Barcelona proves that it's not dead yet, Galatasary fans try to tunnel into a stadium, the Charlie Stillitano rants about the EPL team bias of English language UEFA broadcasts, and Leonardo proposes to Anna Billo on tv, it's time for your Friday goals:
More after the jump:
The Houston Dynamo went into last night's 2nd leg CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals tie against Santos Laguna at Estadio Corona with a 1-0 aggregate lead, but by the end of the night, the Dynamo gave up 3 unanswered goals and were booted from the competition.
Santos evened up the score 1-1 in the 23rd minute when Juan Pablo Rodriquez picked up the rebound goal after Tally Hall had blocked Rodriquez's penalty shot. Five minutes later US National Team forward Herculez Gomez picked up the lead, and the winning goal, for Santos.
During the first half, the Dynamo were hampered by sloppy play and mental mistakes, and although they started to show some offensive life in the second half, their hopes of advancing were dashed by a Marc Crosas goal in the 77th minute.
With the loss to Santos, the Dynamo are out of the 2012-2013 CONCACAF Champions League and return their focus to the MLS regular season. This Sunday, the Dynamo take on F.C. Dallas in Frisco, Texas. The match, which begins at noon local time, will be broadcast on ESPN2.
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The Hex, the last stage of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying for the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil, began on Tuesday February 6th, and the United States got off to a bad start with a 2-1 loss to Honduras at the Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
Due to the fact that I don't have beIN Sport on my provider and the fact that the match occurred while I was at my day job, I was not able to watch the match. I did listen to the radio feed out of Honduras, but my Spanish is far from adequate to fully understand what was going on. But, based on the comments and accounts of people who did watch the match, here is my impressions:
- The United States played like a team made up of players who played for their clubs over the weekend; flew to Miami; then flew to Honduras on Tuesday; barely had time to train and bond; and underestimated their opponent.
- The United States is striker deficient and Jurgen Klinsmann should have played Herculez Gomez.
- The existence of MLS has helped develop soccer talent across the CONCACAF region.
I did see a fair share of knee-jerk the sky is falling the US isn't going to qualify tweets yesterday, but let's be realistic here, this was the first match of the Hex, odds are the US was going to lose a couple road games. The hopes of reaching the World Cup finals in Brazil are not dashed for the US, there's plenty of time and matches left in this process.
Before some video from and after the match, here's the other CONCACAF results:
Panama 2 - 2 Costa Rica
Mexico 0 - 0 Jamaica
Highlights from the match:
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After the United States National Team lost to Jamaica, 2-1, in Kingston, Jamaica in a CONCACAF World Cup Qualifier on Friday, the US fan base went into full on Chicken Little - "The Sky is Falling!" - hysteria mode, fretting that the US would not make it to the Hexagonal Stage of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying.
Last night in Columbus, Ohio, the US got a chance to redeem itself against Jamaica, which they did with a 1-0 win against a Jamaica side that came into the match clearly hoping for a 0-0 draw. Jamaica's "park the bus" approach to the match gave the US numerous shots on goal early in the first half, many of which were denied by the woodwork.
The winning goal finally came for the US in the 55th minute when Herculez Gomez got the ball by Jamaica's keeper on a gorgeous free kick. After the US goal, Jamaica finally turned up the heat offensively, but it was too little, too late as the US picked up the 3 points.
The US is now tied at the top of Group A with Guatemala and Jamaica on 7 points, but the US and Guatemala lead on goal differential. This stage of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying wraps up next month when the US heads to Antigua to play Antigua & Barbuda on October 12th and then hosts Guatemala in Kansas City, Kansas on October 16th.
One thing that has become increasingly evident in recent years is that CONCACAF is a much tougher Federation to play in as more players from the smaller countries, such as Jamaica, have gained valuable experience and development in leagues such as MLS. Last night's match was a reflection of this since Jamaica started 5 MLS players while the US only started 1 MLS player. This is a reality that fans of the US, and fans of Mexico, need to start accepting and coming to terms with.
The CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying structure is still weighted in favor of Mexico and the US, but said teams and their fans need to stop underestimating the other CONCACAF teams. That's a lesson the US learned this past Friday.
Last night a crowd of 67,619 was on hand at FedEx Field in suburban D.C. to watch the United States host Brazil in a friendly, the second friendly for the US as it prepares for CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers. After a 5-1 drubbing of Scotland in Jacksonville on Saturday night, the US entered Wednesday's match with a little extra momentum, but Brazil is Brazil and they picked up two goals early in the first half, one of which was a penalty kick converted by Neymar in the 12th minute.
The US gained some ground at the end of the first half when Herculez Gomez, with some help from Michael Bradley and Fabian Johnson, scored for the US.
The US played strong in the second half, with numerous shots barely missing goal or being heroically saved by Brazil's keeper Rafael, but the US was not able to pick up another goal, let alone enough goals to beat Brazil. Brazil, which was primarily fielding a U-23 Olympic squad, managed to add two more goals thanks to Marcelo in the 52nd minute and Pato in the 87th minute.
While last night's match against Brazil marked the 16th time that the US has lost to the South American powerhouse, the US side acquitted itself well. The 4-1 loss to Brazil is a small stumble in the Juergen Klinsmann era, but Wednesday's match evidenced both growth and the further need for growth by the US national team. The never die, never quit attitude of last night's US side was refreshing to see and definitely sets this squad apart from the Bruce Arena side that played in Germany in 2006. On the other hand, the US needs to learn how to defend better against sides like Brazil and needs to learn how to finish some of those excellent goal scoring opportunities that they had last night.
One thing seems clear after last night, Michael Bradly and Herculez Gomez have secured national team roster spots for the foreseeable future.
Up next for the US is a friendly against Canada on Sunday June 3rd. Meanwhile, Brazil faces Mexico at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas on Sunday June 3rd.
