Gold Cup

[OumaFan]

this guy seems like a bit of a prospect to me, a pure striker, was the player of the year in college last year and skipped the MLS where he was supposed to be the top pick to go straight to some club in Denmark, and supposedly is doing pretty well. Supposed to be great in the air but needs work on other stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy5VBwxKu-s

[El Kabong]

Nice to know we have more to choose from now

But overall, I find the video disturbing....perhaps that just the Synchranized Chanting/Shouting in German

Well I suppose since we have a sure pass to the semifinals, that Bob Bradley will give some players farther back on the depth chart some run.


All this makes me wonder.....what the fuck happened to Eddie Johnson When he first came on the scene he was fast and flashy and could finish, now he's never fit, he can't handle the ball, and he's not even on the team.

[OumaFan]

The Mexican national team is such a joke LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCxWxHRp8TI

[OumaFan]

LOL at the laughing security guard.



Associated Press HOUSTON -- Panama’s soccer team huddled on the field after playing Mexico to a 1-1 tie on Thursday night, waiting for the incited fans to leave Reliant Stadium.
The Gold Cup match ended in chaos after a confrontation between Mexican coach Javier Aguirre and a Panamanian player triggered fights between fans in the stands.
Tempers flared throughout the match and boiled over in the 80th minute.
Panama’s Ricardo Phillips dribbled out of bounds in front of the Mexico bench and when the linesman stopped play, Phillips shoved Aguirre.
.

Panama coach Gary Stempel said Aguirre hit Phillips first, trying to trip him as he ran by. Aguirre said he was just trying to stop the ball and accidentally made contact with Phillips.
“It was an imprudent act on my part,” Aguirre said. “I sincerely regret it. It was a product of passion. The Panamanian team deserves an apology as well.”
Players converged in the area and several got into shoving matches. Referee Joel Aguilar ejected Aguirre and whipped out a red card to give to Phillips as fans littered the field with cups of beer and other objects.
Phillips was escorted off the field by a swarm of police—and pelted with beer cups as he ran into a tunnel—and after about 15 wild minutes, play resumed.
A fight then broke out between two fans in the front row across the field from the benches and Houston police officers moved in to separate them. Police handcuffed at least two fans in the area.

“It was a disgrace,” Stempel said. “I don’t have the words.”
Miguel Sabah and Blas Perez scored the goals in the first half.
Even Sabah conceded that his coach made a bad mistake.
“Obviously, he’s human like the rest of us,” Sabah said. “As
a coach, with his experience, it doesn’t make much sense. But he’s human, and he has our support and we are trying hard to win.”
Perez was injured on the field in the 90th minute and medical staff brought out a stretcher. As Perez was carried off the field, Mexican fans unleashed another barrage of cups and beer bottles and Perez fell off the stretcher.
Perez didn’t seem as upset as his coach was about how the game ended.
“That’s soccer, it’s normal,” Perez said. “Those things happen.”
The game ended about five minutes later and the Panamanian team lingered on the field to let stadium officials drive off the fans.
“The game had to end,” Stempel said. “The security and physical integrity of the players was not guaranteed. No coach wants to be a part of this debacle. Mexico has to respond for their actions, not me.”
Horace Reed, the head CONCACAF official at the game, refused to comment.
Guadeloupe beat Nicaragua 2-0 in the opener of the doubleheader at Reliant Stadium. The event drew an announced crowd of 47,713, nearly all of them donned in green and cheering for Mexico.

Giovani Dos Santos took a loose ball and outran a Panama defender to set up Mexico’s first goal in the 10th minute. Dos Santos dribbled into the penalty area, then passed to Sabah, who easily beat goalkeeper Jaime Penedo with a right-footed shot.
Perez tied it in the 29th minute, taking a pass from Felipe Baloy, outdueling three Mexican defenders and beating goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa with a sideways kick.
The players were mouthing off at each other from the start and Panama’s Nelson Barahona earned a yellow card in the 39th minute when he collided with Sabah.
Barahona got the worst of the hit, writhing in pain as players from both teams gathered around him and jawed at one another. The referee and both linesmen rushed out to separate the teams and play continued.
In extra time just before the half, Dos Santos got tangled with Panama’s Armando Gun, who was lying on the ground. The teams huddled again and exchanged words before Gun and Mexico’s Miguel Luis Noriega were ejected.

