CONCACAF Gold Cup, USA vs. Mexico

[nani]

@Snarky_Kong

Oh, it’s suggested constantly.

It’s completely ridiculous though. Bradley Jr. has been one of the best US players for the past 4 years. He was the US’s best player at the World Cup (IMO, although Donovan, Dempsey, and Cherundolo also had very good tournaments). He didn’t have a strong Gold Cup, I’ll grant. I think he’s out of shape, having not played much at Aston Villa.

I’m not questioning his spot on the team, one must ask the question, after all, who would replace him? I just get the feeling that when his game is clearly not working (like today, he bore a lot of responsibility for 2 or three of the goals Mexico scored) and he’s a prime candidate for substitution, he stays on. I may be wrong but I doubt he missed more than an hour of possible minutes the whole Gold Cup.

I don’t know how you could say Howard didn’t have a good game. He was poor on all 4 goals. Poor positioning and bad control of the ball. Very disappointing.

That was my immediate reaction, but after reflecting on it I (and I’m sure Howard as well) agree with you that it was a subpar game for him. During the game, the way Barrera hit the ball off the outside of his boot struck me as weird, and I thought it explained why Howard guessed wrong on Barrera’s two goals. As for the second goal, if it bounces a little differently it would have been off Chicharito and offsides. I just saw that as bad luck. Howard had another similar bounce that deflected off his hand and leg and out. Maybe I was just too forgiving. The last goal was just Howard being too shocked by the terrible defense in front of him, and a world-class chip from Gio.

I’d say Cherundolo was a bigger loss than Mexico’s injuries because we have no depth at that position. Bornstein was worthless, as you noted.

Mexico’s pre-match losses (tainted meat, huh) were pretty devestating for them as well. Wouldn’t Spector have been a better choice to replace Cherundolo?

This is pretty much standard for all US vs Mexico games in the US. From what I understand, the US plays important qualifiers in Columbus because they can sometimes get a majority of US fans.

That and the cold. Pasadena was chosen by CONCACAF, not by the USSF, to make money. Over 92,000 fans paying 100 dollars a pop, easy choice.
Did anyone see the kick Adu took to the head? Univision didn’t show it and I have heard conflicting reports about whether it was intentional or not.

[Snarky_Kong]

@nani

Mexico’s pre-match losses (tainted meat, huh) were pretty devestating for them as well. Wouldn’t Spector have been a better choice to replace Cherundolo?

In hindsight he couldn’t have been worse. However Spector is slow and Bornstein is fast. Mexico is fast. Makes sense on the face of it. Bornstein also had a pretty good WC, so he’s not always the bag of fail he was yesterday.

[Knorf]

@nani

Did anyone see the kick Adu took to the head? Univision didn’t show it and I have heard conflicting reports about whether it was intentional or not.

I certainly saw it. I would say it was inconclusive whether it was deliberate or not. The announcer said he didn’t think so.

[Snarky_Kong]

@Knorf

I certainly saw it. I would say it was inconclusive whether it was deliberate or not. The announcer said he didn’t think so.

Which announcer? The US announcer said it was obviously deliberate.

[Knorf]

@Snarky_Kong

Which announcer? The US announcer said it was obviously deliberate.

Not the one I heard. I watched it streaming over the Internet on the CONCACAF Gold Cup site.

Anyway, who knows.

[Quercus]

@Xan

I stand corrected. The reffing was still better than your average MLS game.

After watching the Gold Cup and the New England-Seattle game this weekend, I must disagree (and that’s even after the deciding goal in the MLS game was off a free kick that shouldn’t have been awarded). The Gold Cup referee was pretty abysmal; I might go so far as to say bad even by comparison to typical FIFA referee standards.

But the reffing wasn’t the difference for the Gold Cup. Has anyone done any fingerprints or DNA tests to confirm the US left back was real professional soccer player, and not some kind of George Plympton/“Catch Me if You Can” amateur/imposter?

[zamboniracer]

@Xan

I realized what bugged me about this game. The game may as well have been played in Mexico City for all the support the US had there. The same thing happened at the the friendly against Spain.

All the good American sports fans in the area were watching the Angels/Dodgers games.

{I kid, I kid}