Gold Cup runnething over

USA looked shaky most of the day against Mexico. USA's defense was on its heels most of the day as the pesky Mexican offense dictated the flow for much of the match. But the Mexican offense has a tendency to dance around, favor too much flair and piss away opportunities, much to the USA's good fortune. But the Americans came back strong in the 2nd half and converted their opportunities and the Mexicans did not. USA wins its 2nd straight Gold Cup.

I haven't been a big Tim Howard thus far but I thought he came up big yesterday, making a coupla game-saving stops. Jonathon Bornstein seemed lost against Canada in the semi-final but played much better against a veteran Mexican side. Carlos Bocanegra played well, always seemed to be where he needed to be. Oguchi Onyewu was exposed on his lack of lateral quickness, but he's still the bull anchoring the middle of that D. The Jonathon Spector/Frank Simek platoon was notable only for getting continually torched on the outside.

Demarcus Beasley is still the most frustrating USA player in many years: at times he provides the veteran smarts that you need from a good midfielder and other times he plays too conservatively and fails to convert chances. Pablo Mastroenni is a player I'm skeptical of; he seems to be most effective at delivering tough, card-earning vicious tackle and while USA needs a little of that, I'm not sure I see the skills to make the team better. Benny Feilhaber nailed the goal of his life with about 20 minutes to go and it was a beauty! He had a nice, not great, tourney--but how can you front on the guy that hit the game winner? Landon Donovan played great, nailed 3 PK's, always touched the ball deftly (if not effectively) and showed that he is still the class of North American soccer. Ricardo Clark played well off the bench, pushing forward nicely.

USA's glaring problem is goal-scoring. USA just doesn't have that guy up front that you look to get the ball to. Brian Ching has so many good moments that I keep waiting for him to score a frickin' goal once in a while. His foul in the box was a sweet move and he had some nice moves again later on but that shot found the post. I think Ching probably has the most skill but isn't necessarily the best finisher. Taylor Twellman, I think, may be the best pure scorer but he seems undersized and when he's got the ball at his feet away from the goal he's just so uncreative, he looks at times like he doesn't know what to do with the ball. Clint Dempsey, like Mastoenni, provides attitude and he can hammer the ball both of which are nice qualities, but I'm still waiting for the consistency of his skill to become apparent. Which one of these guys will step forward? Frankly, I don't have high hopes for any of them.

The Gold Cup is a nice victory, beating Mexico is always a pleasure and running through our group competition is something we should take full advantage of. Next up is the Copa America 2007, a largely South American tournament where we will likely have our asses handed to us. It's one thing to dominate the Caribbean, quite another to leave our immediate sphere of influence and get anything done. I'd love to see USA make it out the group play in Copa America but considering we're in with Argentina, Paraguay and Colombia, I'm not counting on it. Although we've dominated Mexico for a coupla decades now--has anyone in America noticed that?--the Mexicans are much more adept at playing with South American sides than we are. So don't be surprised to see Mexico make a run in this tourney.

I'll take Argentina over Mexico in the final, Chile over Brazil in the 3rd place match. Okay, we'll see.