[El Kabong]

Looking decent in the first half vs Haiti...got a weak team out there

18Luis Robles(G)16Jay Heaps(D)Jimmy Conrad(D)14Michael Parkhurst(D)21Brad Evans(M)10Stuart Holden(M)Sam Cronin(M)22Davy Arnaud(M)Colin Clark(M)20Santino Quaranta(F)17Kenny Cooper(F

[OumaFan]

shit, I've never even heard of a few of those guys, haven't really been paying attention to the MLS.

Holden looks ok.

[El Kabong]

We tied 2-2, which was OK, but still a little disappointing.

[Mikkel_K]

Nice to know we have more to choose from now

But overall, I find the video disturbing....perhaps that just the Synchranized Chanting/Shouting in German

Hey, that was not German, that was Danish! Still, horrible video though and the crowd did sound annoying.

Anyway, it's funny for a Dane to follow the American team at the moment - or the Gold Cup in general - as it seems like so many players are playing here or in other Scandinavian leagues now. Obviously, that does also indicate a thing or too about the general quality of the teams - I think the CONCACAF-teams feature more players from Scandinavian leagues than the Scandinavian national teams themselves, as these pick players from bigger leagues.

Still, for me, it was great to see Benny Feilhaber in the Confederations Cup. My hometown team - AGF - bought him last summer, but the guy has pretty much been injured ever since (he did appear in the last games of the season, but unsurprisingly he looked a bit rusty). Hopefully, he'll be one to wacth in the coming season. A bit surprised btw that our other American Jeremiah White has never really gotten a chance with the USMNT.

As for the other US players in DK, Marcus Tracy still has a long way to go. He does seem like a gifted athlete though, as indicated by the goal he scored on his league debut (the one posted). Danny Califf is among the better centrebacks in the league, but he might struggle in a better league. Same goes for Michael Parkhurst who I have a hard time imagining in any World Cup-squad. Finally Heath Pearce is a hot commodity around here, really looked quality before he went to Germany. Given that he is without contract atm, a number of clubs appear to be interested in getting him back.

[OumaFan]

Benny has looked pretty good actually, lately. He looked good for the national team in 2007 or so and then totally lost it, fell off the wagon, couldn't even find a place for a horrible Derby County team which was shocking or the national team but has somehow gotten it together again. He's really a very good passer of the ball when he's on.

Honduras is not a bad team really, Palacios for Spurs, a few others and granted our team against them was a B team but when he came on in the second half he looked instantly like one of the two or three best players on the field if not the best.

I don't really know much about Tracy. I suspect his technical skills are a little lacking.

[El Kabong]

Clint Dempsey might be getting picked up by Liverpool...that would be just as big as Gooch's move to AC Milan.

Also the US has another back that was looking pretty good not too long ago, Cory Gibbs...he was looking to replace Onyewu when Gooch wasn't in top form or playing all that well. quality player.

[OumaFan]

where did you hear that?

[El Kabong]

Sure, Ronaldo's gone, but there's plenty of excitement - FOX Sports on MSN

About middle of the page it says "Across the Mersey River, Everton successfully held on to Manchester City's Brazilian striker Jo after coming to Goodison Park on loan during the January transfer window. It's a one-year loan this time around, but the stability should help the former Corinthians and CSKA Moscow man find his place in the team.
Jo will have any number of capable strike partners, with names like Yakubu and Louis Saha returning from their injuries, but the rumor mill is buzzing that American international Clint Dempsey is being lured to Merseyside and away from Fulham. That's a definite "wait and see.""

...actually I reckon it's Everton that's trying to get Dempsey, nevermind...that's no big deal