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Nice draw for the US in tonight's friendly vs. Argentina. Sam's Army especially played well in the second half and earned a good result against one of the world's best.

wilson wrote:Nice draw for the US in tonight's friendly vs. Argentina. Sam's Army especially played well in the second half and earned a good result against one of the world's best.

78,000+ at the Meadowlands... sort of reminds me of the golden days of COSMOS soccer.

The home stretch for the English Premier League season is upon us.

Uncle Sam's Army laid an egg in the CONCACAF Gold Cup tonight. They lost to Panama 1-2. The US gave up an early goal, followed 10 or so minutes later by a penalty (for a STUPID US penalty). The US turned it up by scoring in the second half, but in the last 20 minutes, they finally started to play. Unfortunately for the US, they had 3-4 BEAUTIFUL chances to tie it. They blew it everytime. To advance to the next round, the US will need to beat Guadeloupe solidly and hope Canada loses closely.

Simply disgusting.

US 1 - Guadeloupe 0.
Jozy Altidore scores a goal at EIGHT minutes into the game on a feed from Donovan. US had NINE more shots on goal during the remainder of the game.

US advances... somehow.

Lavabe wrote:US 1 - Guadeloupe 0.
Jozy Altidore scores a goal at EIGHT minutes into the game on a feed from Donovan. US had NINE more shots on goal during the remainder of the game.

US advances... somehow.

Clint Dempsey needs his head examined, after gacking that shot from about 6 inches. Or maybe he needs his left foot examined. All he had to do was TOUCH the ball with his left foot and it would have gone over the line, but instead he pussyfoots the ball to his right, allowing some desperate Guadeloupan (sp?) to knock the ball out of his control. Mom in her walker would have made that shot.

It seemed that there was a significant lack of focus. The Guadeloupe goalie was good, but lots of shots the US should have buried in the net went wide or over the bar. B (who grew up playing soccer in Africa) was mightily angered at their play.

Harumph.

I think it's time to try a new coach.

lawgrad91 wrote:All he had to do was TOUCH the ball with his left foot and it would have gone over the line, but instead he pussyfoots the ball to his right, allowing some desperate Guadeloupan (sp?) to knock the ball out of his control. Mom in her walker would have made that shot.

They had two or three like that in the previous game too.

I don't know that this was a coaching issue, other than figuring out who should be on the team. ;)

Should we have a separate thread for the upcoming 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup?

Lavabe wrote: I don't know that this was a coaching issue, other than figuring out who should be on the team. ;)

You have a point about player selection.

lawgrad91 wrote:

Lavabe wrote: I don't know that this was a coaching issue, other than figuring out who should be on the team. ;)

You have a point about player selection.

The other problem is that the Gold Cup is going on during the MLS season. Teams shouldn't have an issue with giving their stars to the national team, but I DO wonder if some promising talent couldn't play due to minor knocks from the season.

Likewise, I wonder how Howard and Dempsey were feeling just coming off a tough season in EPL. Howard sure hasn't seemed to be as sharp after the season.

USA vs. Jamaica today at 2:45PM.

Ten and a half minutes in, and we aren't losing yet.

A Reggae Boy absolutely gacked on a rebound shot when Tim Howard was on the ground and far out of position. He will have nightmares about kicking it over the bar.

Altidore, who scored both game winning goals in the games we won, is going off on a stretcher with a hamstring injury.

The other story here is that Landon Donovan didn't start.

This is a markedly different American team than I watched (and cursed at) against Guadeloupe.

lawgrad91 wrote:The other story here is that Landon Donovan didn't start.

This is a markedly different American team than I watched (and cursed at) against Guadeloupe.

Start of the second half, it was 0-0. What happened to Altidore? He left at 11 minutes into the game.

USA 1-0 at 50 minutes into the second half. Jermaine Jones.

Donovan comes in in the 65th minute.
67th minute, Taylor (a Jamaican) gets the red card for taking down a breaking American. It did NOT look like Taylor even touched the American (who sold it).
POOR officiating.

Dempsey (USA) in the 80th minute scores. Very patient goal after a clever feed.

USA wins 2-0 over Jamaica.

USA worked hard, and made it look easy in the 2nd half, but the red card was questionable.

Altidore apparently messed up his hamstring. He went out early.

Didn't get to see the second half because we are eating supper in Blowing Rock for Fathers Day but I liked our play in the first.

So far, it's USA 0 Panama 0 at halftime in the Gold Cup Semis.
USA had much the better play in the first 35 minutes. Panama had the better play in the last ten minutes.
Donovan AGAIN does not start, but should come off the bench early in the 2nd half.

US had a header go off the post early in the first half.

DEFINITELY one of the worst soccer pitches around. It's at Reliant Stadium (Houston). It's stitched 6' square pieces of sod all over the place.