So Close

I took in the 2009 Confederations Cup at Manny's in Berkeley (on Telegraph). The place was packed with hopes of witnessing the first U.S. FIFA cup of any kind. The teams energy from their upset over Spain continued into the first half of the final yesterday. Defense was shutting down everything. Howard was solid in goal. Dempsey scored the first goal in the 10''. Donovan scored the second goal in the 27''. The place was rockin' and we were all pinching ourselves. But alas, our opponent this day was mighty Brasil. Kaka'. Robinho. Brasil roared back in the second half. Their first goal by Fabiano (he ended up with 2 goals) seemed to pop the U.S. bubble and they began to remember they were playing Brasil. I sensed their high energy drop with every tentative step they were making. Fabiano scored one more and then Lucio scored Brasils third. The dream ended Brasil 3 USA 2. It was an exciting game to watch, but it was heartbreaking at the same time. The teams performance gives us greater hope for 2010 WC success.

2009 Gold Cup

With not much of a break, the US MNT will begin their 2009 Gold Cup defense. Manager Bob Bradley has already announced the roster for the Gold Cup. Only a handful of players that were on the Confederations Cup roster (Charlie Davies, Freddy Adu, Heath Pierce, and Luis Robles) will play in the Gold Cup. Only Davies saw any significant playing time in the Confederations Cup matches.

2009 Gold Cup Roster
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Birthdate Hometown Club Caps/G

1 Perkins, Troy GK 6-2 190 07/20/81 Worthington, Ohio Valerenga IF (Norway) 1/0
2 Pearce, Heath D 5-10 175 08/13/84 Modesto, Calif. Hansa Rostock (Germany) 23/0
3 Goodson, Clarence D 6-4 170 05/17/82 Alexandria, Va. IK Start (Norway) 2/0
4 Marshall, Chad D 6-4 190 08/22/84 Riverside, Calif. Columbus Crew 4/1
5 Beckerman, Kyle M 5-10 165 04/23/82 Crofton, Md. Real Salt Lake 3/0
6 Cherundolo, Steve D 5-6 145 02/19/79 San Diego, Calif. Hannover 96 (Germany) 51/2
7 Rogers, Robbie M 5-10 165 05/12/87 Huntington Beach, Calif. Columbus Crew 1/0
8 Pause, Logan M 5-10 155 08/22/81 Hillsborough, N.C. Chicago Fire 0/0
9 Davies, Charlie F 5-10 160 06/25/86 Manchester, N.H. Hammarby IF (Sweden) 9/2
10 Holden, Stuart M 5-10 160 08/01/85 Houston, Texas Houston Dynamo 0/0
11 Ching, Brian F 6-1 195 05/24/78 Haleiwa, Hawaii Houston Dynamo 36/9
12 Conrad, Jimmy D 6-2 185 02/12/77 Temple City, Calif. Kansas City Wizards 24/1
13 Clark, Colin M 5-11 161 04/11/84 Ft. Collins, Colo. Colorado Rapids 0/0
14 Parkhurst, Michael D 5-11 155 01/24/84 Providence, R.I. FC Nordsjaelland (Denmark)5/0
15 Cronin, Sam M 5-10 165 12/12/86 Winston-Salem, N.C. Toronto FC 0/0
16 Heaps, Jay D 5-9 155 08/02/76 Longmeadow, Mass. New England Revolution 0/0
17 Cooper, Kenny F 6-3 210 10/21/84 Dallas, Texas FC Dallas 4/2
18 Robles, Luis GK 6-1 180 05/11/84 Fort Huachuca, Ariz. FC Kaiserslautern (Germany)0/0
19 Adu, Freddy F 5-8 140 06/02/89 Potomac, Md. AS Monaco (France) 13/1
20 Quaranta, Santino F 6-1 185 10/14/84 Baltimore, Md. D.C. United 11/0
21 Evans, Brad M 6-1 160 04/20/85 Phoenix, Ariz. Seattle Sounders 0/0
22 Arnaud, Davy M 6-0 165 06/22/80 Nederland, Texas Kansas City Wizards 2/0
23 Busch, Jon GK 5-10 165 08/18/76 Albany, N.Y. Chicago Fire 1/0

I'll be attending first round matches at the Oakland Coliseum on 7/5 (this coming Sunday): Panama vs. Guadalupe and Mexico vs. Nicaragua.

Shocked, Amazed, and THRILLED!

I am still trying to let it sink in that the US MNT has advanced to the Confederations Cup Final (vs Brasil). H and I watched the semifinal vs Spain at Marriott FC with several other patrons. As the clock kept moving and as the US lead started at 1-nil (Altidore) and than it later grew to 2-nil (Dempsey) - I didn't want to say a thing to jinx the boys. Beating the #1 team in the world who hadn't lost a match since late 2006...wow. Spain dominated the stat sheet - everything except for the scoreboard. The Americans played with huge hearts - it was so good to see how good they can be (especially compared to how they were playing in the earlier group stage). Congratualtions to the lads for eaching their first ever FIFA cup final! U.S.A! U.S.A! My MVP? Tim Howard.

US MNT Celebrates on Father's Day!

It didn't look like there was any chance for the U.S. Men's National team to advance in the Confederations Cup. Their play has been awful and were taken apart by both Italy and Brasil. The only was they could make it was to win by several goals in their final group stage match against Egypt and they needed Brasil to score several goals over Italy for the U.S. to advance by goal differential. Everyone including me thought there was a chance to beat Egypt, but there was no way we would advance.

A miracle happened today. Brasil took apart Italy 3-nil and the U.S. beat Egypt 3-nil. Brasil won the group and there was a 3-way tie between Egypt, Italy, and the U.S. (3 points each). The U.S. advance to the semis by goal differential by the smallest margin. It is great for the lads to move on (they play Spain next on Wednesday), but it will be difficult to move farther. They can be thankful that we will have 2 games left to hone their game (semifinal match + 3rd place match for the losers in the semis). I did see a different team today on the pitch - although I think Egypt was beginning to run out of gas after their battles with Brasil and Italy.