If you are a fan of U.S. soccer or a frequenter of social media in general than there’s a good chance that Cassius Dwyer, the son of Sydney Leroux and Dom Dwyer, is one of your favorite little humans.
Though he’s only 10 months old, young Cassius has already shown he has quite personality. We feeling he's had some strong opinions while watching the U.S. men in the Gold Cup recently. After all, there’s nothing more pure than a baby’s reaction.
The CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinal match-ups are set. Only eight teams remain. Let's check them out:
July 19: Costa Rica vs. Panama
Time: 6:00 p.m. EST
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
TV: FOX Sports 1, Univision
Match-up: Costa Rica finished first in Group A, and Panama finished second in Group B. Costa Rica thrives on an organized defense and the creativity of Benfica midfielder Bryan Ruiz on offense. Panama's top players include Porto forward Ismail Diaz and NYCFC midfielder Miguel Camargo.
It is now time to take the CONCACAF Gold Cup seriously. A Gold Cup rule allows managers to make up to six changes between the group and knockout stages, and USMNT manager Bruce Arena is bringing in his all-time leading goalscorer, his number one goalkeeper, his captain, his top striker and Darlington Nagbe, who's probably the best player of the bunch.
From USSoccer.com:
When the United States began their Gold Cup campaign last Saturday I was in a bar. I was there to watch this game, but somewhere around the 30th minute I started to drift. I was like a pass from the American midfield — serenely floating here and there without any purpose or sense of direction.
Dom Dwyer’s opening goal sent the bartender on a rambling ode to Sydney Leroux that lasted until tonight’s match against Nicaragua, a week-long sonnet on unrealized love.
The United States has hosted the last seven CONCACAF Gold Cups, which you'd believe would provide the USMNT with a significant home field advantage. However, attendance figures make it clear that Mexico has the most loyal support in the States.
In the six Gold Cups dating back to 2005 (not including this year's tournament), Mexico has always drawn more fans to its matches than the USMNT. Although Mexico doesn't play as often in the U.S. as the USMNT, the differences are significant and suggest that El Tri has more dedicated fans in their rival's home turf.
The Gold Cup is under way and the two goliaths of North American soccer have seen action: Mexico kicked off their tournament with a 3-1 win over El Salvador and play Jamaica tonight. The United States floundered against Panama on Saturday, taking just a point from the match, and then floundered against Martinique on Wednesday night, albeit winning 3-2.
The two have impressive records at the Cup. Mexico has 7 titles, the U.S. has 5.
Hey it's the CONCACAF Gold Cup! Fun!
No. Not fun. Not fun for people who must watch this product. The soccer is bad at the Gold Cup. Real bad. Even the USMNT, the host nation and one of the favorites, is a shadow of itself. This is a soccer wasteland.
Let's see what some of our colleagues in soccer media had to say about the USMNT's thrilling 3-2 win against Martinique:
On Saturday, Dom Dwyer scored his second goal in as many appearances for the USMNT. In doing so, he gave the USA a (temporary) 1-0 lead over Panama in the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Panama eventually scored to draw 1-1 with the USA.
More significantly, Dwyer became the ninth player in U.S. history to achieve the feat of scoring a goal in each of his first two games for the national team.
Look guys, we're relatively certain that the mandatory hydration breaks during the 2017 Gold Cup match between the USA and Panama have nothing to do with CONCACAF's newly announced "hydration partnership" with sports drink maker BODYARMOR. We know it's tempting to think that there is some connection here, but settle down.