Gold Cup Tin Cup Offer

It's obvious from the teaser that we received that CONCACAF wants a full house for their Gold Cup quarter final matches in Philadelphia this weekend.

How would you go about ensuring the crowd will arrive? I mean, the Phillies are out of town, and nothing else is happening, other than going to the beach and drinking beer while the sprinkler washes over them (it's Philly right?). Let's push those unsure fans over the tipping point by .... giving folks five dollars off of a ticket! (using the secret code "GOLDPASS").

Woo Hoo! Let's Party!

Tickets start at $25 and run up to $75, and they seem to have plenty tickets available at the $75 price from my probing of the ticketmaster site. But you know that no ticket price is really what's listed because the Offical Ticket Sponsor of Unprofessional Foul (tm), Ticketmaster, is involved.

That $5 savings will sure come in handy, after the $10.10 "convenience charge" plus the $3.50 processing fee + $2.50 for the "joy" of printing the tickets out on my printer. That's the "ease" and "convenience" they like to tout. "Ease" and "convenience" should be the name of the fists that show up to pummel us, the consumer, into helpless submission.

We all understand what Pearl Jam went through, though those crazy Seattle idealists felt they could take them down. Ticketmaster is like the La Cosa Nostra of the event world. They get their vig, regardless of what happens. They don't even smile, or give us a reach-around during the transaction.

What else could we spend that $5 on? How much is a beer at Lincoln Field? Maybe that $5 will get you on your way to being inebriated. Or maybe we can 'make it rain' on Landycakes? I mean, they had time out of their practice to fly to Los Angeles to pick up the their award for "best underdog win by a bunch of posers".

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CONCACAF Gold Cup Semi-Preview

The CONCACAF Gold Cup began last night at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, with Canada beating Jamaica 1-0 and El Salvador dumping Costa Rica 2-1. For the the USMNT, things begin in earnest tonight, with the squad taking on Grenada at 9pm at Qwest Field (Seattle) on Fox Soccer Channel. The earlier match at that venue features Honduras squaring off against Haiti, with the latter having qualified for consecutive Gold Cups for the first time in their history.



Group A consists of: (1) Canada; (2) Costa Rica; (3) El Salvador; and (4) Jamaica. The remaining Group A matches will take place on Tuesday, July 7th at Crew Stadium (Columbus, OH) and Friday, July 10th at Florida International University Stadium in Miami.

Group B features: (1) Grenada; (2) Haiti; (3) Honduras; and (4) the United States. After today's tilts, matches will be held on Wednesday, July 8th at RFK Stadium (Washington, D.C.) and Saturday, July 11th at Gillette Stadium in Boston.

Group C contains: (1) Guadeloupe; (2) Mexico; (3) Nicaragua; and (4) Panama. The opening games will take place tomorrow at Oakland-Alameda County Stadium and will feature Panama v. Guadeloupe and Mexico v. Nicaragua. The remaining matches will be held on Thursday, July 9th at Reliant Stadium (Houston) and Sunday, July 12th at University of Phoenix Stadium.

The quarterfinals will take place on Saturday, July 18th at Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia) and Sunday, July 19th at the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium. The semifinals will be held on Thursday, July 23rd at Soldier Field in Chicago, while the final will be on Sunday, July 26th at Giants Stadium.


The USMNT is looking for its 3rd straight Gold Cup championship, which is held every 2 years. A victory this year, therefore, would not qualify the US for the next Confederations Cup, as that spot would go to the winner of the 2011 Gold Cup. However, the US does look to be in a very strong position to pull off this 3rd consecutive championship, as they have been provided a significant advantage by CONCACAF. Due to their participation in the Confederations Cup, the USMNT has argued (successfully) that their squad faces significant hardship in playing 2 international competitions so closely together. In addition to the original 23-man roster, CONCACAF has allowed Bob Bradely to add an additional 7 players for an overall 30-man roster.

