As Jamaican Kemar Lawrence’s sweetly-struck free kick sailed into the back of the net in the semifinals of the Gold Cup on Sunday night, millions of soccer fans across America reacted viscerally. Some cheered for the wonderful goal. Some laughed as Mexico was knocked out of the Gold Cup. Some groaned over the loss of a Mexico-U.S. final. And many more shouted out in distress as their favorite soccer team suffered an ignominious defeat.
Substitute Clint Dempsey dribbled through the Costa Rica defense set up Jozy Altidore for the first goal of the night as the USMNT defeated Costa Rica 1-0 to advance to the CONCACAF Gold Cup final.
Here's the goal:
The United States are through to the Gold Cup semifinals, but the real story on Wednesday night was the erotic interplay between USMNT striker Jozy Altidore and his tight man-to-man marker, El Salvador’s Henry Romero.
The City of Brotherly Love was truly feeling the heat yesterday evening as Romero pinched and twisted Altidore’s nipple and took a nice little chomp on his shoulder for good measure. Romero was booked in the 81st minute, but he kept Altidore off the scoresheet for 90 minutes, so mission accomplished.
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.
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.
It didn't take Christian Pulisic long to show his new boss what he can do with the ball at his feet. In Borussia Dortmund’s first match of the International Champions Cup against renovated AC Milan in China, Pulisic had two assists and drew a penalty as the Germans cruised to a 3-1 win.
New Dortmund coach Peter Bosz will likely have few complaints with the 18-year-old American, who was subbed off in the 74th minute. Bosz was brought in from Ajax in June after guiding the Dutch team to the Europa League final.