalkeeper had to crane his neck to see a Michael Bradley drive fly over and he spectacularly punched away a dangerous free kick but was otherwise unemployed.

Slovenia weren’t looking especially likely to add to their tally, though a Birsa free kick did force Howard to crumple to his right in order to make a routine save. At the same time, they were entirely comfortable, with the midfield dominant and able to keep possession under surprisingly little pressure. Neither enterprising nor defensive, the Europeans seemed to have the game in their grasp.

Ten minutes before the interval, Altidore would charge down the right on one of his positive runs. The Villarreal forward would a foul from Bostjan Cesar. From the resultant free kick, Francisco Torres, who until that point had been unimpressive, drove a dangerous shot at goal that was pushed away by Handanovic.

In the ensuing minutes, the North Americans twice went close. Jay DeMerit had a head loop wide, while Bojan Jokic and Miso Brecko twice made crucial interceptions when it seemed that the USA, who were suddenly finding room and rhythm, must score.

On the counterattack, Slovenia doubled their advantage three minutes before the break. Ljubijankic cut the American defence in two with a through ball to Novakovic, who finished neatly.yahoo news online.