What is strange, however, is that of the 23-man roster only Charlie Davies saw action in the Confederations Cup while the the majority of the rest of the players were not even on the roster for that competition. So what, exactly, is Bob Bradley complaining about here? Most of his 23-man roster only had MLS competition to contend with, so they are unlikely to be "worn out", or at least not any more so than players from other teams who are currently in the midst of domestic competition. Even more puzzling is that Bradley responded to this supposed concern of tiredness by adding 6 players who all did see playing time in the Confederations Cup in Bornstein, Clark, Feilhaber, Altidore, Kljestan, and Casey. Obviously, people are talking about both CONCACAF's seeming injustice and Bradley's strange roster decisions in response.

Will the extra 7 players on the roster make a difference, allowing the US to roll to a 3rd consecutive Gold Cup championship? If they do, what will the other countries in the tournament have to say about this seeming competitive advantage?

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Freddy leaves the witness protection program

That's right, dear readers, the diminutive gentleman pictured above is none other than Freddy Adu. Didn't he retire a few years ago? Haven't heard much from him in a while...Ok, so he's actually rotting in the reserves for Monaco. Same difference.

Freddy and the rest of the US Men's National Team are training in Miami this week ahead of their game this weekend in El Salvador. A spin through the CONCACAF qualifiers, after the jump.

Bradley has called in a full strength roster for the Central American road trip this weekend and next Wednesday's game in Nashville against Trinidad & Tobago (tickets still very much available). The squad is mostly euro-based and has the usual suspects, except for Steve Cherundulo who is battling injury. Perhaps we will see Jonathan Spector get some minutes at right back. Jay Demerit is also in line to sub for Bocanegra or Gooch in the middle. Realistically, though, this two game set should produce 6 points without too much trouble, despite the always exciting hostile crowd/ref/pitch/water/urine combo in San Salvador.

The biggest game this weekend actually takes place in Azteca between El Tri and the Ticos. Despite pasting Bolivia in a meaningless, quasi-unofficial friendly in Denver (?) two weeks ago, Sven Goran-Eriksson remains very much on the hot seat. Rumors are swirling that he could be sacked if results don't go his way this weekend. Costa Rica has won in Mexico City before, and an upset on Saturday could be the final nail in Sven's coffin.

Rafa Marquez didn't travel as he is hurt, while Carlos Vela is suspended for the first game. Marqeuz told FIFA.com that "it's unfair that people are trying to pin the blame on me for the bad results we've been having. If you ask me, Mexican football has a deep-rooted problem and that's the cause of the bad patch we've been going through. Our football is stagnating and with everything that's happened, it's time to come right out and say it. If we carry on like this we're all going to pay for it." I think I just shed a tear of pure shadenfreude.

And Sven has called in poor Oswaldo Sanchez, who will at least be happy he isn't facing Landon Donovan this week. Sylvester Adame of Goal.com notes:

Once again Sven has called up Sanchez and we resume the soap opera of who will be starting for El Tri. For many the game against Bolivia was going to be the start of the Guillermo Ochoa era but Eriksson sees it different.

“We will see who starts but I don’t want to discuss that now. Oswaldo looked fine on the weekend but I don’t want to talk about that now,” Eriksson said.

The full CONCACAF schedule is here, and without promising too much I imagine there will be a UF liveblog of the USA-El Salvador game on Saturday night.

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Livebloggamy

Kick is in less than 10.

I know, but I'll be back right at kick to get this, well, kicked off.

Looked for line-ups. Hadn't found them. But I'll get caught up promise. And if you want to follow along that would be dandy.

Santos:
Oswaldo Sánchez (G), Juan Santiago Santiago (D), Jorge Estrada Manjarrez (D), Rafael Figueroa (D), Osmar Mares (D), Fernando Arce (M), Francisco Torres (M), Walter Jiménez (M), Daniel Ludueña (M), Vicente Vuoso (F), Christian Benítez (F)

Montreal: Matt Jordan (G), Leonardo Di Lorenzo (D), Nevio Pizzolitto, Cédric Joqueviel (D), Adam Braz (D), David Testo (M), Sandro Grande (M), Eduardo Sebrango (F), Joey Gjertsen (F), Roberto Brown (F), Rocco Placentino (F)

Three things:

A) I pulled those line-ups from soccernet so I have no idea how legit they are. Are the Impact really playing a 4-2-4? On the road? Doubt it.

B) The player to watch for the Impact is Eduardo Sebrango. He had both goals in the first leg.

C) Not-related: UF Favorite AZ Alkmaar lost in the Dutch Cup quarters today.

