Denmark found their way through the United States men’s national defense with three goals in the opening ten minutes of the second half to erase a one goal deficit on their way to a 3-1 win in Aarhus on Wednesday evening.  The result will leave many questions for U.S. head coach Bob Bradley heading into 2010.

The U.S. backline of Frankie Hejduk, Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Spector, and Jonathan Bornstein held their own through the first half although they were never really tested.  But the home side came out on the attack in the second and had their way with the back four.

The equalizer came off a long ball sent down the middle from the midfield line which caught Spector off guard once it became apparent it would sail over his head.  Johan Absalonsen did well to take the ball down behind the West Ham defender before beating Brad Guzan in the 47th minute.

The timing could not have been worse for the Red, White and Blue as moments earlier they created a chance of their own and indicated they were ready to push the attack.

Before the backline could re-group, Søren Rieks doubled Denmark’s score with an easy finish at the far post past a lunging Guzan in the 52nd minute.  Once again defensive error in addition to some bad fortune led to the goal.  Hejduk over committed to a ball on the right flank 40 yards from goal and allowed it to sail over his head which forced Spector to pull out from his central position to close down the attack.  Spector made a solid challenge but the ball bounced Denmark’s way and allowed an unmarked low cross that missed the first Danish attacker but was met by an unmarked Rieks at the far side of the 6-yard box who clinically finished.

Martin Bernburg finished off the scoring three minutes later with his shot from the top of the 18-yard box.  The unmarked forward had three U.S. defenders within 5 feet of him but none close enough to deny him.  After some sloppy play at the top of the box, Bocanegra stepped out to shut down a Danish player 23 yards from goal.  The player controlled and successfully past to Bernberg who was positioned in the void left by Bocanegra and Bernberg calmly turned and fired past Guzan.

With the game well in hand, Denmark continued to make runs and control the better part of play against an obviously disjointed Stars and Stripes side.

The lone goal from the U.S. came in the 26th minute of the first half from an opportunistic Jeff Cunningham.  The MLS Golden Boot winner was gifted the ball from Danish goalkeeper Thomas Sørensen.  Sørensen’s poor clearance was intercept by Cunningham who after two touches sent his left footed shot into the net from just outside the 18-yard box.

The story for much of the remainder of the second half was similar to the match against Slovakia were the U.S. did well at times possessing the ball but rarely threatened the goal.

The final whistle concluded the 2009 campaign for Bob Bradley’s side.  The U.S. finished with a record of 13-8-3, scoring 43 goals, surrendering 36 and now the focus will turn completely to South Africa 2010 and who will be on the roster for the FIFA World Cup.