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The Gold Cup y Copa América(soccer)
No Great Name
FRAUD DETECTEDRegistered User regular
FRAUD DETECTEDRegistered User regular
This is a thread about soccer(football in places not the US and Japan). Currently going on in international soccer is the Gold Cup. It's a tournament for the North American, Central American, and Caribbean regions(the soccer federation of this whole region is called CONCACAF). It's being held in the US, so I thought I'd drum up some possible interest in the tourney and hopefully the sport. It started on June 6th. It's played like a smaller scaled World Cup in which there is a group stage, where 4 nations play each other round robin and then the teams with the most points move on to the single elimination rounds. The group stage of the CONCACAF Gold Cup ended Wednesday the 13th. The standings were as such:
The USA was undefeated in group play. Their games(scores followed by soccer faces and summaries):
USA vs Guatemala
1:0
CARSON, Calif. (June 7, 2007) — The U.S. Men’s National Team battled to take the full three points in a 1-0 victory against a physical Guatemalan team in the Group B opener of the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The triumph for the USA came courtesy of first half goal from Clint Dempsey, his second of the year, and despite the USA playing the final 17 minutes with 10 men after a red card was issued to defender Oguchi Onyewu.
Dempsey’s eighth career goal came in the 26th minute with the USA finally breaking through the tightly packed Guatemalan defense on a fine series of passes that started with a long ball down the flank from Jonathan Bornstein to DaMarcus Beasley. With a quick header, Beasley expertly slotted Twellman into the penalty area, where the New England Revolution forward patiently picked out Dempsey charging toward the goal. Dempsey made no mistake, slotting a right-footed shot past goalkeeper Ricardo Trigueno for his third career Gold Cup goal.
"I thought the sequence that led to the goal was very well done," said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley after the game. "The ball from Taylor and the run and finish from Clint was excellent. We had some chances right at the end of the first half to get a second goal and that would have obviously been imporant. We ended up playing with 10 guys, and I thought we adjusted quite well and managed during that period of the game to keep the ball and also to defend intelligently."
The U.S. goal forced Guatemala out of their defensive shell, and the wider space gave the U.S. a golden chance to double their lead in the 32nd minute. Landon Donovan beat his mark down the right flank and deftly floated a cross into the six yard box – with two runners charging, it was Twellman who took the try, but his slightly mistimed jump resulted in a powerful header that just missed the upper right corner.
The U.S. had yet another great chance in stoppage time, with Donovan again serving as the impetus in an attack that began down the right flank. The crazy sequence just before the stroke of halftime would see Donovan and Twellman each have shots stifled, and then a loose ball fall into the middle of the penalty area with the net wide open. A crashing Dempsey couldn’t quite reach that loose ball, though, as it was cleared out for a corner kick with the last touch of the half.
With a 12-6 shot advantage at the half, the USA came out of the locker room looking to put the game away in the second half. But, as they did in a 0-0 draw against the USA back on March 28 in Frisco, Texas, Guatemala continued to tightly pack it in on defense, deploying a 4-1-4-1 formation designed to stymie the U.S. attack with physical play.
However, the chances for the USA in the final 45 minutes were few and far between, as the choppy half saw the referee reach for his book six times, which included three yellows and a red for the United States. For the match, the USA was whistled for 21 fouls and Guatemala another 16.
"Anytime you start a tournament like the Gold Cup the expectation is that the first game is difficult," said Bradley. "Teams know how important it is to play the first game very tight. Guatemela is a very well organized team and we saw that when we played them in Dallas. They played in a similar fashion today. We felt good about the fact that we improved in some areas from the last time we played them. I think we did a better job attacking wide. We definitely did a better job in finding some spaces that we didn't find the last time."