Moments from kick.Impact in white. Santos in Green. Glad you're playing along.

Kick And we're off...

Ha ha, and the Impact lost to the Dynamo in a friendly on their way down to Mexico. Too bad the Dynamo got housed on agg 4-1.

2nd minute: Sorry catching up. Barely had time to catch the game. But we're off and Santos is getting the ball out of their half. And now turn it over.

3rd minute: They are talking shit about Oswaldo Sanchez. Santos with a great cross to the right post, but it just goes over the head of the Santos player. The ball comes back in and is knocked out for a corner.

5th minute: Corner looked dangerous but it was cleared out with no shot on goal. Santos plays it deep and out for a goal kick.

6th minute: Impact with a dangerous cross from almost the end line. Sanchez bobbles it but smothers it to kill the threat. The Impact look patient and deliberate and totally non-plussed by the hostile environment... Thus far at least.

7th minute: Impact in the attacking third. Turn it over and a break. It's shut down by Jordan for Montreal.

8th minute: Corner for Santos. They take it short. And on a feed back to the right side, the ball is too heavily weighted and it goes out for a GK. Both teams having success getting deep on the wings so far.

10th minute: Testo taken down. No whistle. Teams exchanging balls. Monteal plays a long cross into the center of the box. Snachez comes sliding out to collect it.

11th minute: A nice professional foul by one of the Impact players when he was beaten on the right. Impact aren't just sitting back, which is nice. As it's allowing open play. This match got chippy late in Montreal, so there might be some carryover the longer this goes on with Montreal not conceding.

Hey Spectator, welcome.

13th minute: Sebrango gets in on the left with some space, but as he cuts it back, his touch is too heavy. It runs out past the 18 and Montreal is too unorganized to do anything after the break down.

14th minute: Ludueña totally beat his man. And with some space sent a cross back across the box. But his left foot puts too much on it and it goes over the only other (diminutive) Mexican in the box. Impact dodge one.

15th minute: Goal 1-0 Santos. Benítez given too much room on a free header. The ball comes in from 20-plus out. It's a great service and a clinical finish. So we've suddenly got a game. Bad defense by the Impact.

18th minute: Two more good chances from Santos. Benítez again off a deflection. He winds up but his shot is blocked. The rebound falls in the box, but is cleared for a corner. Corner is taken short.

19th minute: The keeper comes out to clear it and doesn't punch it very far. Santos lobs it back toward the open goal, but there's a whistle for a foul and the Impact get the free kick. Okay on reply Benítez didn't really have much room on that header for the goal. It was a massive failure (failuer?) by the defender to not get any part of his head on it.

20th minute: Another cross into the box and this time it's Vuoso with the header. It forces a diving save from Jordan. Montreal under a fair amount of pressure here.

22nd minute: Benitez to Ludueña who has all kinds of space. Montreal lucky to get a deflection. The speed of Santos on the wings is killing Montreal as the Mexicans are getting easy crosses into the box. Montreal needs a goal. Then they need to rethink their formation. They really are playing without much of a midfield.

24th minute: And now Vuoso... Wow. 1-1. Terrible job by Sanchez and the Santos defense.

So I was just saying that Vuoso had gotten behind the Impact defense again. But off the save by Jordan, the Impact get up to the attacking third but there is a horrible backpass from Santos that is picked up by Roberto Brown and he splits the last two defenders then beats Sanchez.

27th minute: The complexion of this two-legger has just changed as Santos Laguna now need 3 goals. So they'll have to start pushing and that means opportunites on the counter for the Impact. Just a shockingly bad backpass from Santos Laguna.

29th minute: Santos with no huge change in formation yet. Impact draw a foul in the midfield. Free kick.

30th minute: And they play it forward. No shell here from the Impact. Which is a little odd... Just saying.

31st minute: Benítez with a great chance from the left, but he cuts back from the left edge of the 18 and gives the defender time to recover and strip the ball on a nice clean tackle. Ooh, now Santos with the ball clean deep on the left again after a fortuitous deflection. The ball comes naked across the goal. Jordan is beat, but the ball is cleared. Luck for the Impact.

32nd minute: Motreal need some help on the right side of the defense. Santos is getting all kinds of pressure and space, they just can't make that next pass to get a good shot.

