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.
Panama-Nicaragua was the 2017 Gold Cup in 90 minutes.
After a first half full of crap offense, crap defense took over in the second half and sparked the match to life.
Poor play on both ends typified what has been an underwhelming and CONCACAF’y Gold Cup with many of regions best players watching from home.
Ultimately, Panama pulled out a 2-1 win in what was quite literally an opening act for the USA-Martinique match.
Watching the Gold Cup the last couple of days, you feel a bit like Scooter Braun accidentally clicking on a YouTube video of a tween musician.
Not since Justin Bieber was discovered at age 12 in 2007 has Canada had such a precocious young star in the making. Alphonso Davies may have only become a Canadian in the last couple months, but if he keeps scoring at this rate, he’ll soar to Bieber-esque heights.
Davies scored the opener in Canada’s 1-1 draw with Costa Rica on Tuesday, the 16-year-old’s third goal in two Gold Cup matches.
The James Rodriguez experiment at Real Madrid is all but finished. The 25-year-old Colombian attacker is moving to Bayern Munich on a two-year loan deal with an option to buy.
Not coincidentally, Bayern are now coached by the man who brought Rodriguez to Real Madrid in the first place, Carlo Ancelotti. Rodriguez moved to Madrid from Monaco after the 2014 World Cup, at which he won the Golden Boot, but he failed to consistently crack Real Madrid's starting lineup. Bayern Munich now have two World Cup Golden Boot winners, as Thomas Muller won the award in 2010.
Elias Hernandez had himself one helluva time on Sunday night against El Salvador, scoring a goal with a vicious volley and assisting on both Hedgardo Marin and Orbelin Pineda’s strikes.
El Salvador pulled one back through Nelson Bonilla to briefly level the match at 1-1 in the 10th minute, but Mexico were deserved winners with a controlled display of mesmerizing passing. El Tri maintained 66% of possession while completing their passes at a 90% clip, including 82% in the attacking half.
The Gold Cup cometh, and with disgraced former CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb no longer around to taketh, the 2017 edition of the biennial championship of the North, Central American and Caribbean region promises to giveth in abundance.
Beginning with a titanic clash between French Guiana and Canada on Friday, July 7 and culminating on Wednesday, July 26 with the final in Santa Clara, California, we’ll be treated to three weeks of CONCACAF’y tomfoolery.
Diego Maradona was in Russia for the Confederations Cup last week, and during his visit he continued his habit of being very complimentary toward communist politicians, most notably Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Here's what Maradona told Russia Today:
Argentina’s new sensation has proven time and again how talented he is on the biggest stage for Juventus. It looks like no matter what the circumstances are, Dybala finds a way to shine.
In a charity match in his hometown of Laguna Larga, the 23-year-old was faced with a seemingly insurmountable task - put the ball in the back of the net with 18 defenders and two goalkeepers in the way, many of whom were hanging from the crossbar to further block his path.
Soccer's version of the Royal Wedding took place yesterday. Lionel Messi married his childhood sweeheart, Antonella Roccuzzo, in a ceremony in Rosario, Argentina. Everything was very extravagant. There was a red carpet.