CONCACAF Gold Cup Results: Group C

Last nights results from Group C, which saw the drama filled 1-1 draw between Mexico and Panama with goals from Miguel Sabah and Blas Perez and a 2-0 win for Guadeloupe over Nicaragua with goals from Stephane Auvray and Judovic Gotin, leaves all four teams alive with everything to play for going into the last matches of the group stage.

US vs Haiti Preview

Tomorrows match against Haiti will serve as Bob Bradley's chance to check out all the other players on the roster who haven't yet featured for the side in this tournament. Minus an epic melt down, the US is all but assured a quarter-final birth. Who will get the starting nods...here's a look-in:

------------------Robles

Evans-----Conrad-----Parkhurst-----Heaps

-----------Holden-------Cronin

Arnaud-------------------------------C. Clark

------------Davies------Cooper

This roster means that every player will have received a start in the group stages, and for some it will likely be the only chance to show what they can bring to the field. Davies and Cooper up top has me drooling. Haiti has everything to play for so don't expect a steamroller performance from the US, but a 2-0 win shouldn't be unrealistic. The game can be seen at 7pm EST on Fox Soccer Channel and Telefutura.

Mexico: The Epidome of Class

In case you weren't watching last nights Gold Cup group stage match between Mexico and Panama, you missed arguably the poorest display of football this world has to offer...seriously, it was that bad. After a flying start which saw a goal for each team in the first 29 minutes, the game seemed headed for a barn burner. How far from the truth that would be, as at the end of the first half a pushing contest ended with Luis Miguel Noriega of Mexico and Armando Caballero of Panama being sent off. The second half continued and Panama drifted into "anti-football" mode, and its 9 man defense frustrated the Mexicans to the boiling point, which occurred in the 79th minute. In a move reminiscent in stupidity to jumping in a pen of angry tigers, Mexico head coach Javier Aguirre kicked Panamanian player Ricardo Philipps as he ran down the sidelines, struck with disbelief, Phillips shoved Aguirre, igniting a ten minute fiasco which saw both involved ejected. The referee had no control and fighting even broke out between fans in the stands, who then, once close enough, began catapulting bottles and other items at the Panamanian players. They refused to stop even when prompted to by their own players. Ten minutes of time was added to the game, half of which was stopped again when Blas Perez of Panama went down cheaply on a foul, and when taken to the sideline was struck with a bottle from the stands. The game ended in the 100th minute, as the referee had seen enough. Overall, it was the poorest display of football from all involved: Players, coaches, fans, and referees. This will only feed fuel to the fire of the anti-soccer critics in America who will take every opportunity to slam the game overall and this certainly won't help. A sad day for football.

MLS Weekend Outlook

Like rivalries? This weekend in the domestic league features plenty of marquee match-ups in both the east and west, including Columbus vs Chicago and LA Galaxy vs Chivas USA. Here is a run down of the matches:

Houston Dynamo @ Seattle Sounders FC, 4pm EST, MLS Direct Kick
Kansas City Wizards @ New England Revolution, 4pm EST, MLS Direct Kick
Columbus Crew @ Chicago Fire, 8pm EST, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes
FC Dallas @ Colorado Rapids, 9:30pm EST, MLS Direct Kick
Toronto FC @ San Jose Earthquakes, 10:30pm EST, MLS Direct Kick
LA Galaxy @ Chivas USA, 10:30pm EST, Fox Soccer Channel

As you can see, plenty of action to be played this weekend, check back Sunday for game results.

US 2- Honduras 0: Post Game Wrap-up

This time Bob Bradley got it right. After 64 minutes of frustrating futility, it was two Confederations Cup veterans who made the difference in a match against a stingy Honduran side. Benny Feilhaber and Charlie Davies replaced an outmatched Logan Pause and rusty Freddy Adu and made the difference. It was Feilhaber who started the beautiful touch and move play, which eventually found its way to Charlie Davies who then laid it off perfectly to an on running Santino Quaranta who blasted it home, which sent the fans of the hometown man into a riot. Four minutes later Steve Cherundolo was rewarded for his attacking prowess when his cross found the head/shoulder of Brian Ching who knocked it in to the net for the game sealer. The US attack had been thwarted all night long as the Ching and Adu tandem that started just couldn't find the net, though both had two decent opportunities each prior to the subs. Robbie Rogers looked again to be the player that he was against Grenada and had a good first half, but was slowed in the second and faded as the game went on. Quaranta's is a story of its own, in dealing with his past experiences, he couldn't possibly imagine that it would lead him to scoring his first goal with the National team in front of his home town fans, and it was all he could do to hold back his emotions. Here are my player ratings for the match:

Troy Perkins (7)- Had more to do than the other night and made himself big on Martinez's breakaway, and kept his second consecutive clean sheet in this tournament.

