Post-match: United States v Jamaica Gold Cup Final 7/26

We won!!! Wooooo!

 

No criticisms yet. It'll wait. Congratulations guys!!

 

Dear Mexico Fans,

Chanting ******** on goal kicks makes you a bunch of jerk offs.

Chanting ******** on goal kicks in a final your team wasn't good enough to get to makes you the greatest jerk offs in the history of the world.

 

Or how about chanting "Mexico, Mexico!" when Blake is clearly down and seriously injured.

 

Only took 4 posts to get negative. LOL.

 

Bruce has done a very good job. Hopefully he got to see what he wanted during this tournament. That was always the most important thing. Lifting the trophy is the icing on the cake.

 

I'm afraid Blake saves that though...

 

Jamaica impressed against Mex and US. Hope that new manager sticks around and the Jamaican program flowers.

 

Didn't like that it took until late in the game to beat Jamaica.

Lets not have a minnow mentality about this tournament. We are the best team in the region, we should've expected to win this tournament. We did so, and we didn't even play our best. Still a lot to improve on, this team needs to get better. We are not yet ready to play at the WC. What changes to the main group will Arena make after this Gold Cup? He's mostly done his job though. Now we need to qualify for the WC, and make necessary changes to the best 23.

 

I've fallen back in love with this team again. The whole Klinsmann era feels like a bad dream.

 

The Uni Deportes crew - I have to switch over when Fox is missing half the action by showing close-ups or whenever Strong says "reset" three times in ten seconds - wondered how impressed Infantino, who was there, would be by the chants.

 

Good tactics by Bruce. Immediate strong pressing when we lose the ball to stop Jamaica's transition game. However, once again our combination game lacked the final pass. We never quite got our strikers with a good ball in good position.

 

You know, I liked Villafaña. He can be a decent cover at LB for when Fabian is not feeling the game is important enough.

 

A bit too much passing and crossing sloppiness all night from the U.S., but the result is what counts. Good win, and good effort from Jamaica. They always seem like the most gentlemanly team in CONCACAF as far as just playing and not resorting to all the drama and blatantly cheap stuff.

Anyways, good tournament overall. Hopefully the momentum carries over to qualifying.

 

We left it too late for my nerves, but we were deserved winners. There will be time for critiquing what we learned from this tournament, but for tonight I'm going to savor a championship.

Way to go guys!

 

Blake was forced out and Howard wasn't.
Folks who persist in thinking Zardes is fast should review Jamaica's counter during the 78th minute.
While Zardes isn't fast, Morris was blowing past Jamaicans, with ease. He looked awesome out wide.
That starting lineup made the match harder than it needed to be.
Nagbe's positioning in central midfield was not dynamic enough. He was too static when not on the ball. He didn't aggressively seek space to receive passes.

 

A 1-0 win minus Jordan Morris. Glad he scored the winning goal, but my my, what an atrocious game otherwise.

Far from a perfect performance. Altogether, however, the team showed good organization and played together most of the time. Nagbe seems to be improving re not giving up the ball so much heading into the attacking third. He needs to do more because his over-extended dribbling is exhausting him and he will not be able to do it against better teams.

Bradley was generally awesome. I really think his play has been significantly boosted by the stability and organization of the team and by the arrival of Bruce Arena, in particular.

 

I'm not one of the Bradley haters that show up on BigSoccer, but I found him a slightly strange choice for Golden Ball. I understand that there wasn't a clear-cut alternative, and the captain of the champions is a safe choice, but even just on the same team, I'd put Nagbe and Altidore ahead. Maybe Andre Blake was the most deserving on any team of the Golden Ball.

 

This tournament really magnified just how important Michael Bradley is to our team. We went from struggling to win the midfield battle against the likes to Martinique and Nicaragua to dominating Costa Rica and Jamaica. I have no stats to back this up, but you can probably count the number of misplaced passes he had in this tournament on one hand. He and Nagbe (and Dempsey off the bench) completely changed the dynamic of this team and allowed us to actually control the tempo of the games.

I'll save the in depth analysis for tomorrow -- but I'm going enjoy and celebrate this title! Not many national teams get the chance to win any type of silverware and we do it fairly regularly, let's not take it for granted.

 

And the fact that we no longer lose to Jamaica lets you know the Klinsmann era is truly over.

 

Here were all the tournament awards


Golden Ball Award: Michael Bradley

Golden Boot Award: Alphonso Davies

Golden Glove Award: Andre Blake

Bright Future Award: Alphonso Davies

Fair Play Award: United States

 

Campeones!!!

That was tough, Jamaica really packed it in. They are also big, strong and fast.

Jozy was terrific, my motm. Zusi was a stud in possession that second half. Nagbe was dynamite on the ball, and managed to draw about 8 fouls.

What was Acosta doing, besides getting in his teammates way? Strange game from him, very badly positioned. Once he came out, Nagbe settled things by simply playing the position correctly. After that, the US camped in their half.

Morris is all heart and wheels, I'm a fan. Great to see him atone for his gaffe in a big way. Arena made the sub of the night by pulling Arriola instead of Morris. But Zardes, woof. Still, he somehow sparked the goal scoring sequence. But woof, all the same.

 

Glad to see us lift the trophy once again!

I like that Morris bagged the tournament-winning goal, we need to see young forwards finding success in important moments.

Villafaña may have had a better day defensively, but I found myself very frustrated with him on the attack from the flank. Almost every cross went straight into the man marking him. He needs much more nuance in his game when he gets forward and not be so predictable.