33rd minute: Oswaldo "Dirty" Sanchez is hurt? Didn't even see the injury, but he couldn't wait to get out of there. Didn't even act like he might be able to continue. Wuss.

35th minute: Eh... looks like Sanchez pulled up with a hammy. So it's legit.

36th minute: Another corner for Santos. This one cleared off the line for another corner. The ball is floated in and Jiménez nails it but right at Jordan. That was another good chance for Santos. Even needing three goals, there not out of this as Montreal's defense is shit.

38th minute: Now Benítez on the right gets some space, but it's knocked out.

39th minute: Goooooool.... Sebrango 2-1 Montreal! Okay, I'm not even sure how Montreal got the ball so deep after the turn over off Benítez for a throw in. But Sebrango took a feed right at the six. It was deflected and he settled it befor taking a turn to the right and burying it past the keeper.

41st minute: Brilliant is on for Montreal. I couldn't even see who went off. It wasn't even anyone in the starting XI I pilfered from soccernet. Accuracy and soccernet are not pals.

42nd minute: There were about 8 shots in 10 seconds for Santos right there. Really the ball kept getting deflected, popping up, and finding another player in green. But the defense holds. Montreal, for all of the living dangerously they've done have only conceded the one goal.

44th minute: Crowd wanted a hand ball against Monteal. Might have a legit complaint. Would have been a tough call. But eh... Don't think the defender extended the arm. I'm not kidding when I say this could be 6-0 for Santos Laguna. It's like they are playing 4 Bendtners up front.

45th minute: We're in stoppage time. Two minutes. Goal kick for the Impact.

45 +2 minute: Santos showing too much patience for a team down 4 and with 60 seconds left before half.

Half Montreal up 2-1 and 4-1 on aggregate with 2, count 'em 2, away goals.

Back in a few... talk amongst yourselves. Or in this case, Spectator, talk to yourself if you so feel.

Poor USL, FSC can't even given them their logo on the graphics. Instead putting up one for Racing. Which Racing I'm not even sure. Think it was Racing Club from Argentina.

Okay, the changes...

Montreal: Felix Brilliant (great name by the way) on for Steven Deroux.
Santos Laguna: Miguel Becerra (I think) on for Oswaldo Sanchez. I tried to check the gamecast on soccernet and they didn't even have the right players in the switch. They had two defenders, not the keepers.

Kick Second half underway...

It would take an Oiler's-esque collapse for the Impact to blow this. But... Santos Laguna had all kinds of possesion around the Montreal 18. They also got off plenty of balls that the Impact were lucky to deflect. So it could just as easily be 5-0 as 2-2 as it is 1-2.

47th minute: minute: Impact on a counter. There was an obvious foul, but the ref let them play the advantage. Jimenez just took a whack at Montreal's Brown. It was an easy yellow. Could have been red. Anyway, the ref let them play the advantage, but the problem was the only supporting player, Brown, was on the ground because he had been hacked.

49th minute: And more failure in the box by Santos. They had another cross from deep go right across the goal mouth but nobody could connect. Then a good look on the rebound was blocked on a late charge by Joqueviel for the Impact.

51st minute: Still lots of pressure for Laguna. And the Impact are their own enemies as the kind of refuse to clear it high and wide, instead pushing it back to center where invariably someone in green is there to try a shot or get it to the wings for a cross.

53rd minute: Becerra takes down Brown and that is a stone cold penalty. The back-up keeper doesn't get any of the ball. It was passed him when he took out the Impact player. And somewhat unjustly Santos come right back and score. 2-2.

Stupid blogger. My edits won't go up. And as I'm trying to describe the goal Santos hit the post and get a shot of the rebound off that is barely saved by Jordan.

56th minute: So, backing up. Benitez got in on the right and got off a shot that Jordan couldn't collect (and he should have). Vuoso was right there to tap in a rebound. Then off the ensuing kick, Santos come back down and on a beauty curling shot from the right (not sure who it was) the ball went off the far post. Santos still need to score 3 times, but it's not looking undoable.

Backing way up, the Impact should be sipping shakes right now though. Again, Becerra, the replacement keeper took down Brown in the box. A better ref calls that. On a penalty kick this match is over. Just saying...