In a telling moment in the 50th minute, Guatemala had their best chance of the match when defender Lionel Noriega tried his luck from 35-yards out with a dipping shot that excited the crowd, but did not trouble goalkeeper Tim Howard, who calmly jumped to push the shot over the bar. In the 55th minute, Guatemala had another look at goal, this time FC Dallas forward Carlos Ruiz hitting a well struck free kick from 22 yards on the ground down toward the middle of the goal. The shot was deceptive and hit with power, but Howard easily smothered it. Those two efforts would be the best Guatemala could muster offensively.
Less than two minutes after Bradley had used his second substitute, bringing on winger Steve Ralston for forward Taylor Twellman, the USA was forced to shuffle their defensive shape when Onyewu was issued his second yellow card and sent to the showers with 17 minutes remaining in the game. The foul came as Onyewu and Mario Rodriguez were chasing down a long through ball into the USA half.
The final USA sub came a few minutes later, with defender Jay DeMerit coming in for Benny Feilhaber to shore up the U.S. defense. A final corner kick from Guatemala in the game’s final seconds went for naught and the USA was happy to have three points to open the ninth CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The victory improved the USA’s incredible all-time record in opening round Gold Cup action to 19-0-1. Howard’s clean sheet earned him his 13th win in 20 career games, and was his ninth shutout.
USA vs Trinidad & Tobago
2:0
CARSON, Calif. (June 9, 2007) — The U.S. Men’s National Team defeated Trinidad & Tobago 2-0 to move into first place in Group B of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, guaranteeing the United States a spot in the tournament quarterfinals.
Brian Ching and Eddie Johnson scored first and second half goals, respectively, to give the USA a comfortable win in front of a sold-out crowd at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Second-half substitute Landon Donovan also got on the board for the USA, assisting on Johnson’s goal to move into first place all-time with 85 career points for the United States.
The USA made ten changes to the lineup that opened the tournament by defeating Guatemala 1-0 on June 7, with Benny Feilhaber the lone carryover. With much more space to operate than in their opening match, the United States quickly started to find seams in the Trinidad & Tobago defense. Justin Mapp, in particular, had the run of the left side, able to create numerous scoring opportunities.
"Before the tournament we wanted to look at two groups for sure," said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley after the game. "When the games come so quickly, we feel good about the depth that we have. I think that showed today. Throughout the year we have brought some new players into the team. Today was the first game for Michael Parkhurst, and I thought that he had a good solid match and that is important. It shows that going forward, we have the ability to create some pretty good combinations in all parts of the field, in our defense, in our midfield and with our forwards, and hopefully gives us not only the depth, but a little bit of flexibility, in terms of the way we play."
As they did against Guatemala, the USA got on the board just shy of the half-hour mark, after dominating possession for most of the game. On the 29th minute goal, Mapp stunned defender Seon Power with his speed in chasing down a long ball from Jonathan Spector into space on the left flank. With a confident touch, Mapp pushed the ball past Power and barreled into the box. Ching, who had initially started to drift to the near post, charged towards the center of the goal and directed the well-weighted ball into the back of the net. The goal resembled the Dempsey-Twellman combination from two nights ago, and was the fifth goal of Ching’s career.
In contrast to the USA, Trinidad & Tobago only made one change to their starting 11, despite having played less than 48 hours prior. The match was halted for several minutes in the first half after a collision between Williams and defender Anthony Noriega. Noriega lay on the field for seven minutes before being stretchered off with a suspected broken jaw. Following that collision, Trinidad & Tobago was forced to make their second substitution just five minutes late when Thomas Nickcelson came off with an injury.
As the half came to a close, both sides had a chance to change the face of the match. First, a miscommunication between Jay DeMerit and Michael Parkhurst (making his international debut) nearly gave striker Andre Pouissant a free run at goal, but Parkhurst gamely recovered to knock the ball over the endline. Then a quick counterattack the other way saw Johnson and Steve Ralston on the break, with Johnson feeding Ralston near the top of the box. He cut back inside past his mark, the left-footed effort forcing Williams into a sprawling save.
