Well, let's see... its not all too often that people get super excited about watching soccer in the summer unless its that every fourth summer where the World Cup is taking over the headlines. But, for me, I couldn't wait for the U.S. Men's National Team to get things kicked off with the Gold Cup, Copa America, and just around the corner... South Africa 2010 Qualification.
Why be so excited over the Gold Cup? Well, for starters, the Gold Cup is the first real tournament that the senior men's squad has participated in since the semi-disaster of Germany 2006 which began almost exactly a year ago right now. I also think that this summer is the official baptism of the next generation of American soccer players. The old veterans like Claudio Reyna, Brian McBride, and Eddie Pope will be missed... but now young players (and by young, I mean my age of around 22) like Michael Bradley, Jonathan Spector, and Frank Simek are going to get solid minutes in competitive matches. The leaders of the U.S. squad is now Landon Donovan, and at just 25, he has many more years to lead this group of impressive players. The 2007 Gold Cup is the beginning of the quest for glory in South Africa... that's why I am excited.
Why be so excited over the Gold Cup? Well, for starters, the Gold Cup is the first real tournament that the senior men's squad has participated in since the semi-disaster of Germany 2006 which began almost exactly a year ago right now. I also think that this summer is the official baptism of the next generation of American soccer players. The old veterans like Claudio Reyna, Brian McBride, and Eddie Pope will be missed... but now young players (and by young, I mean my age of around 22) like Michael Bradley, Jonathan Spector, and Frank Simek are going to get solid minutes in competitive matches. The leaders of the U.S. squad is now Landon Donovan, and at just 25, he has many more years to lead this group of impressive players. The 2007 Gold Cup is the beginning of the quest for glory in South Africa... that's why I am excited.
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USA (1)2 - Trinidad and Tobago (0)0
Game Recap
All that being said, I sat down to watch the Yanks take on a depleted T&T team in their second game of the Gold Cup group stage this afternoon. While I am having to watch on Telefutura because I don't pay for premium cable (and thus FSC), soccer is the kind of game that can be watched even if you don't understand the language of the commentators. So here's how it went down this afternoon for the US of A -FIRST HALF
- Coach Bob Bradley sends out TEN different starters today from the game against Guatemala. OK Coach, let's get the bench some minutes against lesser competition and give the starters who got beat up (literally) against Guatemala the day off...
- Barely a minute into the game... Brian Ching and Eddie Johnson each have quality chances nearly back to back and neither can convert... my eyes rolled because this is something U.S. soccer fans have become all too accustomed with. Poor finishing. Looks like the poor finishing from the Guatemala game two days ago would be replayed again today...
- The trend continued twice more as Ching was sprung on goal only to send a chip well over the cross-bar the first time and then was stoned by T&T goalie Jan Michael Williams later on a breakaway. Yup... trend continues...
- But shortly thereafter Justin Mapp absolutely burned his defender, showing off his lightning speed to get to the end-line, where he looked up and found Ching crashing. Ching did his best to screw the finish up as he clattered the ball across the line with his shins, but hey GOLAZZA USA. 1-0.
- The first-half didn't see many other great chances as the U.S. again showed a trend of letting off the pressure following a goal. The only other notable news from the first half was the six-minutes of stoppage time added on because of a T&T injury to defender Anthony Noriega in the first half.
- Barely a minute into the game... Brian Ching and Eddie Johnson each have quality chances nearly back to back and neither can convert... my eyes rolled because this is something U.S. soccer fans have become all too accustomed with. Poor finishing. Looks like the poor finishing from the Guatemala game two days ago would be replayed again today...
- The trend continued twice more as Ching was sprung on goal only to send a chip well over the cross-bar the first time and then was stoned by T&T goalie Jan Michael Williams later on a breakaway. Yup... trend continues...
- But shortly thereafter Justin Mapp absolutely burned his defender, showing off his lightning speed to get to the end-line, where he looked up and found Ching crashing. Ching did his best to screw the finish up as he clattered the ball across the line with his shins, but hey GOLAZZA USA. 1-0.
- The first-half didn't see many other great chances as the U.S. again showed a trend of letting off the pressure following a goal. The only other notable news from the first half was the six-minutes of stoppage time added on because of a T&T injury to defender Anthony Noriega in the first half.
SECOND HALF
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Donovan subs in at the half and makes an immediate impact. T&T corner kick... counter-attack... Donovan passes to Ching at the midfield... Ching releases Donovan down the wing with a perfectly timed ball to beat the offside trap... Donovan races in on goal and spots Johnson making a run down the left... A perfectly weighted pass across the penalty area allows Johnson to finish into an open net. GOLAZZA USA. 2-0.
Donovan subs in at the half and makes an immediate impact. T&T corner kick... counter-attack... Donovan passes to Ching at the midfield... Ching releases Donovan down the wing with a perfectly timed ball to beat the offside trap... Donovan races in on goal and spots Johnson making a run down the left... A perfectly weighted pass across the penalty area allows Johnson to finish into an open net. GOLAZZA USA. 2-0.- The rest of the second-half is a comedy of errors. Again, let-down following a goal as the team is obviously coasting with the two-goal advantage. Its times like this that Americans get turned off from the sport. A good twenty minutes of kick-ball.The Islanders almost score twice in the final minutes as Kasey Keller is forced to earn his start, but Donovan and Twellman (who subbed in for Johnson) worked well together to create a few chances.
IMPRESSIONS
- I was hoping for a blow-out. T&T didn't have their first-choice team available for the Gold Cup due to the players from the World Cup team sitting out because they wanted more bonus money. Thus, the US should have handled this team much easier. The game was never in doubt, but only two goals? Again, finishing was just awful.
- Ricardo Clarke didn't impress me in the midfield. He had the chance to work with both Benny Feilhaber (who started), Donovan, and Bradley in the middle, but never did much offensively. I love his defense (the same with Bradley), but as an attacking option he plays too many touches and doesn't have the imagination that Benny and Michael do in the middle.
- The game Monday against El Salvador is now essentially meaningless because the U.S. has clinched a spot in the playoffs, but hopefully the team will seek to improve its form as more will be needed to get past Mexico methinks.
- But all that being said, there's nothing better than watching soccer on a Saturday afternoon while recovering from Wisdom Tooth extraction.
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MLS Soccer Saturday?
- The bevy of U.S. Men's National Team games this summer, means that many MLS squads are going to be depleted. Houston Dynamo pulled off a big 2-1 win over the Colorado Rapids on Thursday night even though they were missing FOUR players (two for the USA and two for Canada) due to the Gold Cup.
- Today's MLS Games:
Chivas USA (3-3-2) at Chicago Fire (4-4-2)
LA Galaxy (1-3-3) at FC Dallas (5-5-1)
- Earlier Results this week:
New York Red Bulls (0)2 - Toronto FC (1)1
Houston Dynamo (1)2 - Colorado Rapids (1)1
- Juan Pablo Angel continues to destroy MLS defenses as he notced two goals in two minutes to give the NYRB's a come-back victory in Toronto. Stuart Holden scored what could very well be the goal of the week on a rocket to the far corner of the net from just inside the right edge of the penalty area to give Houston a well-earned victory over Colorado.
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