Steve Cherundolo (7.5)- Still seemed a tad rusty from the lay off due to injury, but thwarted attack after attack from the Honduran wingers. His cross to Ching for the goal was a thing of beauty.

Chad Marshall (8)- Break-out game for Marshall as he held Carlos Costly to a mediocre game all night long and was dominant in the air, he is playing himself into a battle with Danny Califf for fourth on the CB pecking order.

Michael Parkhurst (7)- A quiet game for Parkhurst, which is exactly what you want from a defender, stopped attacks with his positioning prowess and deceptive quickness.

Heath Pearce (6.5)- Playing himself back into the squad and got forward all night which was nice to see. Turned the ball over a few to many times though.

Santino Quaranta (7)- Obviously starting as the home town hero, but ended up being a revelation and brought a different, Clint Dempsey-esque type role onto the field, and his defensive work was a sight for sore eyes. His goal was well deserved and well earned.

Logan Pause (5.5)- Looked behind all game long and couldn't really adapt to Honduras' speed through the midfield, but did enough to help keep them off the board until relieved by Feilhaber.

Kyle Beckerman (7)- Played a smart game all night long and distributed well from the center. He and Feilhaber seemed to have a keen understanding of each other.

Robbie Rogers (6.5)- A shadow of himself from the Grenada match, Honduras closed his space quicker and was more physical in their tackles. Had some dangerous moments in the first half but faded in the second half.

Freddy Adu (5)- This is what not playing consistently can and will do to a players game, both mentally and physically. Had a decent couple of chances but was uncharacteristically unnerved on the ball and turned it over a lot. He has left the squad to attend preseason workouts with Benfica, hopefully he can turn this around, we all know what he is capable of.

Brian Ching (6.5)- Still perhaps a bit slow from injury but worked hard and turned in a typical Ching performance, and the goal was his reward for that.

Benny Feilhaber (8)- Pure class once he entered the game and his touch and vision immediately had Honduras on their heels. His work during the first goal was magic.

Charlie Davies (7)- Once he entered his hustle and determination nearly forced a mistake from the Honduran goalkeeper and played the perfect lay off pass to Quaranta for the first goal.

Kenny Cooper (6.5)- In a ten minute cameo the 6'4" striker had four good looks on goal, should get a longer look against Haiti as the US can afford to rest its key players.

For anyone who missed it, here are the highlights of the match:

Charlie Davies signs with French club Sochaux.

In a move known to be coming for months, Charlie Davies has finally signed with French club FC Sochaux of Ligue 1. All due respect, Charlie was just too good for the Swedish league. His club success coupled with a strong summer with the US National Team was all it took for the reportedly 2.5 million Euro fee to be paid. The French league will provide a different test for him and will surely be pushed for playing time more so than while at Hammarby. This will only make him individually better and make the USMNT stronger. What a summer it is already!!

US comes alive in the second half, ousts Honduras 2-0

The US leaves it late, but goals in the 75th from Santino Quaranta and Brian Ching secure three points for the USA in front of a crowd of 26,000 at RFK Stadium in Washington DC. In the other days match, Haiti kept its quarter-final dreams alive by beating lowly Grenada 2-0. Full recap and analysis tomorrow after work.

US vs Honduras Preview

Apologies for the late post....

The US takes on Honduras in two hours exactly, and so the starting line-ups will be posted in around an hour, but simply put, this will be the best game of the group stage as the US will definitely be able to tell where everyone stands in terms of roster places. With the inclusion of Benny Feilhaber to camp, here's a potential starting 11 for the US:

------------------------Perkins

Cherundolo-----Marshall-----Parkhurst-----Pearce

-----------------------Feilhaber

Holden---------------------------------------Rogers

--------------------------Adu

-----------------Ching-----------Davies

The game starts at 9pm EST and can be seen on FSC.

Gooch to AC Milan CONFIRMED!!

There will be many more fist-pumps to follow. That's right everyone, the big man is FINALLY with a BIG club. AC Milan's aging defense needed a face lift, and Onyewu has signed a 3 year deal reportedly worth 1.1 million euros per year. Do I like it?? I love this move, Onyewu will be the first American to play at one of the most recognizable clubs worldwide and will help the visibility of the sport around the country. Some are questioning if he will actually get playing time, but I think he will given the age of most of AC's defenders, and if not too old, are constantly injured. If he can survive the media attention that exists around the Rossoneri, then he will do just fine. Congratulations to Oguchi Onyewu!! Now is the time to go buy another Yank Abroad jersey, and u can hit up my man Brady Kuhn at footykitblog.com for the latest in football kits around the world.