To begin the second half, Bradley substituted Donovan for Feilhaber, which caused even more problems for an out-gunned opponent. Within 10 minutes, Donovan was already on the board, timing a perfect run at the halfway line to sprint unchallenged into the right side of the penalty area with the ball. With two Trinidad & Tobago defenders chasing, Donovan rolled a perfect ball on the grass to Eddie Johnson to easily slam home for his 10th international goal.
For Donovan, the assist was the 25th of his career (already a record) and moved him past Eric Wynalda into first place all-time for the United States with 85 career points. The goal for Johnson was his first for the United States since a 4-0 victory against Guatemala on Feb. 19, 2006 (a span of 13 games).
“I was pleased to see Brian get on the scoreboard for us,†said Bradley. “I thought in the game against Ecuador he worked very hard and created openings for other players. He has been an important player for us and it is nice to see him score the game-winner today. It was a great set-up from Justin Mapp. Again we see the talent that he has and the ability he has to create some plays. On the second goal, just a great run and an unselfish play by Landon Donovan.â€
Kasey Keller was called upon to make a number of solid saves during the match, none bigger than a parrying save of a 90th minute blast by Kerry Baptiste that preserved the shutout in his 99th career cap. The victory was the 51st of Keller’s career, and it was his 47th all-time shutout, extending his all-time USA bests.
The victory improved the USA’s incredible all-time record in opening round Gold Cup action to 20-0-1, and gave the team six points after two games, three more than both El Salvador and Guatemala. The United States is the first team in the tournament to guarantee passage into the second round, and is the only team in the tournament not to allow a goal.
USA vs El Salvador
4:0
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (June 12, 2007) — The U.S. Men’s National Team completed a clean sweep of Group B play in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup, defeating El Salvador 4-0 on Tuesday evening at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. The United States will remain in Boston and play their quarterfinal match on Saturday (June 16) at 4 p.m. ET against either Guadeloupe (Group A third-place) or the third-place finisher in Group C (which will be settled on Wednesday evening).
The U.S. was led on the night by DaMarcus Beasley with two goals, and Landon Donovan and Taylor Twellman with one goal each. Donovan’s goal gives him 87 career points with the USA, extending the record he set on Saturday against Trinidad & Tobago. The Gold Cup goal was Donovan's ninth all-time, tying him with Eric Wynalda for the USA's all-time tournament lead.
“A good win for us,†said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley. “It’s especially nice, that when the game opened up in the second half, to see some of the soccer that we put together. That’s a nice reward for the hard work early in the match. In tournaments like this, the beginning of the tournament always starts with games that are pretty tight, and we knew that right away against Guatemala. So today we had a good chance to finish on a different note. Certainly we know going into the knockout stage that things will tighten up again. We look forward to it.â€
The first U.S. goal came courtesy of some offensive pressure down the left flank from Beasley and Donovan, who worked an excellent combination that saw Beasley fouled just outside the area in the 32nd minute. The U.S. earned a corner kick on the ensuing free kick, with Donovan placing the ball into the area. Pressure from Michael Bradley saw it pop out to the edge of the box for Beasley to neatly place through traffic from 16 yards into the lower right corner of the goal. The slow shot fooled El Salvadoran goalkeeper Miguel Montes, who dove to his left but couldn’t keep the perfectly-placed shot out of the goal.
“I just kind of threw my foot at it and it went in,†said Beasley in describing his first goal. “I think the turning point of the game was Landon’s penalty kick. That really threw them on their heels. They threw a lot at us in the first 15 minutes of the second half, but after that we were in control. It was important to get the first goal. We knew El Salvador was going to be very compact and difficult to break down. Teams know us now and know what the USA brings. We are happy with the results from the first three games, but we know it is going to be tough the rest of the way.â€
The USA went ahead 2-0 at the end of the half with Landon Donovan finishing off a second penalty kick attempt in a strange sequence in the fourth minute of stoppage time. On the goal, Donovan rifled his shot down the middle with Montes leaning to his left. That strike came after Montes originally made the save on Donovan, but the U.S. forward put away his own rebound, only to have Mexican referee Benito Archundia point to the spot for a retake after calling for player encroachment in the area.
