US Men's U23 Team Fails to Qualify for 2012 Olympics

Thanks to a 2-0 loss to Canada on Saturday night and a 3-3 draw with El Salvador last night, the United States has failed to qualify for the men's soccer tournament in the Olympics for the first time since 1976. Last night it appeared that, despite the shocking loss to Canada, the US team would advance to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifiers since they were leading the match, 2-3, over El Salvador, as the match went into stoppage time. But then, to American soccer fans, the unthinkable happened as Jaime Alas scored on a howler giving El Salvador the draw as well as earning that country its first trip to the Olympics soccer tournament since 1968.

For those unfamiliar with how Olympic soccer qualifying works, the US team at issue was its U23 squad, not the senior team that features in the World Cup qualifiers and finals. While a knee jerk reaction to the US's failure to make it the Olympics would be to paint a portrait of doom and gloom for the future of the US Men's team, it's way too early to do that. These players are young and still have plenty of time for growth and development before some of them will become regular fixtures on the senior team's bench and later its starting squad. Additionally, there's reason to believe that with all the recent changes that have occurred within the coaching and development structure at US Soccer, the response to this "failure" will be more efficient and creative.

While it is a shame that US Soccer will not have a men's team competing in the Olympics this summer, it's not the end of the world, by any means, for US Soccer. While the Olympics in general are very popular with television viewers in the United States, coverage of soccer has usually received low priority, especially when compared to the "sexy" events like gymnastics, swimming, and track and field. In the bigger scheme of the soccer world, men's Olympics soccer is to the World Cup what the NIT is to the NCAA Tournament (or to make another current cultural analogy, men's Olympics soccer is to the World Cup what Peter Campbell is to Don Draper).

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup - Quarterfinals Night Two: US & Panama Get a Rematch

Sunday afternoon at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, the United States hosted Jamaica and Panama played El Salvador to determine which teams would advance to the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinals at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas on Wednesday night.

It was US hoping to get past Jamaica in the matinee match, and get by Jamaica they did thank to goals from Jermaine Jones and Clint Dempsey. Coming into Sunday's match, Jamaica had scored multiple goals while keeping clean sheets in all of its group stage matches. Despite looking dangerous from time to time, Jamaica was unable to score and its keeper, Donovan Ricketts, managed numerous saves, but couldn't stop them all.

RFK Stadium was packed with fans of El Salvador hoping to see their team beat Panama and advance to the semifinals. It was El Salvador that scored first, when Rodolfo Zelaya put the ball in the net in the 77th minute, but it only took 12 minutes for Panama's Luis Tejada to respond with a goal of his own. The match was tied at 1-1 at the end of regulation time, forcing it to be decided on penalty kicks. Panama ends up advancing to the semifinals after beating El Salvador 5-3 on penalty kicks.

Sunday's results mean that the United States and Panama will face each other in a rematch on Wednesday night at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup - Quarterfinals Night One: Honduras & Mexico Advance

The first night of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Quarterfinals took place on Saturday at The New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey. Costa Rica and Honduras squared off in the night's first match, while Mexico faced Guatemala in the second match.

Honduras picked up the first goal of the night, early in the second half of the first match, thanks to Jerry Bengtson, but the lead didn't last long because Dennis Marshall scored for Costa Rica in the 55nd minute. The match stayed tied at 1-1 through the rest of regular time forcing it to be decided on penalty kicks. Honduras ended up winning on penalties, 4-2.

Early in the second match of the evening it looked like Mexico's hopes of advancing to the semifinals weren't as strong as expected because Carlos Ruiz scored for Guatemala in the 4th minute. Guatemala managed to hold its lead, but a halftime substitution for Mexico paid off as Jesús De Nigris scored in the 48th minute. In the 65th minute it was none other than Javier "Chicharito" Hernández who scored the winning goal for Mexico.

Mexico and Honduras will play each other at Reliant Stadium in Houston on Wednesday night.

Today, the United States will play Jamaica and Panama will face El Salvador.

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup - Night Seven: Mexico Continues Run

Round three of the group stage, the last round of the group stage, in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup began at Soldier Field in Chicago last night with Mexico facing Costa Rica and El Salvador playing Cuba.

Cuba has proven to be the whipping boy of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, but the little team from the baseball island did manage to score a goal last night thanks to Yenier Márquez who put the ball past the keeper in the 82nd minute. But in the end, it was El Salvador who walked away with a 6-1 victory thanks to goals from Rodolfo Zelaya, William Romero, Mark Blanco, José Alvarez Hernández, and Eliseo Quintanilla.

