OT: USA v. Mexico Gold Cup Final open thread
At 9:00 PM (ET) the US soccer team takes on Mexico in the Gold Cup Final. These 2 teams do not like each other. They're playing for pride, for the regional championship, and most importantly, they're playing for a berth in the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil.
If you only get interested in soccer every 4 years for the World Cup, tune in tonight, because it will be that kind of atmosphere in the Rose Bowl.
The game can be seen on Fox Soccer and Univision.
UPDATE:
Official lineup
---------------------Howard--------------------------
Cherundolo---Goodson---Bocanegra---Lichaj
---------------Jones----------Bradley--------------
Bedoya--------------Adu---------------Dempsey
---------------------Donovan-------------------------
And the Bench: 2-Spector, 7-Edu, 9-Agudelo, 12-Bornstein, 15-Ream, 16-Kljestan, 23-Hahnemann
Tally Hall might be the best "Prospect" he's 26 I think plays for Houston MLS.
Never, we have a top five goalie and there's only so much he can do with NO support. It looks like there needs to be some overhaul and options exploring with the centerbacks as (strangely) the flanks seem secure with Lichaj and Chandler.
Damn this is bad. Well hopefully this means Bornstein is never ever selected again.
Crossbar!!
Hits the crossbar. Unlucky.
So you got cleated in the side. It wasn't a kick in the head.
Still 3-2 Mexico.
Jesus just came into the game, for Mexico.
That'll do it. What a freak play.
4-2 Mexico.
You've got to be KIDDING me five fucking U.S. players on Dos Santos and the little bastard still scores!!!!!!!! Have some damn heart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To describe that goal except wow
Game over, man, game over!
You have officially shown you cannot field a squad that is even remotely competent on the back end... This is ugly, please get us a real coach before we start World Cup Qualifiers.
Fire Bradley
I wasa big Bradley supporter before tonight but it's over. Between the Panama game and this there's too much embarrasment in a regional tournament we are supposed to look at least competent in.
I didn't really see many games to see why everyone wanted Bradley gone but now I know...2-1 to Panama, 4-2 to Mexico
Also the defense's fault for being so bad
Agreed! Having a 2-0 lead 25 mins into a rivalry game is like being up 21-0 in the first quarter and not being able to hold a lead... Just sad he couldn't do anything, especially at half time to switch this beating.
i was on the fire bradley bandwagon too, now that ive calmed down, who do you bring in? klinsman? he's rebuffed the team once. who else is out there? the truth is if cherundolo doesnt go down and if howard plays even half of what he is capable of playing (he had an off night, obvioulsy) we win this game. hard to blame bob on that.
Was a good offer made to Klinsmann or not? If not, then sweeten the deal. I don't care if he "rebuffed" us. Are we in a position to be prickly about that?
I don't get how can you say anything bad about Howard. When the D is letting Mexicans get free runs in the box, what the hell is he supposed to do? Suddenly become Plastic Man? Use the Force?
No blame on Bradley for Cherundolo going down, but didn't he pick the rest of the team? Is Bornstein really the next best player??? (If there isn't somebody better, just shoot me now.) And why switch Lichaj out of LB where he was doing fine? It's not like Bornstein could do a worse job at RB.
from who we have....who else is out there? spector? ream? obvioulsy bornstein was bad, but it was obvious that mexico has the better players. they have the better team. wheres our chicharito? dos santos? we dont have those players.
and as far as howard, anyone can see he didnt play his best game. he was caught out of position on the fourth goal on his knees 10 yards out of the goal; that doesnt happen, ever. the first goal he didnt even move, and the third goal was soft. usually tim howard makes at least one, if not two of those saves. he wasnt helped by his defense but he hasnt been helped all tournament and yet he still had 4 shutouts. he wasnt the reason we lost but he sure didnt help.
Howard came out to challenge on the 4th goal, because the guy made a diagonal run into the box, beating his defender. Instead of getting a point blank shot from inside the 6, he was forced to turn away. Instead of converging on the ball with the goalie out, one US player inexplicably runs past him, and the guy who was marking him at the time couldn't stop him from getting off an amazing chip shot. I can't blame Howard for challenging the guy when his D wasn't doing shit.
I wouldn't call the 3rd goal soft. The play went from the middle to Howard's left, and he shifted over. The shot went to his right, away from the way he was moving, and it was low, hard and curving. And he still just missed it.
we will agree to disagree re howard tongiht. FWIW, the other soccer pundits didnt think much of his game tonight either.
mlssoccer.com, si.com, and goal.com all gave howard his worst ratings of the goldcup and they all came to the conclusion that he could "have done better" with a couple of the goals.
SI.com downgrades him because he wasn't a superhero? OK, fine. MLSSoccer is harsh with "...Howard was lured out of his net hook, line and sinker by Gio dos Santos." Bull. I suppose he could have kept his feet when coming out, but there's very little time to react on a 5-yd shot. You're pretty much hoping it hits you or is a miss. He dove and forced dos Santos to turn away from net and take a more difficult shot. (Though I'm still wondering how the hell he didn't get double-teamed.) He would want another shot at the winner? Sure, wouldn't any goalie? But he would have needed a premonition that the shot was going far post in order to dive back to his right before the shot came.
I suppose it's not surprising in the abstract that Howard got marked down - 4 goals were scored in a loss, and he's the goalie. But in the specific, the defense was a sieve, and guys were getting great looks in the box. I'm not going to blame him for not being superhuman.
playing Mexico they would have a bit more fire.
are considering changing the name from California to New New Mexico.
Instead of coming out flat and going down 1-0. We waited to do it in the second half. Then woke up, played decent for about 15-20 minutes. Couldnt get the equalizer before getting sloppy and giving up another goal.
The formula is all too common.
Confed Cup Final? We were killing Brazil, until they totally humiliated us.
Has to ultimately go back to the coaching staff... If a team doesn't come out to play, or doesn't make half time adjustments once or twice its the players, if they do it for 3 years it's the coaches.
Little words being exchanged. Spanish guy switches to English: "What's going on, man?"
Did not play that great today, but at least we have an enforcer now...
Bam Mexico'd
Give Klinsmann whatever he wants.
We have terrible defenders. We looked like shit last year in the WC as well in the backend. If we don't have a lot of scoring threats you think the coach would at least concentrate on making us a brick wall. Bradley is a bad coach who could not come with a competent strategy if it was handed to him.
is the winningest coach for USMNT.... He's a solid coach but have flaws.
Became winningest coach in US during the "Soccer Boom" across the US, arguably has the most talented US roster ever.
Klinsman needs to be hired right away!
"arguably has the most talented US roster ever"
I'm going to argue, umm . . no, no he doesn't.
The back 4 is a complete %&^show, as bad as it's been since the early 90's. And it's never been close to quality even in the good years. Tim Howard makes up for a ton of bad play. If Mexico has Howard they go 8-2 or better against us in 10 games.
If we can watch 180 minutes of play against Panama and not truly determine who the better team is, then the problems with US Soccer go well, well beyond Bob Bradley.
bradley doesnt coach the developmental league...he plays who he has. you saw what happened when cherendulo came out. we have no depth, especially on defense.
ill admit his substitutions are questionable, but i dont know if he could have done anything to change the outcome of this game.
Great tournament.
I only lament that the Tigers and Lions are the only opportunities I will have to join with you all in the near future.
has to lead to a shake up. When starting off slow and uninspired is the norm... rather than the exception, a change has to be made.
Props to Adu. Hope to see more of him.
i was skeptical of him but man, he played great. set up both our goals.
has Maurice Edu been. Is he hurt because we could have used him. We missed Altidore and Stuart Holden. We have a decent team when healthy, our weakness is the D.
ive wondered that too. jones had a couple decent games but maurice edu should have gotten more playing time. especially tonight.
I left for dinner right after the match was over and here is a well-reasoned, articulate summary of my thoughts...
Bornstein should never be allowed to wear a US jersey ever again. Dude's probably nice and all, but he's outmatched at this level.
We better pray Tim Ream and Omar Gonzalez develop rapidly or else we are screwed come '14 with an aging, semi-competent back line.
Freddy Adu played approximately 115 minutes in the Gold Cup. He looked brilliant for every single second. Adept on the ball. Created chances with footwork and good passing. Can't say enough about him. Let's hope he makes this something regular.
Donovan, Dempsey, and Howard (despite a rough night, which again BORNSTEIN!) are the rocks of this squad. I expect all 3 to be in the Starting XI come Brazil.
Michael Bradley needs to fine tune his game so that he's good going both forward and back, instead of great at one and terrible at the other (it switches from game to game).
The XI I hope to see during important WC qualifiers and that first group match.
------------------------------Howard--------------------------------
Chandler--------Ream---------Bocanegra-------------Lichaj
------------M. Edu----------------------------------Bradley--------
Donovan-----------------F. Edu----------------------Dempsey
----------------------------Agudelo-----------------------------------
With Jozy, Stu Holden, O. Gonzalez, and perhaps some younger guns in the mix depending on who's on form.
Lastly, Bob Bradley needs to go. Solid manager. Helped build the program. But, his time is over.