The penalty for the USA was set-up by the ever-active Donovan, who sprayed a breakaway pass into the run of Benny Feilhaber, whose cross from the edge of the penalty area struck the extended left hand of El Salvadoran Alfredo Pacheco a yard inside the area.
After being involved in both goals for the U.S., including scoring the 31st international goal of his career, Donovan was substituted at the beginning of the second half for Taylor Twellman, who immediately got into the action.
Twellman scored his sixth international goal on a clinical breakaway charge led by Beasley, who won a ball in his own half of the field and immediately pushed forward with numbers. With Brian Ching and Clint Dempsey joining in on the break, Beasley slid an easy ball to the center of the field for Ching, who in turn slotted a ball forward to Twellman, who expertly controlled the pass with one touch and then powered his shot through Montes.
In the 89th minute, the same four players streaked forward on another fastbreak, this time Ching collecting a ball in his own half and circling forward on a 40-yard run before sliding a pass to the center of the field for Dempsey. The former New England Revolution star then sliced another square ball into the area for Beasley, who timed his onside run perfectly in front of his mark and easily deposited his 15th international goal past the helpless Montes.
The USA line-up featured the return of Pablo Mastroeni to the USA midfield after a three-game suspension that spanned almost a year following his World Cup red card against Italy. Michael Bradley and Feilhaber lined up beside the U.S. veteran in the midfield for the U.S., with Feilhaber being the only U.S. player to start all three opening round matches of the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The victory improved the USA’s incredible all-time record in opening round Gold Cup action to 21-0-1. The U.S. will now await the Wednesday results from the wide-open Group C, where Panama (four points) is in control of a tightly contested quagmire that also features Honduras (3 points), Mexico (3 points) and Cuba (1 point).
The 12-team Gold Cup tournament runs through June 24 where the final is slated for Soldier Field in Chicago. Immediately following the Gold Cup, the USA will participate in the 2007 Copa America, the regional championship of South America. The 12-team tournament will run from June 26 to July 15 in nine cities across Venezuela. The U.S. will open Group C play against Argentina on June 28, before facing Paraguay on July 2 and Colombia on July 5.
The teams moving on to the quarter finals are: Canada, Costa Rica, Guadalupe, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Mexico, and the USA.
The USA plays tomorrow against Panama at 4 pm EST at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts. It will air on fox Soccer Channel as well as TeleFutura so check your TV guides. The semifinals and finals will be played at Soldier Field in Chicago on the 21st and 24th respectively. If you live near either of these I urge you to attend because soccer matches have a great energy about them and you'll probably have a great time.
Following on the heels of the Gold Cup is the Copa América it's the exact same format, except that it is the championship of the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol or CONMEBOL, South American football's governing body. There are also two invitees to the tournament from North America, Mexico and the US. This year's host in Venezuela.
The group stage of the cup is set up like so:
The US kicks off on June 28th vs Argentina.
tl;dr: International Soccer stuff
The USA was undefeated in group play. Their games(scores followed by soccer faces and summaries):
USA vs Guatemala
1:0
CARSON, Calif. (June 7, 2007) — The U.S. Men’s National Team battled to take the full three points in a 1-0 victory against a physical Guatemalan team in the Group B opener of the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The triumph for the USA came courtesy of first half goal from Clint Dempsey, his second of the year, and despite the USA playing the final 17 minutes with 10 men after a red card was issued to defender Oguchi Onyewu.
Dempsey’s eighth career goal came in the 26th minute with the USA finally breaking through the tightly packed Guatemalan defense on a fine series of passes that started with a long ball down the flank from Jonathan Bornstein to DaMarcus Beasley. With a quick header, Beasley expertly slotted Twellman into the penalty area, where the New England Revolution forward patiently picked out Dempsey charging toward the goal. Dempsey made no mistake, slotting a right-footed shot past goalkeeper Ricardo Trigueno for his third career Gold Cup goal.
