Costa Rica and Mexico both posted 5-0 wins to open group play on Sunday. Probably the 2 best teams outside of the U.S. in my opinion (possibly Honduras over Costa Rica).

Anyway, onto important stuff, the USMNT opens up group play tonight at 8 against Canada, so I figured I'd get a thread going. With Panama and Guadeloupe being the other 2 nations in the group, we should post something like a 15-0 goals scored to allowed ratio in this stage.

Televised on Fox Soccer Channel I believe.

The US has never lost a group stage game at the Gold Cup ... 23-0-2 all-time.

Donovan is healthy and can be selected tonight. Here's to a big win where we can get some good international experience for the younger guys.

My hopeful lineup:

-------------------------Howard-------------------------
Dolo------------Ream----------------Goodson-----------Lichaj
--------------------Jones-------Bradley----------------
Dempsey----------------------------------------Donovan
-------------Altidore--------------Wondo


Thoughts?

Here's the lineup, per US Soccer:

#USMNT lineup v Canada: Howard; Cherundolo, Goodson, Ream, Bocanegra (c); Dempsey, Bradley, Jones, Donovan; Altidore, Agudelo

#USMNT bench: Hahnemann, Bedoya, Edu, Kljestan, Lichaj, Onyewu, Wondolowski

USA 1 Canada 0

2 nil USA (jozy altidore and dempsy with goals)

We looked awful IMO

Yeah, for as bad as Canada is we let them get a lot of chances. Back line needs work.

That said, we can afford to work things out in the group stage since we're so much better than the rest of the teams (sans Mehico)

Back line is just atrocious. Good thing (for the most part) they are young and will improve. Winning this thing is going to go a long way for the young guys confidence and even further when they get to play the Euro/S. American winner/African winner in the Confederations Cup in a few years. We saw how important that tournament can be for the USMNT.

I shouldnt post this, cause all the haters will be out in full force. But it is just way too full of awesomeness.

[video]http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6525548/soccer-player-punches-self-in-the-face-with-opponents-fist[/video]

Ronaldo?

I think our problem lies in the midfield. Theres no movement. No build up. Nothing. They just kick it and stand. Look at how the best teams play (midfielders who string some passes together)). We do not fit in that category.

I blame Bradley. We could run down the field passing in triangles and beat CONCACAF teams but we dont. We continue to play a 4-4-2 with our best players being under utilized as outside mids.

I don't like this squad up the middle at all. Ream/Goodson are horrible in the back, and Bradley and Jones are pretty underwhelming. Definitely didn't look good last night.

At least Jozy decided to make a rare appearance.

I viewed the game a lot differently than the rest...

I liked seeing Ream and Goodson as centerbacks. They are both young and inexperienced, which is not a bad thing. Ream is obviously going to be a centerback of the future and Goodson had several bright spots. They need the experience sometime and together. Might as well start something new instead of the same ol' same ol'. There were some times of miscommunication, but that will continue to happen if they do not play together. I am sure it'll get ironed out -- or maybe I just hope it does.

I didn't enjoy Jermaine Jones at the start of the game. But, I believe he did a lot to redeem himself throughout the game. After not connecting ANY passes to start, he was very accurate in passing and keeping possession.

It was good to see a striker score. Jozy needed it. We have had our struggles with strikers scoring and hopefully this continues to happen. It was a fairly weak goal. The goalkeeper probably should've made the save.

My biggest problem...why such a flat 2nd half? We were up 1-0 at half and didn't come out to start the 2nd half fired. I think I see that a lot with American soccer. Not many go and finish their opponents after they take the lead. The Canucks really came out and played a different 2nd half. They possessed. They passed around. They picked and choosed when they decided to attack.

The Canadian team is weak, no doubt about that. They have no one to give the ball to De Rosario. They do have a nice left mid in Simpson. It'll be interesting to see what Simeon Jackson does in the EPL next season. But other than that, they looked rather horrid to start the game.

That being said, I am no USMNT apologist. I don't think I've ever been a fan of a 1-4-4-2. Especially with the way our strikers [fail to] work off each other. I would rather never see Sasha Kljestan again (although he made little to no mistakes in his limited action). I do believe the midfield is rather stagnant. I remember saying MANY times throughout the game, "Bradley move," or "Jones move," or "Get out of the way!" I just don't like seeing people so congested in the attack. Good thing Timmy Howard came up huge in the last 10 minutes...we almost let it slip away. Tighten the ship a bit. They need to start going in and finishing teams off -- exactly how they started the game!

http://www.mlssoccer.com/goldcup/news/article/2011/06/09/gold-cup-five-mexico-players-test-positive-banned-substance
5 Mexican players suspended

buck;796452 wrote:http://www.mlssoccer.com/goldcup/news/article/2011/06/09/gold-cup-five-mexico-players-test-positive-banned-substance
5 Mexican players suspended

lol

It's not like they need them...they have "The Baby Killer!"

We blow so goddamn bad. Embarrassing.

Wow the US blows

Jesus that was embarrassing. Why did we hire Bradley after the WC again?

Bout time we scored. Bradley flicked on to Goodsen (whoever he is).

Bob Bradley sucks. The same crap has happened since last World Cup. Come out super slow, and have to play comeback. We need Jurgen to come over from Deutschland. Otherwise its garbage.

What a joke... Bradley should be fired on the spot.

iclfan2;799078 wrote:Bout time we scored. Bradley flicked on to Goodsen (whoever he is).

Clarence has been on our team for awhile lol.

But that was just an atrocious effort. I hate Bob Bradleys tactics and style. We dont play to our ONE strength, and than is Dempsey and Donovan running at guys at the wing/attacking mid positions. Just bleh.

At least we will likely still be able to advance if we can take care of Guadalupe.

Yea Ive watched a lot, just never heard of him. But Bradleys game plan is garbage. Give Dempsey, the best player on our team, the damn ball. Now we have to beat Guadalupe.