USA/ Mexico game last night

I had to tape the NC/Duke game last night in order to watch the USA/ Mexico game on ESPN yesterday. The USA won 2-0 behing a goal by Jimmy Conrad off a corner kick by Landon Donovan and a follow up beautiful goal by Landon outracing two defenders and eluding the Goalie for the final goal. The Americans started Nine whites.. and two of our youngest players...Bobby Convey and Jonathan Bornstein showed remarkable pace. They should be around a long time. The mexicans show alot more ability to get across our undefended borders than their ability to get a ball past our goalie. The Mexicans have not scored a goal against us in over 733 minutes on American soil....speaking of which...the crowd of well over 60,000 in Arizona was about 70% mexican and wildly cheering for the mexican team throughout.....what other country has a "home game" under these conditions? The mexican team definetely has a inferiority complex when they play the "gringos" now and they once again showed their lack of class by refusing to shake our hands after the game was over....this was suppossed to be a "friendly" no such thing when we play those guys....great victory!

Great News! "Anglos" kickin' Latino ass! And I'm not surprised by their lack of class. They flat-out hate us (and I'm not just talking about their soccer team).

They are the most resentful, envious, and vengeful people in history.

And our leaders want to let in another 12 million of them!

Make that more like 30 million, Solomon, Some of our esteemed leaders want to graft in their wifes and children as well, even if they are still in Mexico. In case anybody is just lurking through this site today, there is a big difference between the kind of immigrants we were getting back in 1907 as oppossed to 2007. These immigrants are not assimilating into the country. They are not patriots, they don't learn the language, they don't care about our history and they even boo us at sporting events. The melting pot is not working anymore. What this country will look like in 2030 is truly scary.

Great news -- especially in light of the fact that the U.S started 9 whites (out of 11 starters).

All white Argentina also beat mostly black France as well. This comes on the heels of Scotland blanking the mercenaries composed of blacks from the former colonies.

Anyone know how the Englsh side is racially? Their world cup team was much whiter than previous years.I know they just lost to Spain.

A sea of green (for Mexico) in the stands on the wide camera shots. But on the close shots lots of U.S. supporters. Were the close shots chosen to give the impression it was a home game for the U.S.? I wonder if Glendale/Phoenix was chosen in the hope there wouldn't be a repeat of the debacle in L.A.

Did the Mexicans boo the U.S. national anthem? I didn't catch the first part of the broadcast.

Hopefully there was no bad behavior in the stands on the part of Mexican fans toward U.S. fans. They only real negative thing on the field was the black sub for the U.S. when he tried to pick a fight with a Mexican player. Not helpful.

Mexico has good players so the U.S. winning is an accomplishment.

Charlie...I was listening for any boos when the anthem was played and I didn't hear any. The Mexican/American fans seemed largely well behaved except for their hatred of landon donovan which is more about his excellent performances against the Mexican national team than about his race. The great ones always get booed! The black player you were talking about was Eddie Johnson.

Going to be real fun to watch David Beckham and Landon Donovan playing together this season for the LA Galaxy. Should be exciting!

Great game for the US. Its key to bounce back from a not so good world cup by convincingly beating your rival. I was really impressed by both goal scorers (Donavin and Conrad). With Conrad, Bornstein, Oguchi Onyewu, Carlos Bocanegra, and Jay Demerit, the US has tons of depth in their defense.
The one position I'm worried about is striker. Chris Rolfe who I hadn't seen play didn't impress me at all, Eddie Johnson I have never seen play well, and Donavin isn't an out and out striker. What's too bad is the best US striker, and probably the guy from the US who's playing the best now is Brian McBride, but he retired from international play. The guy is 34, ancient for soccer players, yet is posting great numbers and is among the premier league leaders in scoring, playing a mediocre Fulham team. I'd love it if he came back the the US team but I don't see it happening.

I agree about McBride. And he makes the players around him better.

MLS will never be the Premier League, the Serie A, etc., but it's getting better, and I like the fact that it's developing the US players,and that it welcomes the great European Players in their fading, but still productive, years.