59th minute: Montreal with better possesion and David Testo with some space that forces a diving save to his right from Becerra.

61st minute: Quintero with a cross. It's settled and on the turn, the shot is blocked. For being the taller team, Montreal doesn't contest much in the air. Strange.

62nd minute: God, is it my prejudice or are Mexican players just the poorest sports who take the cheapest shots? Ludueña with a yellow for kick an Impact player in the foot when he was on the ground.

63rd minute: Okay, I think FSC missed a sub altogether, but it looks like Quintero on for Mares (Santos) at half. Sorry, working with less than stellar information, not to mention my lack of familiarity with these teams.

65th minute: The Impact are leaving themselves way too exposed on the back. Another good cross from Benitez and the header goes down outside of the right post. Jordan was in trouble, but the header was off target. Anyway, Montreal need to think about reshuffling so as not to leave the back line as exposed. Still lots of time.

68th minute: More from Santos Laguna. Ludueña with service into the box and Jordan is way late to get to it. He punches it and it goes out for a corner. That corner comes blazing right across the cross bar. It's punched out for another corner.

69th minute: Brown held, and he puts his arms up like "Yo, what gives ref?" No whistle. Quintero to Benitez and it results in another corner. It's kept in and go.... Oh, it was in the back of the net but it was offside. Almost for Santos.

72nd minute: Montreal with some possession in the Santos half. Haven't seen much of that this half.

73rd minute: Quintero was a great sub as he's been a menace. Santos with a ball in behind the defense. And it's cleared at the last minute. Santos with their 142nd corner of the match. Ball comes to the top of the box. Right footed shot from Vuoso goes wide.

74th minute: And here we go. Goal Santos 3-2. Vuoso with an easy tap after Jimenez gets almost to the end line with room. He sends it back. Vuoso is there unmarked. Monreal is still having issues in back and is getting beat (and badly) on the right side.

Aam Braz on Brown off for Monteal. So that's finally a 5th defender for the Impact. Yellow picked up by Joqueviel for the Impact.

77th minute: Another yellow here for the Impact. Testo grabbed a jersey after he was dispossessed. Montreal might find the best defense is a good offense as they have done almost nothing in the Santos half of the field this half.

80th minute: Ack, Arce took a dive and got Santos a free kick. Ball goes into the wall.

81st minute: Montreal doesn't clear long well either. And now they concede another corner. Ugh. This is when you can tell this is a USL side. And Pizzolitto bails out Jordan. The keeper was out of position and the ball was floating in when the defender headed it safely over the bar.

82nd minute: Benitez causing more problems and earns a corner. Then on the corner Benitez gets to it on the far post and just misses on the back post. Really, the Impact have about 5 inches per man and they are getting killed in the air.

85th minute: God Montreal, just kick it as far as you can every once in a while. Just to give your backline a breather.

87th minute: Santos get a free kick at the edge of the box. They take it quickly. The ball takes a few bounces and is fed wide to Benitez, but the ball runs out of bounds.

88th minute: Throw in for the Impact. They get it down field to Becerra and Santos is back on the attack.

89th minute: Wow.. I think Vuoso just hit his own player in the back instead of hitting the open goal. Jordan was about 5 yards on the ground away from everything. Then inexplicably the ref gives a corner to Santos. Probably out of habit.

90th minute: Four minutes of stoppage. Not sure where 4 minutes comes from but Santos still needs two goals. They are pushing and get another corner.

90th +1: Okay and the ref atones for the missed call on the corner a couple of corners back by giving the Impact a GK they don't deserve but badly need as they are dragging on the back line.

GOL! Holy Cow 4-2. 4-4 on aggregate.

OMG Another goal 5-2 Santos. They lead 5-4 on aggregate.

I can't even get a description out and they score again.

Quintero again. Two goals in about 90 seconds. I cannot even believe what has just happened. Was he offside? No matter, this is unreal.

And there is the whistle. Santos Laguna 5-4 on aggregate. I cannot believe what I just saw.

Wow, just wow. Santos get 2 stoppage time goals from Quintero. I swear he was offside on the second, but there was no good replay angle. The Montreal defense was caught dead and flatfooted anyway.

Two things: A) Where did 4 minutes come from and B) Back to the PK on the keeper that should have been given.