"I thought the sequence that led to the goal was very well done," said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley after the game. "The ball from Taylor and the run and finish from Clint was excellent. We had some chances right at the end of the first half to get a second goal and that would have obviously been imporant. We ended up playing with 10 guys, and I thought we adjusted quite well and managed during that period of the game to keep the ball and also to defend intelligently."
The U.S. goal forced Guatemala out of their defensive shell, and the wider space gave the U.S. a golden chance to double their lead in the 32nd minute. Landon Donovan beat his mark down the right flank and deftly floated a cross into the six yard box – with two runners charging, it was Twellman who took the try, but his slightly mistimed jump resulted in a powerful header that just missed the upper right corner.
The U.S. had yet another great chance in stoppage time, with Donovan again serving as the impetus in an attack that began down the right flank. The crazy sequence just before the stroke of halftime would see Donovan and Twellman each have shots stifled, and then a loose ball fall into the middle of the penalty area with the net wide open. A crashing Dempsey couldn’t quite reach that loose ball, though, as it was cleared out for a corner kick with the last touch of the half.
With a 12-6 shot advantage at the half, the USA came out of the locker room looking to put the game away in the second half. But, as they did in a 0-0 draw against the USA back on March 28 in Frisco, Texas, Guatemala continued to tightly pack it in on defense, deploying a 4-1-4-1 formation designed to stymie the U.S. attack with physical play.
However, the chances for the USA in the final 45 minutes were few and far between, as the choppy half saw the referee reach for his book six times, which included three yellows and a red for the United States. For the match, the USA was whistled for 21 fouls and Guatemala another 16.
"Anytime you start a tournament like the Gold Cup the expectation is that the first game is difficult," said Bradley. "Teams know how important it is to play the first game very tight. Guatemela is a very well organized team and we saw that when we played them in Dallas. They played in a similar fashion today. We felt good about the fact that we improved in some areas from the last time we played them. I think we did a better job attacking wide. We definitely did a better job in finding some spaces that we didn't find the last time."
In a telling moment in the 50th minute, Guatemala had their best chance of the match when defender Lionel Noriega tried his luck from 35-yards out with a dipping shot that excited the crowd, but did not trouble goalkeeper Tim Howard, who calmly jumped to push the shot over the bar. In the 55th minute, Guatemala had another look at goal, this time FC Dallas forward Carlos Ruiz hitting a well struck free kick from 22 yards on the ground down toward the middle of the goal. The shot was deceptive and hit with power, but Howard easily smothered it. Those two efforts would be the best Guatemala could muster offensively.
Less than two minutes after Bradley had used his second substitute, bringing on winger Steve Ralston for forward Taylor Twellman, the USA was forced to shuffle their defensive shape when Onyewu was issued his second yellow card and sent to the showers with 17 minutes remaining in the game. The foul came as Onyewu and Mario Rodriguez were chasing down a long through ball into the USA half.
The final USA sub came a few minutes later, with defender Jay DeMerit coming in for Benny Feilhaber to shore up the U.S. defense. A final corner kick from Guatemala in the game’s final seconds went for naught and the USA was happy to have three points to open the ninth CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The victory improved the USA’s incredible all-time record in opening round Gold Cup action to 19-0-1. Howard’s clean sheet earned him his 13th win in 20 career games, and was his ninth shutout.
USA vs Trinidad & Tobago
2:0
CARSON, Calif. (June 9, 2007) — The U.S. Men’s National Team defeated Trinidad & Tobago 2-0 to move into first place in Group B of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, guaranteeing the United States a spot in the tournament quarterfinals.