I'm trying to make a list of great European Players who played in the US. Many of these guys go back to the old USL:

George Best (Los Angeles Earthquakes--ALS). He died recently--of alcohol poisoning, I believe. My barber, who is English, saw him play live in England and said that he was the greatest player he had ever seen. But he loved booze and women too much.

Giorgio Chinaglia (New York Cosmos). Great Italian player. He led the Cosmos to a title in the early 80's I think. I don't know what Italian team he played for.

Johan Cruyff (Washington Diplomats--ALS). A Dutchman, He played for Ajax, and was a great star along with Neeskens.

Lothar Matthias (New York--MLS). A great defensive player with Bayern, but this guy wound up playing maybe two games for New York. He really used us.

I think the great Franz Beckenbauer played a year or two for the Cosmos.

Can anyone add to the list?

Anyone, may the flow of European whites into the MLS continue--up to a point anyway.

I just like to say from an English perspective how impressed I am with the American players currently playing in England. Brian Mcbride is one of my faveourite players. He is a true sportsman and reminds me of Alan Shearer the premierships all time leading scorer because he will never miss an easy opportunity and he is a very good at heading the ball. He has cut his head open twice this season and has carried on playing!!! Mcbrides Fulham team mate Carlos Boncanegra has also been impressive and never seems to make mistakes. Bobby Convey was absolutly awesome last season when his team Reading got promoted to the premiership but has unfortunatly been injured most of the season. He willl no doubt be back next season and will hopefully set the premiership alight. His team mate at Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann has also been very good. But the one who has impessed me the most is Brad Friedel. The guy never got a fair chance at Liverpool but since his move to Blackburn in 2000 he has been absolutly outstanding. He is regarded as one of the top 3 goalkeepers in the premiership and in my view and many others is definatly one of the best goalkeepers in the world. He organises his defence so well and his shot stopping ability is second to none, but most of all he is extremly consistent which is so important for a goalkeeper. He is much better than Kasey Keller and that overated Tim Howard who has been very average with Everton this season. Jay De'Merit of Watford hasn't done much but he is playing for a small club who are were always going to be relegated. Jonathon Spector formally of Manchester United youth academy and Charlton now currently playing for West Ham has also not preformed well but again playing for a team who ultimatly going to get relegated and he is still young. Corry Gibbs has been injured most this season and De Marcus Beasley has been very average even though I know he is a good player on his day. I just think it's great that 'Soccer' as you call it is finally having an impact on the nation and you are fianlly producing world class players without race coming into it. Long may it continue.

Englishman, thanks for the update on American players in the Premier League--very thorough and informative. Naturally, when our guys do well in the country that invented soccer, it's a great source of pride for us Yanks.

And welcome to the site! We need your expertise to strengthen this section of the site. (Incidentally, I think that some of the other posters are also from England, so maybe we can build up a network of foreign contributors on this important sport and its culture).

Welcome to the site Englishman. Ditto to Solomon Kane's comment about strengthening this particular section. Soccer is by far the World's most popular sport and wish it was more popular here. By the way, us yanks over here appreciate watching fine players like Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney, Alan Shearer and the very tall 6-7 Peter Crouch.

The USA goes up against the Mexican National team in the Gold Cup finale this Sunday. So lets pull for the gringoes because nothing sticks in the craw of Mexico more than the USA beating them in their national pastime. We have been beating them lately. I get more hyped up about this particular matchup as just about anything else in the sports world. These two teams do not get along.

It's over, we won! Our fourth Gold, and Donovan and Feilhaber scored.


Soccer: United States wins fourth Gold Cup
By Duncan Irving AFXPublished: June 25, 2007

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The United States retained the CONCACAF Gold Cup in stunning fashion Sunday, by rallying from a 1-0 deficit to defeat Mexico, 2-1, in a pulsating match at Soldier Field in Chicago.

Landon Donovan's penalty in the 61st minute canceled out Andres Guardado's first-half goal, before a murderous volley by Benny Feilhaber in the 72nd minute gave the Americans regional bragging rights for the fourth time, and the financial boost of a place at the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa.

