Monday, June 25, 2007

Gold Cup Recap

After yesterday, I'm back on the US soccer bandwagon. The second half effort against Mexico deserves great applause, and so does the strategy employed by coach Bradley. The all out attack philosophy put Mexico on their heels after they took the game to the US in the first half. Onyewu looks as if he has regained his confidence, Bocanegra appears to be a solid choice for captain, Tim Howard made a giant save late in the match, and the Beasley/Donovan combo ran their socks off. And what a goal by Benny Feilhaber. Goodness, that's a great strike.

Let's hope this continues. I like the decision by Bradley to rest the star players in the Copa America. The other nations have done the same, so there is no sense in risking injuries. I'm sure the clubs are pleased as well.

But, what about the mess at the end of the semifinal vs. Canada. Here is a decent recap of the match and here is some video of the "non" goal. I've heard that the linesman thought the last touch came off of a Canadian player. If that's the case, why didn't the referee speak to him? Get it sorted out. It was really a shame.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

The US really played well in the second half. They still weren't sharp but turned their energy up to combat Mexico's speed. Really impressed with Beasley in the past two games (I was doggin him early on in this tournament) as well as Feilhaber. Guardardo's hair = garbage. Really liked Castillo. Dude was fearless.

All in all, it was a great tournament for the US team. They still have some question marks in center defense but Howard made up for it. Granted they weren't playing against the best compitition but I believe these guys grew a lot in the past few weeks. Love to see guys like Bradley and Feilhaber step up in the midfield. We're still missing that striker that puts fear in the opponents.

2 more months to EPL. Can't bloody wait.

John said...

I agree about Bradley. He's tough. That tackle against Canada was madness, but chalk that up to fatigue.