CONCACAF Gold Cup

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Napoleon

2,500+ Posts
We're talking America baby!On our nation's birthday (observed)!The USA is playing mighty Grenada who we (Reagan) invaded in the early '80s (to distract from the Beirut bombing) and we kicked they're *** (not sure if they even had an army). Sure their best player isn't playing, but that doesn't mean that they're not tough! (Well, actually it does. It not only means that they're not tough, they're downright toothless, but still...)

I won't slip in a spoiler, because some people might be watching fireworks, but I figured that we should get a thread rolling for the...

U-S-A!... (B team)
U-S-A!... (B team)
U-S-A!... (B team)
U-S-A!... (B team)
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Beckerman had a good game.

The whole team had a good game. I know it's just Grenada, but just like with Texas football, you can tell when a team plays well even if it's just against a scrub ... or the other scenario, when the outcome's never really in doubt but you still are left unsatisfied.

The team played with a lot of confidence and vision tonight, and also played with a lot of effort. The U.S. is still at least a generation away from displaying anything beyond rudimentary flair; in the meantime, it can establish and maintain an identity based on work-rate, organization and confidence.

That's what we eventually saw from the first team in South Africa, and that's what we saw tonight from the "B/C team".
 
BTW....Adu had another one of those "Wow" moments last night for me.

It was in the first half when he received the pass...settled the ball...and immediately sent a shot standing still a couple of feet over the bar with decent velocity. You just dont see other US players do things like that. I really hope he puts it all together.

Bill...I sort of agree with the football analogy...However, in soccer when a team gives you space on the ball like Grenada was giving us all last night, you are an epic failure if you can't produce.
 
Adu's early goal was great to see and hopefully ushers in a new confidence in him and by him. He also had an early header that was just over the goal post. Grenada was a great chance to get a lot of players who dont usually see the pitch out there and really shouldnt be viewed as anything more than that, a "glorified scrimmage". It also didnt feel natural watching a match on the fake turf and seeing things bouncing up as the ball skidded along the field.

And just because it really hacks me off living overseas and listening to people just get history dead wrong in claiming American conspiracies with every event in the last 40 years, the USA invaded Grenada less than 36 hours after the Beirut bombing. The Marine Expeditionary Force had set sail a week earlier. So unless Reagan and the Joint Chiefs could see the future one had nothing to do with the other. And no Grenada didnt have much of an army but all those Cuban soldiers on the Island werent there on vacation. But as Loop will no doubt tell us this is for the west mall board not this one.

The Honduras match will be a good test for the B/C teamers and a match with Mexico later will also be an interesting matchup especially in advance of the huge one in Azteca next month.
 
Once again, Clint Dempsey does absolutely nothing for the U.S. men's national team. What a waste of space. It's like he's not even there sometimes.
 
Game 2 is 2 nil win over Honduras. The Hondurans actually played better than the US in the first half and were unlucky not to get a goal. The Americans scored twice in last 20 minutes to take the win and clinch a spot in the next round with a group game against Haiti still to be played. Freddy Adu continues to mature and looked good up front with a couple of chances. A couple of the Confed Cup players got into match late including Feilhaber who continues to impress.
 
Couple responses, Napoleon.

1. Adu - No, he did not look good up top....But I never think he looks good up top...The same way I feel about Landon when they put him up there. Adu excels when put into the Offensive Center Mid role. He even had started showing promises when put out on the wings. As a forward though...No way.

3. Beckerman still sucked. He was slow. Spent most of the night scampering around like a chicken with his head cut off. It was a joke that we were relying on him to be the "creative" mid-fielder in the first half....and it showed as the only offense we created was coming down Rogers wing. When Benny came on at some point in the second half the midfield suddenly turned into a very differnt machine.

Robbie Rogers - He has looked much better in these two games than he had recently in the US uniform. That being said...One of the problems he had in his last stint has not been shown to be resolved yet and that was that although he was fast, he couldnt attack defenders 1v1 on the wing and force a DC to come over thus opening spaces. This time around I still don't see him doing that...But that's because every time he has come down the wing he's gone outside and crossed the ball (albeit effectively).
 
Re:1) Adu

The report is that he's on his way back to Portugal to hopefully impress enough to get playing time somewhere. This apparently was always the agreement.

Hopefully his time with the USMNT over the last month or so will mean that he's less rusty than the other players in camp and can impress Benfica, or another club, enough to get him in a regular rotation.


2) Re: Beckerman

I've never been a Beckerman fan, but I think that he definitely gives it his all. After the 1st game many were saying he was horrible while a few others were saying he was one of our best players.
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Then after this game, there were still people saying he was horrible, many who were saying that he impressed, and a few were saying that he was Man of the Match, because Feilhaber hadn't played enough to earn that honor... which means that Feilhaber was the best player on the field, but since he only played 25 minutes, they felt they couldn't give it to him.
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EXTRA: Cooper & Davies together... for one night only

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I really hope that we can see Cooper up top with Davies at least for one game. There are rumblings that Davies has been sold to a team in Sochaux, France. (I had to look it up, but it is really close to the Swiss border and barely farther from the German border as well.)

There is the thought that he'll head back to Europe before the next game to get his stuff together and start training with the frogs. I really hope that he plays one more game, because although I like Davy Arnaud (sp?), I think we would get a much better feel of what Cooper could do for the national team by seeing him work with Davies.


And last but not least, it's nice to see Sam's Army "keepin' it 'classy'!"