Brian Ching and Eddie Johnson scored first and second half goals, respectively, to give the USA a comfortable win in front of a sold-out crowd at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. Second-half substitute Landon Donovan also got on the board for the USA, assisting on Johnson’s goal to move into first place all-time with 85 career points for the United States.
The USA made ten changes to the lineup that opened the tournament by defeating Guatemala 1-0 on June 7, with Benny Feilhaber the lone carryover. With much more space to operate than in their opening match, the United States quickly started to find seams in the Trinidad & Tobago defense. Justin Mapp, in particular, had the run of the left side, able to create numerous scoring opportunities.
"Before the tournament we wanted to look at two groups for sure," said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley after the game. "When the games come so quickly, we feel good about the depth that we have. I think that showed today. Throughout the year we have brought some new players into the team. Today was the first game for Michael Parkhurst, and I thought that he had a good solid match and that is important. It shows that going forward, we have the ability to create some pretty good combinations in all parts of the field, in our defense, in our midfield and with our forwards, and hopefully gives us not only the depth, but a little bit of flexibility, in terms of the way we play."
As they did against Guatemala, the USA got on the board just shy of the half-hour mark, after dominating possession for most of the game. On the 29th minute goal, Mapp stunned defender Seon Power with his speed in chasing down a long ball from Jonathan Spector into space on the left flank. With a confident touch, Mapp pushed the ball past Power and barreled into the box. Ching, who had initially started to drift to the near post, charged towards the center of the goal and directed the well-weighted ball into the back of the net. The goal resembled the Dempsey-Twellman combination from two nights ago, and was the fifth goal of Ching’s career.
In contrast to the USA, Trinidad & Tobago only made one change to their starting 11, despite having played less than 48 hours prior. The match was halted for several minutes in the first half after a collision between Williams and defender Anthony Noriega. Noriega lay on the field for seven minutes before being stretchered off with a suspected broken jaw. Following that collision, Trinidad & Tobago was forced to make their second substitution just five minutes late when Thomas Nickcelson came off with an injury.
As the half came to a close, both sides had a chance to change the face of the match. First, a miscommunication between Jay DeMerit and Michael Parkhurst (making his international debut) nearly gave striker Andre Pouissant a free run at goal, but Parkhurst gamely recovered to knock the ball over the endline. Then a quick counterattack the other way saw Johnson and Steve Ralston on the break, with Johnson feeding Ralston near the top of the box. He cut back inside past his mark, the left-footed effort forcing Williams into a sprawling save.
To begin the second half, Bradley substituted Donovan for Feilhaber, which caused even more problems for an out-gunned opponent. Within 10 minutes, Donovan was already on the board, timing a perfect run at the halfway line to sprint unchallenged into the right side of the penalty area with the ball. With two Trinidad & Tobago defenders chasing, Donovan rolled a perfect ball on the grass to Eddie Johnson to easily slam home for his 10th international goal.
For Donovan, the assist was the 25th of his career (already a record) and moved him past Eric Wynalda into first place all-time for the United States with 85 career points. The goal for Johnson was his first for the United States since a 4-0 victory against Guatemala on Feb. 19, 2006 (a span of 13 games).
“I was pleased to see Brian get on the scoreboard for us,†said Bradley. “I thought in the game against Ecuador he worked very hard and created openings for other players. He has been an important player for us and it is nice to see him score the game-winner today. It was a great set-up from Justin Mapp. Again we see the talent that he has and the ability he has to create some plays. On the second goal, just a great run and an unselfish play by Landon Donovan.â€
Kasey Keller was called upon to make a number of solid saves during the match, none bigger than a parrying save of a 90th minute blast by Kerry Baptiste that preserved the shutout in his 99th career cap. The victory was the 51st of Keller’s career, and it was his 47th all-time shutout, extending his all-time USA bests.
The victory improved the USA’s incredible all-time record in opening round Gold Cup action to 20-0-1, and gave the team six points after two games, three more than both El Salvador and Guatemala. The United States is the first team in the tournament to guarantee passage into the second round, and is the only team in the tournament not to allow a goal.
