Watching the Gold Cup Final on Univision is a somewhat unsettling experience. Aside from the alarming lack of HD, it's a bit like being a non-Cubs or non-White Sox fan and watching a game on WGN: the announcers are so patently biased that it renders their analysis pointless. The Univision announcers were clearly rooting for Mexico from the beginning, apparently unaware that a good number of Americans (and Canadians) can speak Spanish. But that is, in reality, just the latest in a long line of weirdness by Univision's announcers.
The real problems with the game were two-fold. First, the referees were terrible. They missed calls left and right, most egregiously when a penalty was called on Heaps (it was Giovanni dos Santos who was committing the penalty) and when not one but two Mexican attackers were clearly offside on Mexico's second goal. Get those calls right and it's 1-0 for Mexico in the 70th minute, not 3-0. Not only that, but Jay Heaps' second yellow was complete uncalled for. That only continues a recurring theme: CONCACAF officials, in general, and Gold Cup officials in particular, are terrible.
Second, the US played a monumentally bad second half. I don't know what happened but everything went wrong. The back four, in particular, were terrible. They were burned time and again by Mexican attackers, esp. Giovanni dos Santos (who looked like a real attacking player for the first time in two years), and their offside trap was painfully ineffective. I sincerely doubt that any of them will be suiting up for the US anytime soon.
That brings me to the midfielders. Stuart Holden played the entire match too narrow. He has speed and skill and should have been wider to create space for Kyle Beckerman and, more importantly, Brian Ching. Ching and every other forward was also ineffective. I doubt Ching's World Cup hopes were helped by this match.
In the end, even a heavy 5-0 loss isn't that big a deal considering that the US fielded a B-team and nobody really cares about the Gold Cup. I was, however, disappointed that so few US fans were at Giants Stadium. Mexican fans badly outnumbered them. For shame! Can any hard and fast conclusions be formed from this match or this tournament? I'm reasonably certain that none of the US defenders will play for the national team again anytime soon. I'm also reasonably certain that Brian Ching's World Cup dream crashed and burned. More players hurt their causes here than helped though some will surely recover. I only hope that the A-team, which will be called up for the 12 August qualifier in Mexico, knows they have to avenge this loss.
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Yes. But if the U.S. won 5-0 in the same fashion, you wouldn't be complaining. Let's just take this loss like mature gentlemen, and do better on August 12th.
celticscouser
Boston, MA
Total Comments (43)
I thought the ref made up for his terrible PK call when he let Heaps blantely tripped Dos Santos in the penalty area later in the game, though the first goal could have changed the complexion of the game (though I doubt it, Mexico ended the 1st and started the 2nd on fire). I didn't see the 2nd goal, and I completely agree that Heaps' second yellow was very questionable, but by that point it didn't matter...
Bottom line I think Mexico would have won anyway without the first PK call. Dos Santos was just too good today.
Manchester…
Atlanta, GA
Total Comments (1138)
I'm not complaining. I'm pointing out terrible refereeing. For what it's worth, I would do the same thing if the US had one because of questionable decisions because one thing we can all agree on is that the referee should NOT be deciding games. It is my opinion that he helped decide this game with his inconsistency and poor calls.
Refereeing was terrible for the entire tournament and is typically terrible in CONCACAF events. It's sad that CONCACAF can't produce good referees like UEFA. Watch the highlights: I'll concede that the non-call later sort of cancels out the terrible call earlier but there was no excuse for not flagging down 2 players 10 feet offside or for giving questionable yellows, etc. The referees were overmatched then entire time. If
I was, however, complaining about the announcing. Anyone who saw the announcing should be offended.
naxself
Fort Worth , TX
Total Comments (913)
it was clear that for the US team wasnt his day to play, the show during the cup that they were the A TEAM even that wasnt playing the stars like Donovan, Mexico play a great second half and that was the result, Now they have to think on the 12 because for Mexico is a crucial game because they are 4th and need point to be on the Wold Cup.
The thing that I can say is that the experience for the young players will be good for the future games and that they have at last a lot of them working out even they lost.
Horacio
Decatur , NE
Total Comments (1)
Embarassing result. Vela came in at the half and injected Mexico with the pace needed to open up the US defense. Gio and Vela both caused havoc, and in the end I think the US ecaped getting beaten by even more goals, as Mexico failed to make the most of three clear chances. Offsides?! Please, clearly onside people. Take this loss like men and hope this doesn't happen in about two weeks.
MH7KiNG (5-0)
Los Angeles, CA
Total Comments (1289)
Oh man, I can't believe I forgot to watch the Gold Cup Final! I totally forgot while I was on vacation. Sounds like I'm glad I missed it though. 5-0 is pretty embarrassing. I wouldn't say people don't care about the Gold Cup. I went to a couple games a little while ago and there seemed to be a lot of support. I agree about the US fan base though. The couple games I went to there was a lot bigger fan base for the other countries.
sk8erbryan
Canton , CT
Total Comments (115)
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