Widespread bilingual television coverage and large crowds nationwide demonstrated that the Gold Cup is gaining both in recognition and prestige from its modest 1991 origins. The standard of play among of the region's 12 participants was higher than observers predicted, particularly by Guadeloupe, which lost in the semifinals. And viewers and fans were accordingly rewarded with an exciting and technically proficient championship game that raised the bar for future tournaments.

Mexico, which had labored through the group stages and had struggled to dispose of Guadeloupe in the semifinals, gave few indications that it would defeat the Americans for the first time in eight years, yet El Tri was by far the more aggressive of the two teams in a fast-paced first half. Nene Castillo's mazy runs shredded the U.S. midfield and left opposing defenders heavy-legged, while Andres Guardado highlighted the limitations of the wooden Jonathan Spector, a replacement for the suspended  and speedier  Frankie Hejduk.

The red-card suspension of his son Michael had also forced U.S. Coach Bob Bradley to give Feilhaber a shot in midfield alongside Pablo Mastroeni, but each seemed uncomfortable and hamstrung by the presence of the other. Clint Dempsey was bumped out onto the right flank, moved into the center, and then back out wide again to little effect. Brian Ching cut a lonely figure at center forward (if Bradley could somehow combine the aerial ability of Ching, the speed of Eddie Johnson and Taylor Twellman's nose for goal, he would have one decent center forward). And Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley looked as if they were about to repeat the indifferent form of last summer's World Cup.

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True, the two threatened briefly in the 16th minute when Donovan's pass from the right found Beasley, but Mexican keeper Oscar Sanchez advanced to snuff out the danger.

It was no surprise when Mexico took the lead two minutes before halftime. U.S. left back Jonathan Bornstein was caught in possession inside the Mexican half and stripped by Omar Bravo, who fed Jaime Lozano on the flank. Lozano found Castillo, who tore into a U.S. defense that was pulled out of shape and position. He slotted the ball past Oguchi Onyewu to the unmarked Guardado, who turned and smashed it home from 6 yards.

El Tri picked up where they left off in the second half, but were unable to turn possession to further advantage. And it was somewhat against the run of play that Mexican defender Jose Jonny Magallon clipped Ching in the box. Donovan ignored the goal line theatrics of Sanchez to put away his spot-kick away and tie the game.

Mastroeni had been replaced at halftime, leaving the inexperienced Ricardo Clark to operate in central midfield alongside the unimpressive Feilhaber. But it was Feilhaber who provided the killer blow  a screaming volley from 20 yards after meeting a botched Mexican clearance from Donovan's corner.

Mexico was forced to attack in numbers in the final 15 minutes, which left gaps in the defense that the U.S. forwards failed to exploit: Twellman shot tamely at Sanchez; Ching dithered and shot against the post; while Beasley crashed a shot against the crossbar in the 89th minute.

Meanwhile, Tim Howard came up with a point-blank save from substitute Adolfo Bautista in the 87th minute to preserve a memorable victory for the host nation.

The Americans were worthy winners of this tournament. For all the profligate finishing, they always managed to find a goal when it was needed, often from the unlikeliest of sources, be it Hejduk in the semifinals, or Feilhaber this afternoon.

Bradley will rejigger his squad  the emphasis will be on youth  and head down to Venezuela for the Copa America, where they will face Argentina in the first game of the group phase on Thursday.

Classic quote:


"The mexicans show alot more ability to get across our undefended borders than their ability to get a ball past our goalie."


The USA TODAY showed pics of 3 black and 2 white U.S. soccer players celebrating. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the only three blacks on the American squad. USA TODAY has quotas even for their sports pics.


But if the U.S. squad gets any blacker I'll cheer for Argentina or Chile in the Copa America. I'm just tired of the anti-white racism in this country.

I saw the highlights yesterday. I find it so odd that theres normally more Mexican fans in the stadium than American fans but I suppose that sums up your immigration figures. It's a bit like when we play India, Pakistan and West Indies in cricket.

See Wassall's post about this game in Happy Hour.

From what I saw it looked like the US team starts 8 whites.3 are not white.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The CONCACAF Gold Cup final attracted 41 percent more television households in the United States than the Stanley Cup finals clincher -- and that was just for the soccer game's Spanish-language telecast.

Ugh!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/soccer/06/26/bc.soc.go ldcupratings.ap/index.html