USA vs El Salvador
4:0
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (June 12, 2007) — The U.S. Men’s National Team completed a clean sweep of Group B play in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup, defeating El Salvador 4-0 on Tuesday evening at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. The United States will remain in Boston and play their quarterfinal match on Saturday (June 16) at 4 p.m. ET against either Guadeloupe (Group A third-place) or the third-place finisher in Group C (which will be settled on Wednesday evening).
The U.S. was led on the night by DaMarcus Beasley with two goals, and Landon Donovan and Taylor Twellman with one goal each. Donovan’s goal gives him 87 career points with the USA, extending the record he set on Saturday against Trinidad & Tobago. The Gold Cup goal was Donovan's ninth all-time, tying him with Eric Wynalda for the USA's all-time tournament lead.
“A good win for us,†said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley. “It’s especially nice, that when the game opened up in the second half, to see some of the soccer that we put together. That’s a nice reward for the hard work early in the match. In tournaments like this, the beginning of the tournament always starts with games that are pretty tight, and we knew that right away against Guatemala. So today we had a good chance to finish on a different note. Certainly we know going into the knockout stage that things will tighten up again. We look forward to it.â€
The first U.S. goal came courtesy of some offensive pressure down the left flank from Beasley and Donovan, who worked an excellent combination that saw Beasley fouled just outside the area in the 32nd minute. The U.S. earned a corner kick on the ensuing free kick, with Donovan placing the ball into the area. Pressure from Michael Bradley saw it pop out to the edge of the box for Beasley to neatly place through traffic from 16 yards into the lower right corner of the goal. The slow shot fooled El Salvadoran goalkeeper Miguel Montes, who dove to his left but couldn’t keep the perfectly-placed shot out of the goal.
“I just kind of threw my foot at it and it went in,†said Beasley in describing his first goal. “I think the turning point of the game was Landon’s penalty kick. That really threw them on their heels. They threw a lot at us in the first 15 minutes of the second half, but after that we were in control. It was important to get the first goal. We knew El Salvador was going to be very compact and difficult to break down. Teams know us now and know what the USA brings. We are happy with the results from the first three games, but we know it is going to be tough the rest of the way.â€
The USA went ahead 2-0 at the end of the half with Landon Donovan finishing off a second penalty kick attempt in a strange sequence in the fourth minute of stoppage time. On the goal, Donovan rifled his shot down the middle with Montes leaning to his left. That strike came after Montes originally made the save on Donovan, but the U.S. forward put away his own rebound, only to have Mexican referee Benito Archundia point to the spot for a retake after calling for player encroachment in the area.
The penalty for the USA was set-up by the ever-active Donovan, who sprayed a breakaway pass into the run of Benny Feilhaber, whose cross from the edge of the penalty area struck the extended left hand of El Salvadoran Alfredo Pacheco a yard inside the area.
After being involved in both goals for the U.S., including scoring the 31st international goal of his career, Donovan was substituted at the beginning of the second half for Taylor Twellman, who immediately got into the action.
Twellman scored his sixth international goal on a clinical breakaway charge led by Beasley, who won a ball in his own half of the field and immediately pushed forward with numbers. With Brian Ching and Clint Dempsey joining in on the break, Beasley slid an easy ball to the center of the field for Ching, who in turn slotted a ball forward to Twellman, who expertly controlled the pass with one touch and then powered his shot through Montes.
In the 89th minute, the same four players streaked forward on another fastbreak, this time Ching collecting a ball in his own half and circling forward on a 40-yard run before sliding a pass to the center of the field for Dempsey. The former New England Revolution star then sliced another square ball into the area for Beasley, who timed his onside run perfectly in front of his mark and easily deposited his 15th international goal past the helpless Montes.
