Everton v. Birmingham: USMNT PbP

It was a hit last week, so I'll do it once again. I'll be doing a USMNT-focused play-by-play of the Everton-Birmingham FA Cup match today. Landon Donovan is starting out wide in the midfield once more, with Tim Howard in goal for the Toffees.

Enjoy!

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Post Game Thoughts

Landon Donovan had his weakest game as a Toffee thus far. He struggled to get into the flow of the match in the first half because of a lack of service, and he started drifting centrally in an unsuccessful effort to find the ball more. Phil Neville did Donovan no favors, passing up a number of opportunities to play the ball in to Donovan's feet. Aside from a couple of positive contributions to the attack, Donovan's play was fairly neutral and conservative throughout, without many of the through balls or cutting runs that we've seen in the past two weeks.

I don't think Donovan was playing tentatively, necessarily; he just looked like a player who had not gotten into the flow of the match because he hadn't seen the ball too often. Early in the second half, Donovan looked more active and involved, showing more intent on the ball as he got more integrated into the flow of the attack. One of his better moments came just before he was subbed off, when he used a quick burst of speed to split to Birmingham defenders on the wing and take the ball towards the top of the box, eventually laying a pass off for Steven Pienaar. Unfortunately, you can't expect to get 90 minutes to work yourself into a match, and David Moyes made a change in hopes of a more immediate impact.

In essence, it was a game where you didn't hear Donovan's name called too often, which is rarely a positive indication of the a player's performance. if there's any silver lining, this game may bring down some of the inflated expectations surrounding Donovan that have risen out of his early success, as well as bringing USMNT fans back down to earth.

Tim Howard did not have a very busy game, with a couple of comfortable saves and catches. The two Birmingham goals were very well worked (the second of which being worthy of a highlight reel), and Howard was not at fault on either occasion.

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Play-By-Play

7'- Tim Howard gets beat by a Christian Benitez header, Birmingham lead 1-0. The Toffees got beat by a counterattack, with a cross finding an open Benitez 10 yards from goal. Howard could do nothing about the header, which went back to the far post.

9'- Donovan receives a pass on the wing, but the ball gets caught in his feet and is knocked away by a defender.

10'- Donovan is streaking down the wing trying to receive a long ball, and he gets his leg clipped by Liam Ridgewell. The ensuing free kick from 30 yards out is cleared by Birmingham.

12'- The match started slow, with Birmingham's goal really coming out of nowhere, but Everton have picked it up in the past couple minutes, with a lot of possession in the attacking third.

17'- Donovan nods a Pienaar cross on goal, but it's just a looping effort that's easily saved. Donovan had to really stretch just to keep the long cross in play, and his attempt to head the ball back across goal was to close Joe Hart.

21'- Donovan hasn't seen too much of the ball yet, in part because Everton been have been doing a fair amount of attacking from the left side, and also because Phil Neville is getting forward from right back and pushing Donovan more central.

30'- Donovan has slid up to striker, and a Pienaar ball over the top almost reaches him in the box behind the defense, but it's nodded away. Donovan has hardly made the same type of impression that he has on past games; he hasn't be able to get enough touches to really make an impact.

33'- Howard catches a corner kick, his first real action since the early goal.

35'- Howard comes out to grab a bouncing long ball in front of an oncoming Birmingham attacker. Birmingham's attack has really been nonexistent since the goal.

38'- Now Donovan is back receiving the ball out wide. Still not entirely sure if Moyes swapped Landon and Saha, or if the two are just changing on their own at times.

40'- WOW. A fantastic team goal from Birmingham, out of nowhere once again. A ball from the wing is dummied by the first striker, with the second striker giving a one touch spinning pass back to the cutting first striker. Open inside the 18, Barry Ferguson slots it home easily to the far post. Tim Howard had no chance of stopping the 12 yard strike to the far post. 2-0 Birmingham.

43'- Most of Everton's play down the right side has been through Phil Neville, but his service has been very ineffective.

