Gold Cup Final - US and A (2), Mexico (1)

Since this game was played in Chicago at Soldier Field, I was able to witness this game live. The game was completely sold out and by my estimations it had to be at least 90% pro-Mexico. Believe or not, Chicago has the biggest Mexican population outside of LA and Texas. The atmosphere was pretty electric since this is quite a rivalry. As for the game it was a tale of 2 halves. The first half belonged to Mexico and the second half was won by the United States.

On to the game, the United States started out slow with Mexico looking to attack at full force. Mexico created many more opportunities in the first half than the US. One criticism I have of new US and A coach Bob Bradley is that he misuses Landon Donovan. Donovan looked so out of place at midfield it wasn't even funny. But with the plethora of attacking options Bradley was trying to make something work. He has Ching, Twellman, Dempsey, Donovan to choose from. The problem with those choices is that they're all very inconsistent. They all show flashes of brilliance but never do it day in and day out. Anyways, Donovan was out of place and it caused a lack of opportunities for USA. Just a minute before half time a Mexican player beat Oguchi down the right side, sent a wonderful pass across the middle of the goal, and No 18 on Mexico punched it in. I don't remember his name but I know he played one hell of a good game. Usually, giving up a goal before half time is a back breaker but Coach Bradly made some good adjustments at half time. Something that was very lacking during the Bruce Arena era.

The second half starts and US has made a substitution replacing Mastroeni with Clark. I had never seen Clark play or heard of him before but he impressed me. The game changed with him in the midfield. He was quick and aggressive and made good plays. Playing behind, the US became the aggressors and were attacking. Finally, in the 62nd minute they capitalized. Ching received a through ball in the penalty area and was taken down by a Mexican defender. Through the protestation of the Mexican players the US and A were rewarded a penalty kick. Golden boy Donovan lined up to take it. He's famous for going down the middle. I for sure thought he was going to miss but alas he makes it, tucking a nice shot into the lower right hand corner. Its now tied 1-1.

Instead of sitting on the tie, USA keeps playing an exciting attacking style. The come to fruition about 10 minutes after their first goal. The US wins a corner kick. I think it was Donovan who sends an out swinging ball towards goal, a Mexican defender heads it up and it falls to the feet of Fielhaber, who volleys it in midair into the upper right corner. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLL!!! Es un golaso!!!! First of all, who's Benny Feilhaber?!?!? Where did this kid come from? Never heard of him before yesterday's game. Second of all, that took the breath out of the crowd but that didn't stop them from throwing 7 dollar beers in air. I smelled like a brewery walking out of that game. Now is USA's chance to sit on the lead but that didn't happen either. It was back and forth attacking from both sides, though most of US's attacking came from the counter attack. Ching made a brilliant move or moves after receiving a through ball in the box, faked out the defender, made the goalie commit, did everything as he should and he hit the post. It was oh so close. He deserved that goal. Then comes a complete embarrassment of a play. Mexico is in an all out attack, the ball gets cleared to a wide open Donovan who is sprinting toward goal with no one in front of him but the goalie. Beasley decides to join so it is now 2 on none with just the goalie to beat. Donovan makes the goalkeeper commit and slides a pass over to Beasley who has a wide open goal in front of him and he MISSES!!! I couldn't believe it. He whacks it off his shin over the goal. He had to try to miss the goal was that open. Unbelievable. Fortunately it didn't come back to bite them in the ass. The game ends 2-1 in favor of the USA.

Overall the quality of play was pretty sloppy on both sides. These are both national teams and I expected much more out of them. I guess I am so spoiled by watching and following Italian soccer that I expect teams to play like professionals, not amateurs. On a positive note, the USA won and still has Mexico's number stateside. Even though it was sloppy, it was still entertaining.

On a side note, I hate when a small group of fans ruins the experience for everyone else. I know it doesn't compare to the hooligans in Europe but we had some idiots in our section that decided to throw beers, soda, etc down on the people sitting in front of them (which would have been us). I was wearing a USA tshirt and there were a couple USA jerseys in our section so I'm not sure if they were aiming at us or just being stupid but this kind of stuff is uncalled for. When I talked to some Mexican fans outside, they were very gracious and even agreed that its only a game. No need for the stupidity. They congratulated the USA and said they deserved the win and went on their way. I wish everyone else acted the same.