Gold Cup 2013

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Wed Jun 26, 2013 6:56 am

Looks like Landon will be on the roster but unlikely that Gooch will make the cut.

Post by **Sabo** » Thu Jun 27, 2013 10:17 am

Gooch makes the cut. Looks like a very young team.

Klinsmann names 23-player roster for 2013 Gold Cup.

GOALKEEPERS (3) : Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

DEFENDERS (8) : Corey Ashe (Houston Dynamo), DaMarcus Beasley (Puebla), Tony Beltran (Real Salt Lake), Edgar Castillo (Club Tijuana), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Oguchi Onyewu (Malaga), Michael Orozco Fiscal (Puebla), Michael Parkhurst (FC Augsburg)

MIDFIELDERS (7) : Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (Helsinborg), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Mix Diskerud (Rosenborg), Joshua Gatt (Molde FK), Stuart Holden (Bolton), Jose Torres (Tigres)

FORWARDS (5) : Will Bruin (Houston Dynamo), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy), Herculez Gomez (Club Tijuana), Jack McInerney (Philadelphia Union), Chris Wondolowski (San Jose Earthquakes)

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 7:17 am

bumping this one up as games get started. The carpet bagger thread referenced our friends from the Great White North taking one in the chin last night. Also highlighting the fact that nobody even noticed the US 6-0 beating of the Guats in a warm up friendly. Landon had 2 in that one.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 7:50 am

Oh and Mexico loses to Panama. So Martinique and Panama are top of the group right now. Even with the Confederation Cup qualification change (winners of both Gold Cups before the next World Cup will face off to see who plays in the next Confed Cup), this is just a low value tournament.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 9:27 am

Mexico losing is understandable. Panama is really good and Mexico has played 7 or 8 games in the last 4 weeks.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 1:55 pm

Grant Wahl has gotten unreadable.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 2:42 pm

Canada loses to Martinique.

Martinique is not even in FIFA.

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 3:33 pm

Pruitt wrote:Canada loses to Martinique.

Martinique is not even in FIFA.

Which is oddly to their benefit, as players who've been capped for other countries can still play for them.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Tue Jul 09, 2013 7:10 am

Great article on the head coach of Belize. Just an interesting story.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer ... =sc_t12_a2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

rass · Post by **rass** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 6:44 am

wlu_lax bait

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 12:16 pm

Here's the tifo from last night. I heard that FSC didn't show it.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 12:30 pm

Not only did they not show it, Grant Wahl described it before it was unveiled. American Outlaws that I follow on twitter were fired up about that.

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 12:37 pm

Wow. Bad form. It's a pretty established rule that if you know anything about the tifo, you don't say anything about the tifo.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 12:57 pm

The first rule of tifo is don't talk about tifo. Wahl is a tool.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 2:17 pm

Except they taped the whole thing

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 4:43 pm

When did they post it? Look, I don't really give a fuck, or know the unwritten rules of tifo, but those who do were all over Wahl about it.

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 4:47 pm

That was posted after the match.

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 9:25 pm

1. Tifo? WTF is Tifo?

2. I just bought tickets for tomorrow's Cuba match. Many, many tickets available. I'll be surprised if the game draws 10,000. And the second game even features Costa Rica, with local star Alvaro Saborio.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Tue Jul 16, 2013 8:59 pm

Turned on the game just in time to see Johnson make the great save and Landon's pass to a streaking Shea for the game winner. Shea almost botched that 1 on goalie. Glad the keeper could not get a better touch on it.

Post by **brian** » Tue Jul 16, 2013 9:10 pm

Costa Rica should protest this game for being too hot.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 7:08 am

Us uses the roster change provision.
in: Omar Gonzalez, Matt Besler, Eddie Johnson, Alan Gordon
out: Oguchi Onyewu, Corey Ashe, Herculez Gomez, Jack McInerney

Game on Sunday is on Fox proper with ~43K tickets sold so far.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Thu Jul 18, 2013 7:35 pm

Bummed I can't go. Trip for work arose middle of last week, have to be on airplane Sunday morning early. Sucks.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Sat Jul 20, 2013 7:18 pm

Pan kicks the snot out of Cuba ..but in the 80th minute T&T and Mexico knotted at 0

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Sat Jul 20, 2013 7:18 pm

wlu_lax6 wrote:Pan kicks the snot out of Cuba ..but in the 80th minute T&T and Mexico knotted at 0

Well that was quick. Mex 1-0

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 3:32 pm

wow! great double save by Rimando!

Post by **Sabo** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 3:33 pm

Entertaining game so far. You couldn't draw up the US goal better on a chalkboard. Short corners for the win!

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 3:41 pm

Under Klinsmann the Americans are so good right now. Look that the so-called B team is doing. Very fun to watch and a good omen for the WC next year.

Post by **Sabo** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 3:46 pm

Clear penalty by Beasley. No idea what the fuck he was doing there.

Post by **Sabo** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 4:12 pm

OK, US players ... you can start playing defense in the second half. Egads.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 4:23 pm

First touch!

Post by **Sabo** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 4:28 pm

When I went to the USMNT public practice before their friendly vs. Belgium, the one player who really impressed me was Eddie Johnson. He consistently beat defenders to the point of eliciting more than a few OOOHS and AAAAAHs from the crowd. I have no idea why that doesn't translate to game time situations more often.

