Despite a litany of mistakes from the back four and very hungry El Salvador defense, the USMNT is through to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The 2-0 scoreline perhaps flattered the USA, but a win's a win.
Omar Gonzalez opened the scoring off a set piece, for his second goal of the tournament.
Anibal Godoy had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad two minutes. The Panamanian midfielder committed a foul to earn a yellow that would keep him out of the next match should his team advance, then seconds later made sure his team wouldn’t advance.
Costa Rica beat Panama 1-0 thanks to a Godoy own goal in the Gold Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday in Philadelphia. Los Ticos will play either the U.S. or El Salvador in the semifinals on Saturday.
Right this minute, El Salvador and the USMNT are gearing up to play in a crucial Gold Cup quarterfinal match. The U.S. are clear favorites for this game, ranked the 35th best team in the world while El Salvador is 101st. In the 21 times the two have met, El Salvador have never beaten the U.S, losing 17 and drawing four.
It’s like Superman wearing a green cape or Cristiano Ronaldo without perfectly manicured hair — there’s just something off.
When the U.S. plays in the Gold Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday, a few national team veterans won’t look quite right in the red, white and blue. Their numbers will be all wrong.
When Bruce Arena called up a few of his top veterans to bolster the USMNT for the Gold Cup knockout rounds, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley and others joined a squad that had already doled out the first 23 jersey numbers.
Ann Coulter can add another thing to be angry about: the Mexican national soccer team.
With one powerful blast of his left foot, Dom Dwyer’s chances to make an even bigger statement with the U.S. men’s national team took a blow, the Nicaraguan keeper guessing correctly to keep the American’s penalty kick out.
The English-born U.S. international scored in his first two appearances for USMNT, but Dwyer couldn’t convert from the spot in his third appearance on Saturday. The next day he was dropped from the team for the remainder of the Gold Cup. Now the 26-year-old striker will be wondering what could have been.
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.
In an absurd first for major international tournaments (so you know it’s coming by way of the CONCACAF Gold Cup), a competing nation has knowingly and willingly knocked itself out of the competition.