Parkhurst, Davies Start for MNT

By Mark Goodman

January 25, 2009 - With most of the U.S. men’s national team’s core players busy in Europe, Saturday’s friendly with Sweden gave head coach Bob Bradley a chance to look at some players on the fringe of the team’s picture.

Michael Parkhurst started and played 82 minutes against Sweden Saturday night. (CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com)

Two players with New England connections - defender Michael Parkhurst and striker Charlie Davies - got the start in the Americans’ 3-2 win in Carson, Calif.

Parkhurst, a Cranston, R.I. native who spent four years with the New England Revolution before signing for Danish club Nordsjaelland in December, played the first 82 minutes in central defense before being substituted.

Parkhurst earned a match rating of 7 from ESPNsoccernet’s Jeff Carlisle, who wrote, “[Parkhurst] coped well with the physical Swedes, and showed his usual composure on the ball.”

The start of the night was Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan, who scored all three U.S. goals.

“I thought the game went pretty well overall. We came out pretty strong and had a very good first half,” Parkhurst told ussoccer.com. “I thought we controlled the game and had a few chances. Sacha did really well on both free kicks. The second half we came out strong again, but didn’t finish a couple of chances and ended up letting them back in the game. “We controlled most of the game. [Sweden] scored two good goals, but overall we had enough pressure and enough chances to win the game in the end.”

Things did not go quite as well for Boston College product Davies, now of Swedish side Hammarby. The Manchester, N.H. native was substituted at halftime, and earned a match rating of 4 from Carlisle.

“[Davies] looked a bit too eager, although given he was facing off against some familiar Swedish league opponents, this was a bit understandable,” Carlisle wrote. “[Davies] was only able to use his pace a few times, and failed to connect with teammates when he had the chance.”

While the Americans gave up a pair of late goals, Parkhurst believes the match was a positive for him and his teammates.

“It just gives everybody a little more confidence,” he said. “Maybe the guys tonight aren’t the top 11 guys or the top 20 guys, but it’s important that when we come in we get good results to show the coaching staff that we can get the results that the national team wants. It gives all of us that played tonight confidence, and hopefully it gives the coaching staff confidence in us come the big games.”