The USA line-up featured the return of Pablo Mastroeni to the USA midfield after a three-game suspension that spanned almost a year following his World Cup red card against Italy. Michael Bradley and Feilhaber lined up beside the U.S. veteran in the midfield for the U.S., with Feilhaber being the only U.S. player to start all three opening round matches of the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The victory improved the USA’s incredible all-time record in opening round Gold Cup action to 21-0-1. The U.S. will now await the Wednesday results from the wide-open Group C, where Panama (four points) is in control of a tightly contested quagmire that also features Honduras (3 points), Mexico (3 points) and Cuba (1 point).
The 12-team Gold Cup tournament runs through June 24 where the final is slated for Soldier Field in Chicago. Immediately following the Gold Cup, the USA will participate in the 2007 Copa America, the regional championship of South America. The 12-team tournament will run from June 26 to July 15 in nine cities across Venezuela. The U.S. will open Group C play against Argentina on June 28, before facing Paraguay on July 2 and Colombia on July 5.
The teams moving on to the quarter finals are: Canada, Costa Rica, Guadalupe, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Mexico, and the USA.
The USA plays tomorrow against Panama at 4 pm EST at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts. It will air on fox Soccer Channel as well as TeleFutura so check your TV guides. The semifinals and finals will be played at Soldier Field in Chicago on the 21st and 24th respectively. If you live near either of these I urge you to attend because soccer matches have a great energy about them and you'll probably have a great time.
Following on the heels of the Gold Cup is the Copa América it's the exact same format, except that it is the championship of the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol or CONMEBOL, South American football's governing body. There are also two invitees to the tournament from North America, Mexico and the US. This year's host in Venezuela.
The group stage of the cup is set up like so:
The US kicks off on June 28th vs Argentina.
tl;dr: International Soccer stuff
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wooooooooooo
You gotta Believe.
USA's Copa America group is insane.
It wasn't invented solely to have enough time for commercial breaks. Like Baseball and American Football.
Yeah, because baseball was created when TV was around.
The USA sweeping group B looks like a decent accomplishment, but don't all three of those national teams kinda suck as well?
Although they were down to ten men for the last 20 some minutes of play because gooch couldn't keep his hands to himself.
The officiating in the Gold Cup has been pretty shit so far, well no the main refs are pretty good, the line judges have suuuuuuucked.
MLS.
Its awful. Ive been catching games they show over here really late due to work. And they are not good. No wonder Pablo Angel is scoring at least once in every single game he plays.
So instead of the home grown talent staying here, and also absorbing the best from around the world, like European and South American clubs, we just constantly bleed good players to other shores.
And as of this moment 13 of the best MLS players are also on international duty.
Compared to the rest of the world, MLS might as well be called Minor League Soccer.
edit: In our modified baseball stadium wooooo
Yeah, however the same happens in the likes of Brazil and Argentina. Where there is no money. All of the players aim to make it to europe for the big moneys.
But goddamn are those leagues entertaining.
I live right near Foxboro.
Also,
USA vs Panama in 15 minutes
On either Fox Soccer Channel
or
Univision the spanish speaking channel that always has this in it's lower right corner.
I think it's airing on GolTV if any Canadians care.
But... the game starts in 15 minutes.
I like you good sir.
They're the annoying, fat, rich kid of the Bundesliga. They're successful but no one likes them. Also they won't be playing Champion's League this year due to their abysmal performance last season. This means very few interesting international matches with them in the coming season
You might be better off following VFB Stuttgart or one of the English teams.
:arrow:
Love,
The United States of America.
when I posted that I was like hey I wonder where that one guy with the Germany sig is
also Podolski plays for B. Munich, right?
Podolskiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
it is called Football
Need some stuff designed or printed? I can help with that.
Well, watching any of the German teams seems to be a luxury due to its rarity on the TV. Most of the time, it's just the English teams it seems on the Soccer Channel here.
So awesome.
My Dempsey jersey just got here so now I can wear it whenever a game is on and feel special.
It's too bad he forgot how to play good football over the last year though.