United States (2) - Panama (1) - Gold Cup Quarterfinals 2007

I was very pleased to see that the US advanced vs a decent Panama team. BUT, if the US wants to be a world power and compete for the World Cup in 3 years they better do a lot better. Panama is a decent team, for CONACAF, but when you add all the decent teams from Europe & South America Panama drops out of being decent and becomes, how do I put this nicely? Garbage. Yes they have some good players that can hang with the big boys but this is a TEAM sport and the team of Panama isn't going anywhere. USA on the other hand has the money and means to invest into their players to be a world power. BUT they are still not there yet. Come 2010 they still won't be there.

I hope they can repeat their effort from 2002 where they were a ref's call away from tying the game vs Germany in the quarter finals. True the German defender did not handle the bal on purpose but it still saved a goal. Or in other words gave an advantage, a huge one at that to the Germans. Germany hung out to the 1-0 lead and went to the Semi-Finals.

If the US wants to do that again (Quarter Finals) in 2010 they better get some more experience. The best way to get experience is by winning the games you should win. Yes getting your ass handed to you once in a while is fine but you need to go that when you play great teams or when you’re experimenting. I believe that the US mentality is let's do what it takes to win, When it should be Let's do what it takes to get better. I think that the US will struggle vs Canada on Thursday, unless they play up to their potential and not down to their opponent’s level. With a 2-0 lead you need to protect that. The play where Panama scored reminded me of 8 year olds. 3 guys went to the ball and it bounced around like a pinball before it got out of the mess of 6 American legs to the feet of the Panama attacker who fired, no seriously, fired a rocket off the inner post of the goal which rebounded like 30 yards back. Smart, or should I say experienced players, there were 3 defenders, would have been able to handle the pressure of one attacker and not got in each others way.

One mistake is all it takes. Back in 2002 when they were playing great, one mistake (the German defender's hand ball) is all it takes to change a game. So when they US make these minor stupid mistakes vs. a decent team like Panama imagine the other mistakes that they (Panama) didn't take advantage of. Bottom line, I love USA, I want them to succeed, so the rest of the world can hate us for another reason. But if they keep playing like this the rest of the world will continue to make fun of our president and our soccer.