Gold Cup 2011: Mexico Crushes US In Inspired Win

Tonight was the coming out party for this next generation of Mexican stars. "El Tri" pummeled the United States 4-2 in front of 90,000 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to win their second straight CONCACAF Gold Cup and book their place in the 2013 Confederations Cup.

Not only was it impressive to watch Mexico take apart the US, but for them to do it in the circumstances they did was even moreso. The US stunned the favorites with two quick goals to take a 2-0 lead that should have made Mexico panic. But they did nothing of the sort. Mexico was already controlling play and generating more chances at that point and rather than change what they were doing, just kept attacking and eventually it paid off. Over the last 60 minutes of this game, Mexico flat out dominated.

The US was certainly not helped by the loss of Steve Cherundolo so early, especially when his replacement, Jonathon Bornstein was absolutely skinned for the second goal. Overall, the US back four was a mess all night. It was hard to figure why when a RB in Cherundolo was injured, that Bradley brought on a LB in Bornstein and forced another LB in Lichaj to play RB. Especially when he’s got an EPL experienced RB in Jonathon Spector sitting on the bench.

It remains to be seen what if anything US Soccer takes from this. This is two Gold Cups in a row that Bob Bradley’s squad has been embarrassed in the final of their home federations’ tournament. This tournament is important and this year was doubly important because it meant a place in the Confederations Cup. Of course, after the game the Fox broadcast chose to praise Bradley for the few positive decisions he made and highlight the "positives" the team will be able to take from the tournament. I dare you to find another country in the world that fancies themselves a serious soccer power that does that after a defeat this bad.

US Soccer now needs to decide whether this is good enough for them. They were embarrassed again by their only rival on their continent.

The US is now firmly the #2 team on their continent and Mexico has made a serious statement of intent to the rest of the world. Six players on this senior team were part of the squad that won the under 17 World Cup for Mexico. They will be very scary going forward.

After Mexico dominated play for the first seven minutes of the game, the US was able to win a corner after some nifty work from Freddy Adu and Steve Cherundolo on the left. Adu took the corner and Michael Bradley slipped by a defender at the near post and headed it in the take a 1-0 lead in the 9th minute.

With Mexico a heavy favorite and playing in front of a very pro Mexico crowd at the Rose Bowl, it’s huge for the US men to get the early lead. This is only the second time all tournament that Mexico has trailed.

The US did get some bad news however as Steve Cherundolo appeared to injure himself on a tackle and needed to be substituted in only the 11th minute. Jonathon Bornstein came on to play left back while Eric Lichaj moved over to the right. With Cherundolo being arguably the USA’s most consistent defender, it could be a huge blow.

Mexico has certainly not been short of chances and largely has controlled the game. Chicharito has had at least three chances just barely missed.

Check out our full 2011 Gold Cup Stream for more coverage of Mexico's convincing 4-2 win.

The United States takes on Mexico tonight in the finals of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Coverage will begin at 8:30 pm eastern on Fox Soccer Channel. The game itself should begin around 9pm, which is 5pm on the west coast, where the game is being played in the Rose Bowl.

If you do not get Fox Soccer Channel, you can watch the game streaming live at Concacaf.tv. The official hashtag for US fans is #USMNT, the official US Soccer twitter is @USSoccer and the official USMNT supporters club is @AmericanOutlaws. 

Finally, if you are a fan of the USA and you plan on twittering during the game... Please try and keep it classy. You really don't want to end up on this site and completely embarrass yourself. It's great that people want to get involved in this US vs Mexico soccer rivalry, but we can do it without racism and tired stereotypes.

The US Men's National Soccer Team takes on Mexico tonight at 8:30 on Fox Soccer channel in the finals of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup. It is the fourth straight year the US has reached the finals and the fifth time they will meet Mexico. The two nations have split the last two Gold Cup Finals.

Mexico enters the game as the clear favorites and may very well be fielding their best team ever with the arguably the best attacking force this tournament has ever seen. El Tri, as they are know, has dominated Gold Cup play so far with 18 goals from five matches. The United States' attack hasn't been nearly as prolific, but they have been very stout at the the back, allowing just two goals in their five matches. Something will certainly have to give tonight as both teams face what will be by far their biggest test.

"Both teams will be tight, but as the game goes, it’ll loosen up," said US keeper Tim Howard. "But it’s going to be a hell of an afternoon, man, and we’re looking forward to it."

Landon Donovan, who probably has more big performances against Mexico than any player anywhere, says that this years' Gold Cup feels bigger than in years' passed.

"This Gold Cup, for some reason, has felt more special than in years past," he said. "I don’t know if it’s the coverage, if it’s that it’s just grown over time, but it feels a lot more special. When you see the number of people that attended the games, the number of people that are just aware of it — it’s going to be a real special event tomorrow."

This years' Gold Cup is for more than just regional bragging rights. The winner will be the CONCACAF representative in the Confederations Cup in Brazil, the year prior to the World Cup. The US won that berth prior to South Africa and many of the players attributed their success at the World Cup to the experience they had in South Africa, playing in the actual World Cup stadiums.

Carlos Salcido, the Mexican left back who is also Clint Dempsey's teammate at Fulham, says he thinks his team deserves the Confederations Cup berth.

"We haven’t lost a game and hopefully we’ll close out this Gold Cup," he said. "We have worked well and I think the team deserves it, but it’s the final and you’ve got to leave everything [on the pitch]. his time around we’re going up against the United States, but we’ve got to win the cup, win that ticket to the Confederations. I think the group deserves it."

While the game will be played on US soil at the 90,000 seat Rose Bowl, it will be a largely pro Mexican crowd on hand to witness what they expect to be the start of years of CONCACAF dominance. With young players like Giovani Dos Santos, Andrés Guardado and of course, Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez they have good reason to believe it. This certainly does look like a golden era of Mexican football. However, they will be facing an American squad full of veterans with ample international experience and years of playing top flight European soccer. They won't be intimated and won't feel over-matched by the Mexicans, as many other regional teams are.

It should be a fun match between two big rivals who are both clearly the class of this tournament.

There are two dominant teams in the CONCACAF region. One has already booked their place in the 2011 Gold Cup Final, the other needs to just beat Honduras to book their own place. If Mexico takes care of business later this evening, they will meet tournament co-favorites USA in the finals on Saturday.

The United States worked until the 77th minute until they finally scored the game winner on a fantastic play that began with two nice passes from Freddy Adu and Landon Donovan and ended on the foot on Clint Dempsey, who scored for the second time in as many matches.

Freddy Adu, who had not played yet in this tournament, was asked how it felt to be back out and to play a vital role in the game winning goal.

"It was amazing." Adu said, "I haven’t been part of the team for over two years now and just the chance to be around the guys and around the national team, I was really thankful for the opportunity. Once you’re here, you gotta work hard and when you get your chance you’ve got to make a difference and reward your coaches’ faith in you."

Adu said he had been preparing himself for the moment his name was called.

"I’ve been putting in a lot of work. I decided to come in here, keep my head down and whenever my name is called to try and help the team. Today I was told to come in, bring energy and make a difference. Fortunately I was able to do that. "

After the game, Clint Dempsey gave the credit for his game winner to Landon Donovan.

"Landon is a top player he always gets his head and looks for a player if he can find pass. He put a perfect ball in and all I had to do was put my foot on it. So all credit to him, but most importantly we got the win and even though it wasn't our best game we were able to grind out the result."

The win avenges the US loss to Panama in group play, which was the first time in the history of this tournament that the US had lost a group game.

The USA now advances to the finals for the fourth straight Gold Cup. Assuming Mexico beats Honduras tonight, it will be the fifth time the two nations have met in the Gold Cup final.

Just moments after his introduction, Freddy Adu found Landon Donovan streaking down the left flank, who then found Clint Dempsey at the net to set up the opening goal of the CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinal between the US and Panama.

Donovan only came on as a sub himself at halftime and upon receiving the pass from Adu made a smart move into the box and fired a pass straight across the face of goal directly to Clint Dempsey, who almost baseball slid the ball into the net near the 77th minute.

The US nearly scored again almost 10 minutes later thanks to more brilliance from Freddy Adu. After taking on and splitting two defenders, Adu beat a third Panama defender to the corner and pushed a perfectly placed pass to Michael Bradley, who was unmarked at the top right part of the box. However, rather than take a shot, Bradley tried an ill advised pass that was intercepted to end the threat.

A win tonight means the United States will move on to the finals to take on the winner of the Honduras vs Mexico match later this evening.

For up to date Gold Cup coverage check out our full stream, including quotes from Clint Dempsey and Freddy Adu on the US win tonight.

The United States had a plethora of chances directly in front of goal in the first half of their group matchup with Guadeloupe, but failed to convert any. Ironically, the furthest and most speculative shot they would take all night was the one that ended up beating the keeper.

It was Jozy Altidore that gave the US their lead with an absolute stunner from 25 yards out. The shot showed off that mix of confidence and a thunderous right foot that had so many US fans excited about Altidore when he made his debut. However, frustration has grown as his performances over the past year have been inconsistent. This wonder strike tonight just might start to assuage some of the fears that Altidore growth as a scoring threat has been stunted. Here's the video if you didn't see it.

Otherwise, it was a largely frustrating first half for the US, although for completely different reasons than the frustration against Panama. Unlike the previous game, the US has had tons of chances with many coming from as near as 6 yards out, but they’ve failed to convert on any. Some of that can be down to some great goaltending, but some of the USA’s big guns should be doing better.

Clint Dempsey (twice) and Landon Donovan have both missed sitters. Chris Wondolowski, who made the squad on the back of the good job he’s done finishing in MLS this year, has had three close shots saved. None are as bad as his embarrassing miss against Panama and you do have credit the keeper for making some great saves… but in the end the US forwards just need to do a better job putting the ball in the net. They’re creating chances and have been very active, but the fact that they only have one goal to show for all the chances they’ve had is worrying.

The US defense has been worlds better than we saw over the weekend. Tim Ream was benched in favor of captain Carlos Bocanegra in the center of defense and Eric Lichaj has been deployed on the left. It has ended up being an upgrade in both spots. Bocanegra has been much better than the inexperienced Ream and Lichaj has actually gotten forward and been more useful in attack than Bocanegra was at left back. There is a pretty good chance that this will be the back four going forward in this tournament.

I also want to give a quick shout to Jermaine Jones, who has been so much better this evening than he was against Panama. His distribution was just terrible in that game, but has been worlds better tonight. Routinely, he has been hitting those long, 40-50 yard passes across the field to open men (usually Lichaj) streaking down the flanks. It’s really played a big part in creating chances and opening up Guadeloupe.

Still just one goal though…

The United States Men’s Soccer team needs a win against tiny Guadeloupe tonight in order to ensure that they advance to the quarterfinals of the 2011 Gold Cup. Coverage starts at 8pm eastern on Fox Soccer Channel. The US is fresh off a shocking 2-1 defeat at the hands of Panama, which was the first time the US has ever lost in group play at the tournament.

The loss put the US in a somewhat precarious position in the group as they sit tied for second with Canada on 3 points. Panama leads the group with 6. Panama and Canada play prior to the US game and should Canada win, the US would need a victory to ensure that they advance. That said, a win against Guadeloupe is not exactly a big ask.

Guadeloupe is just 629 square miles and its population is right around 400,000. They are 0-2 in the tournament so far and have had a player sent off in each of their first two contests. The US will be big favorites, but then again, they were big favorites against Panama. The US will certainly need a better effort tonight to not only ensure they qualify, but also to restore some of the good feelings around the team.

Goalie Tim Howard says the squad sees this as an elimination game.

"We know it’s an elimination game and we know what we have to do to perform," said Howard. "If we perform to our own standards we will get the right result and move forward. We would have liked to have cruised through the first two games and put our feet up and have a laugh (vs. Guadeloupe) but that’s not always the case. We just want to get through."

It will be interesting to see if Bob Bradley learns any lessons from his teams’ loss over the weekend. Specifically, here’s three moves that he has to make to win this game and progress in the tournament.

Get rid of Tim Ream and put Carlos Bocanegra in defense.

The young Red Bull defender might have a future with the national team, but it is clearly not now. Ream was awful against Panama, with his worst moment coming when he conceded a needless penalty to give Panama their second goal. He was also terrible against Spain a few weeks ago and generally just isn’t ready. Bocanegra will bring a much smarter and more veteran presence to the middle. Eric Lichaj or Jonathon Bornstein can take his place on the left.

Start Sacha Kljestan and send Jermaine Jones to the bench

Jones is very energetic and can be a tenacious midfield defender, but all that was largely useless against Panama. His distribution was poor and he seemed to drift out of the game. What the US needed against Panama was a creative passer to help break down their bunker defense. Jones wasn’t that and threw a bit of a tantrum when he subbed off in the 60th minute. Kljestan, I thought really turned things around when he came on. His passing was much crisper and he showed more desire to get forward in attack.

Play Clint Dempsey at forward

There is no one on the US roster better in front of goal than Dempsey. While Juan Agudelo and Jozy Altidore barely got any service, both were largely invisible against Panama. I’m still not convinced Agudelo was even in the game and Altidore’s only real contribution was the cross that Chris Wondolowski hilariously missed from point blank range. Speaking of, the young MLS based forwards (Wondolowski & Agudelo) have been a huge disappointment so far.

Starting Dempsey up top with a more offensive minded player like Kljestan in the midfield gives the US a much more dangerous attacking lineup. They won’t be quite as stout on defense, but we’re taking about Guadeloupe here.

Panama is halfway to the upset of the tournament as they take a 2-0 halftime lead over the USA into the locker room at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Panama has played a nearly perfect bunker down/counter attack system that has stifled the United States on one end and produced good scoring chances on the other.

The United States have enjoyed most of the possession, Panama has routinely kept 11 men behind the ball, denying the US much meaningful possession in the offensive half. When the US does try to play a ball in, Panamanian defenders have done a fantastic job intercepting passe and then throwing men forward to help create good scoring chances.

The first Panama goal came moments after a free kick bounced off the US wall to midfielder Gabriel Gomez, who played a laser pass into the fullback Dasent, who had a diving header saved by Tim Howard, but striker Luis Tejada knocked in the rebound for the opening goal.

The second goal came as Panama once again had everyone back defending, intercepted a US pass and poured men forward in the counterattack. This team, young New York Red Bulls defender Tim Ream made an absolutely inexcusable play in the box, bringing down the Panamanian striker Perez for a penalty. The ball was bouncing out of the box, there was another US defender in the area and yet Ream swung a wild kick, hoping for a clearance that instead hit Perez, earning a clear penalty. Gomez fired it home to extend Panama’s lead to 2-0.

With Canada’s win earlier, the US are in a very precarious position. Panama and Canada are now even on points with the US and will play each other on Tuesday. With Panama in full control now, the US could find themselves tied for second in the group, needing not only a win against Guadeloupe, but one where they score a number of goals.

The US has never lost a group stage game in the Gold Cup. They’ll need quite a comeback in the second half to maintain that streak.

Fresh off their convincing 2-0 win over Canada in the opening game of the 2011 Gold Cup, the United States Men’s Soccer team takes on Panama in the second game of group play this evening. The game takes place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida (home of the Buccaneers). First kick is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on Fox Soccer Channel. It will also be on Telefutura in Spanish.

This game could very well decide who wins group C since Panama got a 3-2 victory over Guadeloupe in their opening game. However, Canada was widely seen as the second best team in this group, so the US should be a heavy favorite tonight and an even heavier favorite in the final group game against minnows Guadeloupe.

The tournament has been rocked by this weeks’ news that five members of the Mexican squad, including starting goaltender Guillermo Ochoa, defenders Francisco Rodriguez and Edgar Duenas, and midfielders Christian Bermudez and Antonio Naelson have all been sent home from the tournament after testing positive for a banned substance. Mexico had been the clear favorites to win this tournament, but this news certainly closes the gap and could make a team like the US smell blood in the water.

This will be the fourth time the US has met Panama in the Gold Cup and in those four meetings the US has never lost (3-0-1). In fact, the US has eliminated Panama in each of the last three tournaments.The most meeting is likely the 2005 Gold Cup Final, which the US won on penalty kicks, with the deciding kick coming off the foot of Landon Donovan.

Should the US win tonight and Canada earns at least a point, the US is guarnateed a spot in the next round.

The United States kicked off their 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup campaign in nice fashion with a convincing 2-0 win over Canada. Jozy Altidore scored in the first half and Clint Dempsey netted in the second as the USA rebounded from its drubbing at the hands of Spain in a big way. It was the 11th straight time that the US has won its opener in the Gold Cup.

The difference between the undermanned team sent out for the Spain friendly and the full strength US squad was apparent from the start. While the defense was certainly more organized and wasn’t as guilty of the ball watching that killed them against Spain, it was the US advantage in the midfield that really dictated this game. Michael Bradley, along with Jermaine Jones really dominated the center of the pitch and Canada struggled to keep any possession for long stretches of the game. Bradley was deployed in a more forward role and regularly stepped up to intercept passes and press the US attack. Jones took a more defensive position, and cleaned up whatever got past Bradley.

Bob Bradley deployed a 4-5-1 with Altidore up top as the lone striker, but Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan had free reign to bomb down the wings to support the attack.

The first US goal was probably as much due to poor defense from Canada as good play from Altidore. The Canadian defender had a chance to step up and play Altidore offsides when Landon Donovan played him in, but didn’t, which allowed Jozy to use him as a screen to the right of the goal and put a solid shot on net from a tough angle. Canadian goaltender Lars Hirschfeld arguably should have made the save, but he beaten at the near post for the opening goal in the 15th minute.

Dempsey’s goal came in the 62nd minute when Landon Donovan again found Altidore in the box, who crossed it in front of goal with his first touch to Juan Agueldo, who whiffed on the shot, but had it glance off him to a waiting Dempsey, who slotted him for the final goal of the evening.

Canada would threaten late, but Tim Howard made a string of fantastic saves to preserve the clean sheet.

Getting the full points against Canada all but ensures that the US will win their group as the Canadians were easily the second best squad. The US will play again this Saturday versus Panama, then conclude group play next Tuesday with a match against tiny Guadeloupe.