USA coach Bradley: We didn’t handle Denmark’s pressure

USA national team coach Bob Bradley admits his side did not handle the pressure imposed on them during the second half of their 3-1 friendly loss on Wednesday.

After leading 1-0 thanks to a first-half Jeff Cunningham strike, the US conceded three goals in the first ten minutes of the second half to end the year on a disappointing note.

Bradley said it was merely a case of being unable to cope with pressure applied by the Danes.

“Denmark obviously picked up the pressure. I don’t think we handled those moments well. They pressed us. We lost some balls in tough spots,” Bradley said.

“Our reactions weren’t as good as they needed to be. Denmark’s a good team and made us pay. When you lose balls in bad positions you put your team at risk and I think their pressure created those opportunities.”

Despite the second half aberration, Bradley was content with how his team started and said he can use that as a positive as his team presses forward to South Africa 2010.

“The first half was solid. We stayed organized and got an opportunistic goal,” he added.

“I felt at halftime that we could do a better job with the ball and, in particular, moving off the ball – creating little angles so that we could connect a few more passes.

“Denmark, as expected, picked up the pressure in the beginning of the second half and that six minute stretch really teaches us some lessons in terms of our reactions and ability when a team really comes after us.

“So hopefully that is something we can look at closely and use down the road.”