But credit to Santos, they kept charging and kept getting shots and corners and chances. They are through.

That was a crazy last couple of minutes. I couldn't even get a description of the 4th goal out when Santos put the 5th one in. Wow. Poor Montreal. They were gassed though. They had nothing in the legs and Santos made them pay.

Thanks for playing along guys.

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All That Sucking Takes Talent or a Complete Lack Thereof

That's Placido Polanco. He was the 202nd player taken in my fantasy baseball draft. Polanco was the 2007 American League batting champ, he scored over 100 runs, and he struck out a mere 30 times in about 620 plate appearances (for comparison A-Rod K'ed about 120 times in about 50 more trips to the plate).

And when I finally had to draft a second baseman to fill a full line-up I still almost picked Mark Ellis over him.

Point being: even at 202 you can be pretty damn good at what you do.

Unless you are Aruba. And what you do is soccer.

According to FIFA, Aruba is the 202nd ranked soccer team in the world. That's dead fucking last. But the nice people at the sport's world governing body know that misery doesn't just love company, it needs it. So they made Montserrat and the US Virgin Islands (along with Guam, East Timor, and American Samoa) co-202'ers with Aruba so that none of them would feel humiliated in their abject suckitude.

Still, if only there were a way to determine which of the countries were truly the worst. Something like some sort of on-field competition where you could see how they faired against each other.

Really, it'd be great if there were something like that. But short of them playing head to head we have the preliminary round of World Cup Qualifying for CONCACAF, for which matches were held yesterday (March 26, 2008).

The early leader (or loser depending) in the clubhouse might appear to be the US Virgin Islands who were blanked 10-0 by 157th-ranked Grenada, a country whose sole accomplishment on the world's stage was to be invaded by the US in about 37 minutes' time. In USVI's defense, it would have only been 9-0 save for an 87th minute own goal by Dwight Ferguson.

Poor Bastard.

Montserrat fared slightly better losing only 7-1 to 155th-ranked Suriname, although they were at home. But hey, at least they have a grasp on which goal they are supposed to put the ball in.

Aruba would appear to be outclassing their co-cellar dwellers by miles, or whatever the units of "class" are. They dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker at Antigua and Barbuda. And even that's hardly fair as they were playing two places—Antigua and Barbuda.

Then you read the story of the match. Antigua and Barbuda had 3 players sent off, two of whom were showed red in the 45th and 46th minutes. That's pretty much a whole half with a 2-man advantage.

Three. Aruba had none. Antigua and Barbuda also missed a PK. So Aruba stopped a penalty, had a three man advantage and not only still lost, but got shut out.

So Aruba, might be number one in your hearts and, oh mid-teens on your list of vacation destinations, but they are clearly number 202 in the world.

And probably deserve to be number 208 in the FIFA rankings.

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Olympic Qualifying; Group Stage Final

As we American users say in the forums of hattrick when the Mexicans fail miserably: jajajajajajaja. USA, Canada, Guatemala and Honduras go through to the next round of qualifying, Mexico do not. Inside, a look at how that happened.

In Group A, we saw the reason the World Cup Finals play the final group matches at the same time. Before the USA-Honduras match even started, both teams knew they were going through. In the first match on Saturday, Panama took out its frustration on the undermanned Cuba squad, with Panama winning 4-1. At least Cuba was able to field 11 players this time, as Linares' suspension had been served. The result left both teams shy of the USA's point total, leading to a listless final match in the group.

The USA-Honduras match up was played as if both teams did not want to win the group. Results in Group B meant that the feared Mexican squad could only finish second at best, and the winner of Group A might have to face them. So both the USA, starting the day in second, and Honduras played the match not to win. The USA took it to the extreme when Charlie Davies sprayed a penalty about 3 yards wide of the right post in the 62nd minute. Davies earned another penalty in injury time, and a lackluster-so-far Eddie Gaven put it in the net.

Group A final standings (W-D-L; Pts; GD)
USA 2-1-0; 7; +2
Honduras 2-0-1; 6; +2
Panama 1-0-2; 3; +1
Cuba 0-1-2; 1; -5


In Group B, the sea change day was on Friday. Haiti pulled out a 2-1 thriller over Canada, but the real story was Guatemala defeating Mexico, also 2-1. It was Mexico's first loss at this level in 23 matches, and it propelled Guatemala into the next round.