CONCACAF Gold Cup Look-In

Every team has now played their first game, and other than El Salvador's upset of Costa Rica in group 1, there has not been to many surprises. Sundays matches saw Guadeloupe take on Panama, and Mexico take on Nicaragua.

Guadeloupe 2 - Panama 1
Guadeloupe scored two first half goals through Loic Loval and David Fleurival, and despite a flurry of attempts from Panama in the second half and a 68th minute goal from Nelson Barahona to cut the lead in half, Guadeloupe escaped with a win.

Mexico 2 - Nicaragua 0
Mexico, despite winning, probably picked up a bigger loss in the long run as Carlos Vela was substituted off after 11 minutes with an apparent knee injury. Goals from Luis Noriega and Pablo Barrera saw off a feisty Nicaraguan side.


Currently, the tables stand thus:

Group A:
El Salvador (next vs Canada) - 3 points
Canada (next vs. El Salvador) - 3 points
Costa Rica (next vs Jamaica) - 0 points
Jamaica (next vs Costa Rica) - 0 points

Group B:
United States (next vs Honduras) - 3 points
Honduras (next vs United States) - 3 points
Haiti (next vs Grenada) - 0 points
Grenada (next vs Haiti) - 0 points

Group C:
Mexico (next vs Panama) - 3 points
Guadeloupe (next vs Nicaragua) - 3 points
Panama (next vs Mexico)- 0 points
Nicaragua (next vs Guadeloupe) - 0 points

MLS Weekend Look Back

Saturday action in MLS finally moved away from the tradition of draws as only two of the six matches finished in ties. Here is a wrap up of Saturday's matches:

DC United 1 - Columbus Crew 1
DC United and Columbus battled to a 1-1 draw as the top two teams in the East squared off in Columbus. DC struck first with an unassisted Christian Gomez goal in the 33rd minute and took the lead into the locker room, but Columbus struck in the 59th through Alejandro Moreno.

Chicago Fire 2 - Colorado Rapids 1
Chicago scored twice in the first half to oust Colorado at Dicks Sporting Goods Park. First half goals from Marco Papa in the 30th and Wilman Conde in the 37th were enough to see Chicago pick up three points despite a 76th minute goal from Jacob Peterson.

Houston Dynamo 1 - Kansas City Wizards 0
An eighteenth minute goal from Kei Kamara was enough to see MLS's hottest team leave Kansas City with three important road points.

FC Dallas 2 - New York Red Bulls 1
Jeff Cunningham struck twice in the first 17 minutes for FC Dallas who have now picked up seven points in their last three games. Juan Pablo Angel scored in the 43rd but it was all New York would muster as their season to forget continues.

LA Galaxy 1 - New England Revolution 0
Alecko Eskandarian was worth his weight in gold in his first appearance for his new club. The newly acquired striker scored in the eighth minute and LA made it stand up for three desperately needed points.


CONCACAF Champions League, Superliga, and US Open Cup coverage will begin this week, along with All-Star coverage and MLS club rankings. Now I can get back to this intense Mexico-Nicaragua Gold Cup match...

USA vs Grenada- The Aftermath

In what everyone knew was going to be a one-sided affair, the United States trumped Grenada to the tune of 4-0, with two goals in each half. It didn't take long for things to start going the Americans way, as Freddy Adu scored in the 7th minute off a Robbie Rogers feed. Later in the 31st minute Rogers again was the assist man as he played a deep cross into the six-yard box and Stuart Holden, in his first cap, headed home while two Grenadian defenders watched. Rogers then tallied one of his own in the 60th minute on a perfect through ball from Logan Pause, and all Rogers had to do was slide it low past a helpless keeper into the net. Charlie Davies would round out the scoring eight minutes later when Michael Parkhurst played a long ball to Heath Pearce who one-timed it to Davies, who then took a touch and slotted home.

All in all, a sound performance from the Americans, four goal scorers and four goals assisted. Unfortunately, much can't really be learned from this game, except for the obvious that is Freddy Adu hasn't seen a pitch in a very long time, as his touch seemed off, but then again, not playing for several months can do that to a player, so I'll give him a pass. Great to see Cherundolo and Pearce have good games, and the center back pairing of Chad Marshall and Clarence Goodson made only one mistake the whole match and Grenada failed to capitalize. The true test will come Wednesday, when the US take on Honduras at RFK Stadium in the nations capital. Honduras who barely squeaked by Haiti 1-0 in the nights opening match on a goal from Carlo Costly, will surely look to take it too the Americans much like was seen in the latest encounter between the two sides back on June 6 in Chicago, which finished 2-1 to the Yanks. No player ratings this time, but full coverage from pregame to post game will return for the Honduras game.

For those who missed the game due to 4th of July festivities, here are the highlights: