Friday, June 22, 2007
US into Gold Cup Final
The US advanced to the Gold Cup Final yesterday with a 2-1 win over Canada. Frankie Hejduk and Landon Donovan had the goals for the US.
Throughout this Gold Cup, the US has shown an extreme lack of form in the tournament, they've never really played an opponent off the field, they've played down to their opponents level most of the time. Last night was no exception. While Canada has improved, the US should not have made the game this close. Canada domindated for long portions of the game, and probably deserved more then the loss that they got.
If you read any other soccer blogs you've undoubtably heard or seen the offsides goal that was called back on the Canada. Yes, it probably should have been a goal, even if you interpret Oguchi Onyewu's header to be a deflection and not an actual play of the ball, Atiba Hutchinson was onside when the original ball was played through. That said, you can't say how Kasey Keller or the rest of the defense would have played had the flag not gone up.
On another note, yes the referee's in CONCACAF have left much to be desired in this tournament, but as a person that's refereed soccer in the past, I'm not gonna harp on them too much, and besides, the US has had plenty of crappy calls go against them over the years, it's about time a game decided crap call happened in our favor.
As for the Wizards player, Eddie Johnson, he played 80 minutes before being subbed out of the game. Johnson did well with his runs, although again he started some too early, getting caught offsides 3 times. The US will now play Mexico in the Gold Cup Final
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