On Sunday, the last two matches of the group were played. Canada, sitting on one point played Guatemala, who had already clinched first place in the group. Haiti, on three points, still needed a result to go through in their match against Mexico, who had their lone point from the Canada draw. If Guatemala played an inferior squad, it set up nicely for Canada to pip Mexico at the post, and it would appear that is what happened.

In the first of the day's two matches, Canada routed Guatemala 5-0. Will Johnson scored a brace on both sides of halftime, and Tosaint Ricketts added his own second-half double. The game was sealed in injury-time by Kyle Hall. Mexico now had a seriously pitched uphill climb ahead of them in the second match. The Mexicans came out quickly and put one in the net in the first 20 minutes. Mexico also caught the benefit of an early red card as Haiti's Aveska was sent off in the 26th minute. After Mexico went two up in the 61st, they had the mental breakdown that would lead to their tournament demise. In the 62nd minute, Leonel Saint-Preux broke through the Mexican defense and scored. Mexico, previously even on goal difference with Canada, now had to pull at least six goals to advance. They ended up with five, which might cost Hugo Sanchez the senior team job as well.

Group B final standings (W-D-L; Pts; GD)
Guatemala 2-0-1; 6; -3
Canada 1-1-1; 4; +4
Mexico 1-1-1; 4; +3
Haiti 1-0-2; 3; -4


The semifinals of the tournament, and the de facto Olympic bid finals, will be held on March 20 in Nashville. The matches are Guatemala-Honduras and USA-Canada. The first one should be a barn burner, the second one will (hopefully) be a walkover.

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U-23 Olympic Qualifying Roundup

The current round of CONCACAF qualification was rocked on the very first day when a very unfancied Cuba squad drew the USA 1-1. That night, five Cuban players were presumed to defect to the USA when they walked out of their hotel. Combined with the red card in that first match, Cuba was facing going into their second match against Honduras with only 12 available players. Just when they thought it could not get any worse, two more players disappeared, leaving the squad with 10 players. What is a team to do? They could quit, but we will leave that to Gretna. No, the Cubans lined up with 10 men and salvaged themselves some pride.

Inside we'll take a quick look at qualifying so far.

Well, playing with 10 men did not work magic for Cuba. Honduras handled their shorthanded foes, defeating Cuba 2-0 behind second half goals by Sanchez and Thomas. Honduras outshot Cuba 25-3. After watching the Cuba-USA game and knowing that shot count was only 19-9, I can only imagine how lopsided this game was.

In the other Group A match, the USA did better, squeaking past a spirited Panama squad in a match that sometimes degenerated into a pushing and shoving match. Adu scored a penalty late in the first half after Altidore had rounded the keeper on a one on one and drew the contact. Panama pressed for an equalizer in the second half, looking especially bright in the first 15 minutes, but never really threatened Chris Seitz's net.

Honduras has already qualified, and Panama is eliminated.
Group A Standings (W-D-L; Pts; GD)
Honduras 2-0-0; 6; +3
USA 1-1-0; 4; +1
Cuba 0-1-1; 1; -2
Panama 0-0-2; 0; -2

In Group B, only the first matches have been played. Guatemala dispatched Haiti 1-0 on a 27th minute goal from Avila. Mexico had a USA-style slip up in their first match, drawing Canada 1-1. Canada scored in the third minute form Johnson, while Mexico knotted up from the penalty spot through Landin in the 22nd. Neither team was especially proficient in front of net, as both sides only had 2 attempts on goal.

Group B Standings (W-D-L; Pts; GD0
Guatemala 1-0-0; 3; +1
Mexico 0-1-0; 1; 0
Canada 0-1-0; 1; 0
Haiti 0-0-1; 0; -1

Group B resumes today with Canada playing Haiti and Mexico tussling with Guatemala. The group finishes on Sunday. Group A finishes on Saturday. USA will play Honduras, while Cuba takes on Panama. The top two teams of each group will advance to the semifinals in Nashville on March 20. The winner of those two matches will go to the Olympics, and the CONCACAF champion will be decided in Nashville on March 23.

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