B/c they weren't cheating for sure (the reason FIFA said they could replace.) We allow 23 guys to account for injuries/suspensions.
The Mexican national soccer team is the single most popular sports team in America. Seriously people, shut the f*** up about "apathy." It's the fifth most popular sport in this country. Holy mother you people are clueless.
Do not be confused. People understand this well. And they are not "trolling". To help with your confusion, let me spell it out: That we have been outscored 9-2 by Mexico in the last two GC's, and have lost those GC's to Mexico both times, is bloody well relevant. It is in fact the most relevant brute fact we have facing us. It is so starkly relevant that to dispute its relevance is frankly outrageous [so outrageous that, if I was inclined to be one of that type of censorial thug so dense among the RoboBoleros, I would now be going off whining to the Mods demanding that the "Trolls" be clobbered]. We are confronted by results, meaningful results, results in tournaments "that count", to use the language of the Pro-Bradley forces these past few years, and now these are not relevant? Pure BS.
<sarcasm on> Yeah and how come we don't reschedule the whole damn thing to be held in February in Columbus Crew stadium? <sarcasm off> Folks it's a Concacaf tourney, not a US tourney. So why exactly is it that we should get a "home field advantage" for every game? I mean how would you feel if every year the entire Gold Cup tournament was held in Mexico with the final in Azteca stadium? You wouldn't grouse about that? Wake up and realize that the best team won this tournament.
Time to face the truth: We are a second-class soccer country now. There isn't even a #2 in CONCACAF. There's Mexico, and (as we've seen) we are approximate equals to Jamaica, Honduras, Panama, etc. We can (and did) lose to these teams. We cannot produce four defensemen in the entire country. Our best player tonight is a second-division player in Turkey. We were 90/10 outnumbered in our home country in terms of fan support. We don't play another meaningful match for a year (and probably more like two), and the USSF's main accomplishment has been wasting millions of dollars to give the World Cup to Qatar. The moment for United States soccer has passed. We're at square one again. Fire Gulati, fire Bradley, tell about eight of these old guys that they're no longer going to be considered for international play, then maybe we'll go somewhere.
If Honduras had beat Mexico and made it to the final, would they have beat the US? They at least managed to tie Mexico in regular time. All our games with the so-called "minnows" (except Canada) were all close games and we managed to loose one of them. Two things have happened the "minnows" have gotten better and the US has gotten worse. I am very concerned about our World Cup chances. All of our games were home games. (Except as has been said the one with Mexico) In WC qualifying we will have to play these Concacaf team at their home. I just don't see this team doing well away in Concacaf.
Organize the Gold Cup in Canada and then you'll have a home crowd. Specially in Alberta and Northwest Ontario. Some places, Americans actually do outnumber Canadians.
If I was US Soccer President I would be going back to my room with a fat pad of pink slip papers - to be handed out on Monday morning. I would bar any college and high school players (any soccer that does not follow strict FIFA rules) from fielding players for any level of the US soccer programs. Only clubs and academies would develop our future players. I would set up scholarships to fund players who come from poorer backgrounds - ones hungry to succeed - not spoiled, lazy video playing kids. I would have a lit of coaches to step in at all levels if results are not met ... call me extreme, but I'm tired of losing ....
Like every big game we lose I'm conflicted. My heart says that we coulda woulda shoulda done better, but my head tells me that what Claudio Reyna says just about sums it up- until we have the biggest clubs in the biggest leagues signing our players we can't reasonably expect to move up the soccer food chain. That's the test of how far we've progressed as a soccer nation. Sure, on occasion we can punch above our weight through hard work, team spirit, luck, etc., but over the long haul we have to have the players who can compete with the best. This coach, that USSF president- it's all ancillary stuff.
Goddammit, I want Bradley gone! I'm just not pretending that the 2009 Gold Cup has anything to do with my feeling on the matter.
I made roughly this exact same post in another thread about 15 minutes ago. Great minds (and biased minds) and all that...
Held up play well... was physical against the Mexican defenders... confident with the ball at his feet... had a big hand in both goals... the play to earn the corner, then the ensuing corner kick assist on Bradley's goal. He also made the pass to Dempsey which led to Donovan's goal. Easily the US' MOTM.
Not saying at all the best team didn't win. If you go back and read my posts, all I'm stating is in response to the post that the game tonight had a home field advantage and was on our soil. I pointed out that 90 thousand mexicans in a US stadium is not home soil. Just as if 90 thousand germans were at wembley and watched germany vs. england...the british press wouldnt call that a home field advantage. Mexico played us off the field...not taking anything away from them.
People complaining about the lack of home field advantage when our regional championship is played in our country every time is beyond daft. Really, your upset we didnt have enough of an avantage over Canada, Panama twice, Guyana, Jamaica AND Mexico? LA has a huge immigrant population, and they turned up to see their favorite team play. Get over it. Should we be complaining the other team was allowed to field 11 players and all of them had 2 legs?
I'm sorry, but why on earth are there not more american tickets sold? It it not good enough to say that Americans don't like soccer. This is a matter of national pride, you would think Americans might give a hoot to support their nation even if soccer isn't their interest. None of the other sports compete internationally. This is international pride and Americans are supposed to be patriotic. There is no way you can tell me that there aren't enough americans in LA of non mexican origin to fill up that stadium. It is BS.
The crowd wasn't the issue...we were up 2-0 and the crowd was dead quiet...it was the play on the field that determined the game...let's face it...our play on the field isn't exactly inspiring right now...and we need to face up to that and try to move forward...
Cannot agree more with this. I got very tired of reading in these threads about how if he hadn't gone out we would have won. Cherundolo or no, we would have given up those two goals. It's just what we do. Mexico were outplaying us even when Cherundolo was in. It might have taken them slightly longer to get those two goals back, but they would have gotten them.