But hey, I'll take the occasional headed goal instead of absolutely nothing.

howard · Post by **howard** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 4:46 pm

Fighting Waldo's looking strong.

Post by **Sabo** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 4:53 pm

Men in Blazers wrote:.@GrantWahl please stop throwing crap at Landon

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 5:00 pm

Cobi Jones looks like Brittany Griner's Mini-Me

Bensell · Post by **Bensell** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 10:27 am

I loved the fact that Gus Johnson was calling Eddie Johnson Demolition Man

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 10:55 am

I really enjoyed Gus Johnson's commentary. Network needs more consistant American play-by-play guys for soccer.

Wynalda is just a cheerleader but enjoyable too. He watches the game like I would watch it.

When Beasley gave away the penalty .. "no way! that's nothing but it had to be called".

What!? After about 10 replays he was still in denial that it was a clear penalty, even though he knew it was. Pretty funny.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 1:07 pm

Took my son to the game in B'more yesterday... He won't soon forget that experience. What was crazy was the HON game (and it's happy horde of fans) were there for the game after us. At first I was like, HOLY SHIT there are a lot of ElSal fans, but quickly realized what was up walking into the stadium.

I'm sure you guys know, but these two countries fought a war in '69 and soccer played somewhat of an igniting trigger to the conflict. Bottomline: there's some history here and it's not good.

So you've got El Sal fans rooting on their team, you've got US fans scattered around, and you've got Hondo fans basically rooting against and for both teams. They were so conflicted. My son and I sat amongst a section of mostly Hon fans we made fast friends. I think they liked that I was cheering and jeering at the appropriate moments... respect of my more then passing knowledge.

We disagreed on the PK call, but my angle (complete other endzone) made it look like the guy had run out of options and sought out DMB. It was all in good fun.

Some other observations:

* To state the obvious, Landon was UNBELIEVABLE yesterday. And it wasn't just his offense (in fact, he missed a couple that he would consider sitters), it was defense that impressed. He was all over the place, when need be, and just took over the game from an early point.

* Rimando won't get much praise, but the sequence of saves he made in the first half and then another early in the 2nd were huge. He also did very well coming off his line in traffic. Oh, and that sidewinder volley outlet he's picked up? Fucking nasty. It's really a weapon.

* The only slightly negative comment I have is that Besler was just about the only guy that seemed like he needed to hoof the ball out of bounds when under pressure. That's the kind of stuff we want to get away from. It wasn't a huge deal and he was overall solid, but if we're picking nits...

* RunDMB is making a serious case at leftback. It has always been the case that he would get beat a lot, but then use his speed to recover. Well, he's gotten a lot better about not getting beaten in the first place, and actually stripping guys. And he still has that blazing speed when he needs it.

* Some of the switching of field was just brilliant. El Sal was playing so packed into the center that when our guys picked their head up, they could see the opposite flank was WIDE OPEN. I think seeing that much room emboldened them to launch these touchline to touchline passes. And they didn't miss on those very often.

* Shea came in and was dangerous right away. It was good to see after he struggled a bit earlier. I know it was a perfect situation, but he still capitalized on it.

* Has there ever been a faster substitution to goal than that? The stadium was stunned by that. It took most of the crowd around me a couple of beats to figure out why I was cheering. (Opposite endzone from us.)

* Still not sure about Wondolowski. He works hard, plays pretty well with his back to the goal, and is decent in the air. But he rarely makes a penetrating run to stretch the defense. Kind of one dimensional in that I don't think he has the speed or is all that comfortable latching on to that kind of ball.

* Grudgingly, I have to say Beckerman was pretty solid. Won a lot of balls, but more importantly (to me) he was more mindful and insightful with his passing. Not nearly as many unforced errors as I usually chalk him up for... Now, granted, El Sal sat so far back in their shell for most of the game that he wasn't forced to do all that much under pressure.

* Love what I saw from Diskerud. Demanding the ball at times, turning under pressure, AWESOME ability to spray passes around.

* Torres was an absolute terror on the flanks. Absolute nightmare for them to try and cover. He stayed wide and used his space to stretch El Sal routinely. I could do without some of his histrionics.

* I'm not being critical, but I didn't notice Corona much other than the goal. I'd actually like to go back and watch what was going on there. Someone watching/listening to the broadcast might have more insight on this.

Ok, that's it.

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 1:19 pm

I'd be surprised to see Wondo in Brazil next year. He's low on the forward depth chart and he'll be marked out of the game by better defenders.

testuser2 · Post by **testuser2** » Tue Jul 23, 2013 8:34 am

That's a great summary of the game. I'm pretty excited about the change in mentality I'm seeing. They don't want to go out there and sit on a lead anymore. The US has never been good at changing the tempo during a game to match the score. I'd much rather see them going forward all of the time instead of sitting back and packing the box.

I had to drive through the rain in Harrisonburg earlier in the day with the RV. I loved playing in a downpour. Sitting in it is a different story.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Wed Jul 24, 2013 6:54 am

Sounds like another case of a bad job putting down temporary grass. Love that Green Sand
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer ... t=sc_t2_a4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;