45'- Neville opts twice to serve in a poor cross rather than play the ball to Donovan's feet out wide. Donovan finally gets a touch and serves in a decent cross, but it's headed clear.

45+1'- Donovan draws another foul from Ridgewell. Off the restart, he takes the ball down the wing and cuts past his defender before trying to thread a ball across the top of the box to an open teammate, but it's not hit hard enough and is cut out by a Birmingham defender.

HALFTIME- The Everton fans are unhappy with their team's play, and for good reason. The Toffees have controlled possession, but have struggled to put good attacks together. Landon Donovan has not seen much of the ball, and as a result, he hasn't made much of an impact on the match. He has drawn a couple of fouls and is clearly faster than the Birmingham defenders, but he has not received a great deal of service. It will be interesting to see if there's a more concerted effort to get him the ball out wide so he can run at defenders, which had decent success in the last sequence of the half.

It must be noted, though, that Everton as a whole is struggling to make an impact in the attack. They are failing to link up in the final third, with cross after cross being cleared out. Steven Pienaar has made a couple of nice passes, but those opportunities were squandered, as well.

Tim Howard, meanwhile, has had nothing to do but pick the ball out of his net. He couldn't do anything about either goal, which were well put together counterattacks from Birmingham City.

46'- One sub for Everton at half. Osman on, Bilyaletdinov off.

46'- A low, hard shot from distance comes in on Howard, but goes wide. Howard had it covered comfortably.

48'- Donovan gets a pass on the wing and looks to be sizing up his defender to take him on. But with help coming and not many Everton players forward in the attack, Donovan opts to play it back to a defender. Good sign that he's gotten a ball to his feet early on.

50'- Tim Howard makes a save off of a Benitez shot from the top of the arc. Benitez received a pass that split the Everton defense and probably could have taken the ball well inside the 18, but inside opted to try to curl it from farther out. His effort was a poor one right at Howard, though, who made the easy save.

51'- Donovan sets up a cross that finds Fellaini's head in the area, but it comes to nothing. More involvement, though.

54'- Donovan gets an opportunity for a header around the six, but he can't get much behind it. Decent opportunity, one of Everton's better attacks thus far.

56'- GOAL Everton! 2-1 Birmingham, now. A well constructed attack down the left side leads to a curling Leon Osman strike from the top of the 18, which finds the far corner to cut the deficit in half.

59'- Donovan getting much more involved in the attack, breaking out from the defensive third and then playing a little give-and-go with Neville. Nothing too remarkable, but he's seeing the ball a lot more frequently then he did in the first 45. He is drifting centrally a fair amount.

62'- Howard leaps to grab a looping ball in the 18 in the face of a couple of oncoming Birmingham attackers. He then distributes quickly to the wing to start up the attack.

65'- Everton have been controlling the match since their goal. Looks like there's still another goal to be had in this one.

65'- The announcers criticize Donovan for not opening up quick enough to give Neville an option out wide, which would be a fair comment if not for the fact that Neville has been consistently passing up the opportunity to play the ball to Donovan's feet, instead sending in poor cross after poor cross.

69'- Landon with a clearance. Louis Saha off, James Vaughan on for Everton.

71'- Donovan with a burst of speed past a couple of defenderes into the center and has an opportunity to take a left footed shot from 20 yards out, but he lays it off for Pienaar, whose shot is deflected out for a corner. Donovan's ensuing corner is cleared out. Donovan's not a lefty, but it would have been nice to see him put one on goal from there.

75'- Another Donovan corner, put it doesn't lead to much.

76'- Landon Donovan taken off in favor of Mikel Arteta, who is returning from injury. Donovan's weakest performance thus far in an Everton uniform.

90'- 4 minutes of added time, as Everton try to find the equalizer. Howard hasn't had much to do, as Birmingham are bunkering in trying to preserve the lead.

FULL TIME- Birmingham win 2-1. After reaching the FA Cup final last season, Everton crash out in the fourth round.