The Gold Cup kicks off tonight with 2 Group A games. This might be one of the more open cups in a while as Mexico and USA are largely using experimental lineups. Group A - Canada, French Guiana, Honduras, Costa Rica Group B - USA, Panama, Martinique, Nicaragua Group C - Mexico, Curaçao, Jamaica, Honduras Group winners, 2nd place, and best 2 3rd place teams get through to the quarterfinals. All games televised by Fox Sports and available via Fox Sports Go. I'm personally excited to see the lineups Arena uses. I hope to see some players like McCarty, Acosta, Dwyer, etc step up and prove they belong in the conversation for the last games of WCQ and going into 2018. I'm hoping any of the goalies can prove they belong ahead of Guzan. Sucks that Kenny Saief got hurt. I would've liked to see what he's all about.
That was pathetic, although the roster sucks and I think very little of the coach That being said, Dwyer is making a case to make the World Cup roster. Also, jerseys look halfway decent for a change
The US/Panama game was about as sloppy a game as I've seen at this level. The US midfield was terrible...constantly giving the ball away in the worst possible spots. Bedoya had at least 4 opportunities to hit early crosses to Dwyer...only to take too many extra touches and lose the ball. Set pieces were horrid. Defending was bad but they were constantly put on their heels and in bad positions. We get through easily but it will be incredibly difficult to advance beyond the quarters if they play like that again.
The US midfield/defense looked slow, sloppy & disorganized. Not sure why Zusi and Bedoya are still getting call ups, even at this B-level team. Sorry to say, but it's time for them to move on from the national team. No one else seemed to show the quality necessary to compete and were easily outclassed once the Panamanians decided that, hey, they needed a goal and stepped it up a level. Wish more guys with potential like Hyndmann (I know he's hurt), Green, or CCV were brought in just to see how hungry they are since there's a real chance for these guys to make a difference at the next level. Yeah it's just one game but man that hurt to watch.
I agree the defense is bad, but it always feels like Guzan's fault. He seems to always let the easy ones in.
Sloppy but we got the job down 3-0 over Nicaragua - got to work on those PKs though. On to the quarterfinals who will we bring in to replace some players? DD
That last set play was a thing of beauty. Perfectly executed. Howard and Bradley were in the stands watching so I guess they are in
The pk's were pathetic. No excuse for such poorly taken shots in that situation. The Nicaraguan keeper did well on both but they should've been goals and this game should've never been in question. So far, many of the bubble players have not made a good case for themselves. As of now, I'd say only Dwyer, Rowe, Miazga, and Hamid have moved up the ladder and earned at least the chance to be in the camp come September. Despite his 2 assists on Saturday, Bedoya has had a generally bad tournament. I've been expecting Jordan Morris to do more. He's lost confidence in his game and isn't making the runs he was last year. Dax McCarty has been especially disappointing. He's such a good passer typically. So far, it's give away after give away. El Salvador is next on Wednesday in the quarters. With the callups of Howard, Altidore, Dempsey, Bradley, and Nagbe (and gk Jesse Gonzalez of FC Dallas who just got his FIFA clearance after requesting a federation change from mexico), I'd expect a fairly easy win to move on to the winner of Costa Rica vs Panama in the other quarter on this side of the bracket.
Midfield seems to be the area of the field that produces the least amount of talent. The MFs in MLS are a joke compared to other leagues internationally. We've sent the best MLS players out there against semi pro teams like Martinique and gotten zero production.
I didn't count Bradley as an MLS player because pretty much all of his development came overseas. Pulisic is obviously the same. That leaves Nagbe, who has some potential but is still raw. My point was that MLS can't develop players.
USA vs El Salvador starts @8pm cst on FS1 (fox sports 1) Turn it on soccer fans! I think this is an elimination game! Edit: Yup, this is a quarter final matchup in the Gold Cup. We've got some of the A team playing in this one.