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Speaking of "keeping it classy," here are the highlights of the ugly match between Panama and Mexico last night. It includes 4 red cards, one to Mexico's coach for his altercation with a player from Panama.
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Its funny sometimes how people can watch the same game and come to differing conclusions. I certainly wouldnt argue that Adu was dominant up front against Honduras or even showed that he needs to be an A team starter but he had a couple of good chances and I am impressed by his speed with the ball and ability to make passes under pressure. I will freely admit as a long time fan of Adu (edited) that I may sometimes see what I want to see and discount the other times when he makes the poor decision or gets shut down by a defender but he has been better these past two games than other recent appearances and I am at least encouraged by it.

Re the Ching goal, the TV down here showed it on replay a couple of times and it definitely wasnt a header, it might have been his shoulder, regardless he was in right place to make play and ball went in net.

The appearance of the subs did change the game and frankly they better, the USA "A" team should dominate Concacaf with the exception of Mexico in Azteca and maybe Costa Rica in Sarprissa. So if those players get on the field they should change the game.

The Haiti match Saturday should be a fantastic chance to see some players who almost never get caps and for the team to continue developing some of the young US based players.
 
Just another reason to hate Mexico (not the ethnic group) fans and the general accepted fan culture in Latin America. They should be embarrassed but instead they revel in it.
 
I've watched the game twice and have a few thoughts on comments made previously...

Honduras was not the better team in the first half, at best they were even. Possession was even and the US had more scoring opportunities than Honduras.

Beckerman did not suck. Anyone who has any knowledge of the game would have to admit he has played well in both games. While Benny did change the game, you have to realize that he had Davies up top who was able to take advantage of Benny's passes, Beckerman was making those same passes to Adu, who could not take advantage of them either because of his lack of pace or lack of strength.

Robbie Rodger was personally responsible for at least 7 corner kicks vs. Honduras, so the claim that "he couldnt attack defenders 1v1 on the wing" is just flat wrong. The only way you get those corner kicks is if you are taking players on 1v1 and beating them.
 
Sorry Gem, you are correct I dont know what brain fart I had typing Edu I will blame it on early morning posting before I have really finished my coffee. Have edited it above.

Meanwhile I see in the paper today that Adu is headed back to Portugal per an agreement prior to Gold Cup that he would only be available the first two games of the tourny. Hopefully actually getting to see the filed as oppossed to a wasted year last year in France on the bench will do young Freddy some good. I guess I am in the minority still seeing something there with him but he will have a chance to prove it and one way or the other it will all wash out. I would like to see the next generation of USMNT players start to assert themeselves starting with him. (Gotta love the British papers on the Island here they do cover their football intensely.)
 
Well, Tex...I'd love to respond but when someone starts tossing out "anyone who has knowledge of the game"...It's kind of pointless to counter. If you want to discuss an issue with someone then do so but dismissive responses like that are never necessary.
 
Yea,
I was at the Mexico v. Panama match last night and it was ugly indeed. There were a few altercations in the stands, and of course the ruckus on the pitch.
Also, at one point a Panamanian player was stretchered off after the 12 minute stoppage and a barrage of cups and liquids and paper and who knows what else came down on him.
I had decided to wear a shirt I have that is basically a replica of the Mexico jersey, even though I was rooting for Panama. I was VERY glad after the match that I wore that green shirt.
 
Medio tiempo of the U.S.'s third and final Gold Cup pool play match. The Nats lead Haiti, 1-0, but are lucky not to be tied after some shoddy defending as stoppage time expired.

Parkhurst and Heaps are making their cases ... for never wearing a U.S. kit again. On the ball, both are as comfortable as a wealthy person at a Juneteenth celebration.

Stuart Holden is the man of the half-match. His through ball to a diagonally running Davy Arnaud in the fifth minute resulted in the match's only score. Beautiful pass, perfect finish--not bad for a couple of second-stringers.

(In Holden's case, not bad for a Scotsman. Must be the name.)

Holden nearly made it 2-0 with a blast from 25 meters that hit the crossbar and deflected straight down, bouncing directly in front of the line. Replays showed the keeper just got his fingers on the ball, likely changing the trajectory just enough to keep it from bouncing off the crossbar and into the net. It was the sort of quality strike from range we rarely see from our Nats.
 
The second half gets underway and Haiti immediately equalizes. Seriously--I think it took all of 48 seconds. The culprits? Who else but Heaps and Parkhurst?

On the wing, Heaps gets jinked and juked, ultimately losing his man as he gets spun around and yields a fine service from the corner.

Meanwhile, at the far post, Parkhurst loses his mark, who heads the ball down and into the back of the net. U.S. 1, Haiti 1.

As I'm typing this, the U.S. surrenders another goal, this one from well outside the 18-meter box. AGAIN, Heaps is responsible. He's beaten on the wing but recovers to win possession. Though the attacker is behind him and he has time to do something intelligent with the ball, he chokes and "clears" it right to a Haitian some 30 meters from goal, who settles and blasts a rocket that would've beaten anybody.

So, just in case I'm not laying it on thick enough, Jay Heaps has become the man of the match ... for Haiti.
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A terrible giveaway puts Charlie Davies in front of goal with a defender on his back and a chance to equalize, but he rolls it horribly and harmlessly wide. He can only hope his future managers at Sochaux didn't see that.
 
Stuart Effin' Holden.

So, just as it looks like the U.S. is about to suffer its first-ever loss in Gold Cup group play, Holden bails the team out with a stoppage-time strike from about 23 meters that beats the keeper high and inside the near post. A genuine, world-class golazo.

Hopefully, our national side will march through the knockout round en route to its third-consecutive Gold Cup title ... if only because Jay Heaps never again dons the U.S. kit. Words cannot describe how atrocious he was today. Even on the overlap, he was regularly dispossessed and not one of his crosses held promise--they were low, short and easily headed out of danger.
 
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