USA vs. Congo DR: Score, Recap and Analysis for Toulon Tournament Match

The United States picked up their first win of the 2013 Toulon Tournament, beating the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1-0, in Saint-Raphael, France.

The first half was rather uneventful. Both Congo and the United States had some chances to score, but didn't make the most of them.

Most of the first half was spent in midfield as players were given some nice space. The pitch became much more clogged when play moved into either attacking third.

Give credit to Cody Cropper and Riffi Mandanda. Neither was challenged often, but when they were, they were up to the task.

In the 36th minute, Victor Pineda had a nice effort on goal that Mandanda knocked away with a diving stop. It was good to see Cropper put in a good first half, particularly after the howler he had against France in the U.S.' first match.

FOX Soccer Trax summed up the first half as well:

Cropper didn't have any saves to make in the second half, as he was subbed for Kendall McIntosh. Alonso Hernandez was also brought on for Jordan Morris.

The second half started out as more of the same.

Both teams had trouble getting anything going close to goal. It was mostly buildup play, with free kicks interspersed in between.

It wasn't so much that the United States and Congo were wasteful and constantly losing the ball. They simply failed to nail that killer through ball or get any significant shot on goal.

Much as in the first half, the goalkeepers were left with little to do. The position can be tricky, though, as it calls for a high level of attention, even in the most uneventful of matches. McIntosh and Mandanda were largely unfazed and on point at all times.

Just when it looked like the match was going to finish scoreless, Daniel Cuevas scored to put the United States up 1-0 in the 75th minute. It was a nice finish and probably the Americans best attack from start to finish. They had created some nice moves up to that point, but had lacked any teeth.

Since the Toulon Tournament matches are only 80 minutes, that put Congo under a lot of pressure late into the dying stages of the match. They tried to throw everything forward, but their attacks largely amounted to nothing. Five minutes plus stoppage time isn't a lot of time to chase a game.

The match finished 1-0, giving the United States their first points of the Toulon Tournament.

Upon his inclusion in the 58th minute, Wil Trapp did very good from midfield. When you're having trouble with buildup play, it's important to try and make something happen to change that. Tab Ramos did by bringing on Trapp. The U.S. was a different team with him on the pitch. Top Drawer Soccer's Travis Clark was very pleased with Trapp's performance:

The New York Times' Brian Sciaretta was also very complimentary of Ramos' management of the match:

After the United States' bumpy beginning to the tournament, this was a nice win. The team looked much better than it has in the losses to France and Colombia.

What's Next

The United States have their last match of the group stage against South Korea on June 5. At this point, it's a bridge too far to expect the U.S. to advance to either the third-place play-off or championship match. Their last match can just be a good gauge of which players can contribute down the road and how much work needs to be done.

Congo still have two matches on the card. They've got South Korea on June 3 and then Colombia on June 5. By picking up no points in this match, they've pretty much eliminated themselves from the next round of the tournament as well. Even getting the maximum probably won't be enough, as France and Colombia are both on six points through two matches.