Just wanted to post this to see if after following the USMNT the last couple of games people actually believe we can make it.
This hurts pretty bad, going to take a complete gut check by every player and a complete makeover from the defense and Donovan's going to have to show up. At this point they would be gigantic underdogs vs Mexico.
I just don't see how we can beat a team like Honduras or Costa Rica right now unless they are as bad as Canada.
Best case: USA vs Jamaica, and with our current defense I am not looking forward to this game. Final? I don't think so, but wouldn't be surprised if we did though. If we don't make it pass quarters though, I think we can all agree something needs to change.
Anybody who was looking past Panama had their head up their ass. They gave us all we could handle in the 05, 07, and 09 Gold Cups.
I'm definitely nervous about it. The problem I see is we now have to play our main guys heavy minutes on tuesday for the 3rd time in 8 days. Then we'll need our strongest lineup possible for what I think would be Honduras, correct me if I'm wrong, and we'll be pretty tired. 4 time in 12 days, without these guys getting the chance to rest. That's why tonight was so important. Could have rested the older/main guys on tuesday. I see it catching up to us, as much as I hate to say it.
My gut says yes. This is just a learning experience. The Green Bay Packers had a ton of losses this past year, and look who won the Super Bowl! We will beat Mexico.
The U.S did have some stupid fouls, I'm not disputing that, Bocanegra's was dumb, Goodson card was stupid. The U.S allowed themselves to get sucked into Panama's game of tricks. There's no excuse for that.
At this point I'd put us making it to the finals at about a 50/50 shot. People are severely overreacting to this loss with our easiest (note: not easy, just easiest) game yet to come. We can still top the group and end up playing a team like ES who looks pretty damn bad, even compared to us.
If we make the final, it really does not extinguish any of the awful things we have seen on display in the national team recently. Cannot erase the performance tonight, and sadly we don't stand a chance against Mexico if we elevate our play to get to the final.