This is coming from someone who spent money on a ticket to last week's the U.S. men's match vs. Costa Rica in East Hartford, CT: By and large the Gold Cup is pretty pointless. Yes, I have paid attention to all the U.S. games and even some that didn't have much bearing on anything but that's only because it's smack dab in the middle of the summer when the lack of choices in the sports world is dire.
I would compare the Gold Cup to preseason games in other sports, the best players either don't play at all or not as much as usual leaving the contests up to the B-squad players. You know, the has beens, never weres and never will bes. Oh and it's against mostly garbage squads from CONCACAF, many of whom don't have a prayer to beat the U.S. (hello Belize). To make my point clear, the U.S. men beat El Salvador 5-1 this afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore but probably all people will talk about is Landon Donovan's re-emergence. The U.S. advanced to the semifinals (for the seventh consecutive time) on Wednesday in Dallas, Texas against Honduras (a 1-0 winner over Costa Rica) at 7 p.m. on Fox Soccer Channel. Mexico plays Panama in the other semifinal.
After his sabbatical from soccer and the U.S.' A-squad, he seems to be returning to form in MLS with the Galaxy (or so I hear) and in this tournament. I believe this makes him a lock to go to Brazil with the U.S. next summer, assuming they reach the World Cup. I also think he could find himself back in the starting 11 after this journey of self-discovery. He still isn't finishing at a very high level but he managed to put up a goal and two assists today, giving him 55 career goals and 54 career assists for the Red, White and Blue.
The funny thing is that this could have been even more of a blowout, the U.S. easily should have scored another goal or two but who can worry about such things after 4-goal victories? Goodson got forward and one-timed Donovan's cross in the 21st minute. Joe Corona, who might have the best name ever, made it 2-0 with a pretty little move then shot from the top of the box in the 29th minute.
El Salvador's only highlight came via a penalty kick in the 39th minute earned by their lone star Rodolfo Zelaya. He chipped it in slow motion down the middle to beat U.S. goalkeeper Nick Rimando.
A 2-1 halftime lead only motivated the U.S. to put their cleats on the gas more as Eddie Johnson (sporting bleach blonde hair like Sisqo or Cisse, Gus Johnson called him "Demolition Man"-Wesley Snipes movie in 90s-which hopefully catches on) came off the bench and scored seconds later in the 60th minute with a powerful header on Donovan's corner. Johnson returned the favor by finding Donovan for a breakaway in the 78th minute then Mix Diskerud completed the scoring with another header-this time from Donovan in the 84th minute.
We always root against Mexico but I am openly hoping for a U.S.-Mexico Gold Cup Final, that would be a rematch of 2007 (the last time the United States won this dinky competition). The U.S. is currently riding a nine-game win streak, the longest in the team's long history.
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