Coming into Sunday night, Mexico had already qualified for the quarterfinals, but that didn't mean the defending CONCACAF Gold Cup champions were taking it easy against Costa Rica. It was Rafael Márquez who put Mexico on the scoreboard first in the 16th minute, then Andrés Guardado picked up a brace, and finally Pablo Barrera picked up a goal in the 38th minute. By halftime, Mexico lead 4-0. Mexico took a break from scoring in the second half, but Costa Rica finally managed to pick up a goal thanks to Marcos Urena in the 68th minute. In the end, Mexico walked away with a 4-1 victory.

Monday night features Group B action with Guatemala playing Grenada and Honduras facing Jamaica at RedBull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey.

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup - Night Four: Mercy Rule Time?

Round two of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup began on Thursday night as Group A played in Charlotte, North Carolina, featuring El Salvador versus Costa Rica and Mexico taking on Cuba.

On Sunday night, Costa Rica picked up a 4-0 win against Cuba while El Salvador lost 4-0 to Mexico. Coming off of its loss, El Salvador seemed to be the team with the most to prove on Thursday, and they were the first to score thanks to Rodolfo Zelaya picking up a goal off of a free kick in the 44th minute. El Salvador managed to hold onto its slim one goal lead for over 45 minutes, but in stoppage time, Randall Brenes scored for Costa Rica and ending the match in a 1-1 draw.

The second match of the night featured Mexico and Cuba, and after the opening matches on Sunday, there was an 8 goal gap between the two teams. Considering the mismatch, most people expected Mexico to rest some of its starters against Cuba, but that was before the news broke on Thursday afternoon that five Mexican players had tested positive for clenbuterol, a drug used for fat loss. The five players who tested positive were Guillermo Ochoa, Francisco Rodriguez, Edgar Duenas, Christian Bermudez, and Antonio Naelson. Not surprisingly, Mexico has taken the position that said players ate contaminated meat, most likely chicken; however, Mexico provisionally suspended all five players. In my opinion, it seems unlikely that 5 players on the same team were all taking a substance known to be in violation of the anti-doping rules.

Whether it was the events of the day or an arrogant attitude, Mexico did not begin scoring goals on Cuba as quickly as was expected. But, it was Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez who finally picked up the first goal for Mexico, scoring in the 35th minute. It wasn't until the middle of the second half that Mexico opened the goal floodgates. Giovani Dos Santos made himself relevant again when he scored in the 63rd minute and then Jesús De Nigris, who was subbed on in the 63rd minute, picked up a goal in the 64th minute. Dos Santos picked up his second goal of the night in the 67th minute. Finally, Chicharito picked up his second goal in the 75th minute, and Mexico seemingly imposed its own mercy rule on the match.

CONCACAF officials will meet today, Friday, to determine if Mexico can call up players to replace the suspended players for the remainder of the tournament.

Tonight's Gold Cup action in Miami will feature Jamaica playing Guatemala and Honduras facing Grenada.

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup - Night One: Mexico Gives Notice

The 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup got off to interesting start Sunday night with Group A action at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. While there was a much ballyhooed attendance of over 64,000 at the United States v. Spain friendly at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night, there was over 80,000 on hand to watch Costa Rica take on Cuba and Mexico play El Salvador. When the night was over, there 10 goals, 5 each in very one sided affairs.

The first match of Sunday's doubleheader featured Costa Rica taking on a hapless Cuba. So far, to the best of my knowledge, none of the Cuban players have defected yet, but after losing 5-0 to Costa Rica last night, some of them might be seriously considering defecting if for no other reason than to avoid further embarrassment in the tournament. Costa Rica picked up its first goal when Marcos Urena scored in the 6th minute and then it's second with an Alvaro Saborío goal in the 40th minute. Cuba's fate was sealed within the first two minutes of the second half as Urena picked up his second goal and Heiner Mora quickly followed up with a goal of his own. Costa Rica's last goal was picked up by Joel Campbell in the 70th minute.

The night's marquee match featured Mexico v. El Salvador. At the end of the first half, the score was 0-0 and some folks on Twitter were speculating as to whether Mexico was going to be a dominant team in this year's tournament. The speculation came to an abrupt end in the 55th minute when Efraín Juárez scored for Mexico and opened the floodgates. By the 60th minute, Mexico lead 3-0. Mexico's young forward, Javier "Chicharito" Hernández, showed that he doesn't need Wayne Rooney on the pitch with him in order to score, as he bagged a hat trick, the first hat trick for a Mexican National Team player since 1997.

With it's 5-0 win over El Salvador, Mexico made it clear that they're taking this tournament seriously and they should not be underestimated.

Tonight's action will feature Group B, as Jamaica takes on Grenada and Honduras battles Guatemala at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles.