The Replacements: US falls to Mexico

A word of caution. Never underestimate the power of a soccer power. Yes, Mexico is a soccer power. Relativistically speaking, of course. As I've said before, if the Concacaf were Conmebol then Mexico would undoubtedly be its Brazil. Years of history, two world cup tournaments as hosts. Quarterfinal losses in 1970 and 1986. Stars like Hugo Sanchez, Carlos Hermosillo, Jorge Campos, Luis Hernandez, Claudio Suarez. We can go on with this list. The point is you can't show up with your C squad and hope to come away with a win against an experienced B squad in Mexico. That's why the US lost today. That's the price to be paid for assuming that our "home turf" and "recent history" is enough to overcome the obvious: the Mexican side is far deeper in terms of quality.

It's true, we had the Confederations Cup right before the Gold Cup and our guys need to rest and/or get back to their respective teams. We also jump right back into qualifiers next month... August 12, against Mexico in the mythical Azteca. But why not play the guys that were obviously the subs in South Africa? Why not let Brad Guzan get a full slew of games? Why not keep Cherundolo for the whole tournament and call up Califf also? Why not keep Adu, Torres, Kljestan in the line-up? That would at least have been our "B squad." Mexico brought theirs. They stuck with Medina, Ochoa (a top goalkeeper), Miguel Sabah, Guille Franco, Carlos Vela, Giovanni dos Santos.

That's where the game was lop-sided. No one with enough experience and/or mileage was left in the US national team to play against a half-full Mexico. Yes, that wasn't the star-studded Mexican team on the field either, but they sure weren't pushovers. Digging into MLS is great, it's crediting our game and our league. Digging into the Mexican Primera is something completely different. Far more history and infrastructure. Not necessarily quality, no. It's the development of players and the competition within the league. It's the fact that relegation is enough to make a team fight that much harder for every game. It's the prestige of being in the Sudamericana or Libertadores.

I think that today was a lack of respect on several fronts. To the fans for using a C-squad against a top world soccer team. I love the guys that played, they are great players but they are also "potentials" at the moment and "supersubs" at best. It was also lack of respect for the rival... and they showed us why. It was lack of respect by Concacaf for scheduling what they know is a pointless rendition of a tournament that should only take place every four years and with rotating hosts.

In the end this game isn't that important in the world scene for all the points described above. August 12 matters. Anything short of a win by Mexico will be a disaster. Anything but a loss for the US will be further proof that our "A squad" is for real. I can't wait.

Another Cup, another final: US in the Gold Cup

If the Confederations Cup is considered the dress rehearsal for the World Cup for what are considered to be the top teams in the world then the "meaningless" Gold Cup is the dress rehearsal for the backup players in each team. Such is the case with US players like Chad Marshall, Stuart Holden, Kenny Cooper, Kyle Beckerman, Heath Pearce, Robbie Rogers, Troy Perkins, etc. These are all good players, yes, but they fall behind the Dempseys, Donovans, Bradleys, Howards, Onyewus and company.

The midfield pool, for one, just became much more crowded and starters, subs, and call-ups will have to be based entirely on form and quality of team (Europe-based will get the nod nearly all the time). Added to Dempsey, Bradley, Adu, Clark, Feilhaber, Torres, Kljestan, Edu and (hopefully) Jermaine Jones, are Holden and Rogers. Holden would probably take over Kljestan's spot. The once great prospect has faded slowly into obscurity. Also note the omission of DaMarcus Beasley. He has also lost his form... and his place.

The deal up front is a bit easier. Ching is still the target forward, although his finishing hasn't been great lately. Kenny Cooper is, to me at least, a better option than Conor Casey. The back line has some nice backup options: Goodson, Marshall have stepped up and are capable of standing in for Bocanegra, Onyewu and DeMerrit if required.

And now comes the final. Against Mexico. Again. This time it's none of the starters save for Dos Santos, "Memo" Ochoa, Carlos Vela, and Brian Ching. B side versus B side. A chance for more heroics and for some also a chance to be included in the 23-man squad in 2010.

Gold Cup 2009: From B teams to amateur sides

Concacaf has chosen to have a biannual tournament with its conference members. Fair enough. But here's the deal: only one of the two tournaments qualifies the winner to the Confederations Cup (played last month with the US as representative due to their title in 2007), the tournament is always played in the US (no Mexico, Central America, Caribbean nations can host it), and the tournament (at least the second one) has very little in the form of top stars and important players from the more prevalent countries, i.e. Mexico, USA, Honduras or Costa Rica.

So is it an important tournament? Hardly. Is it overkill? Yes. Is it worth it? Only as warm-up and/or practice for B-teams from Mexico, the US and other Concacaf teams. Am I alone in this line of thought? Absolutely not. There is a score of players and coaches (including Bob Bradley and "el Vasco" Aguirre) that have decided to call B-squads that sometimes look like C-squads. The US itself was allowed to call up or dismiss various players due to the tournament's close temporal proximity to the Confederations Cup. Dismissed have been Steve Cherundolo, Charlie Davies (to join a new club), Freddy Adu (disappointing Gold Cup after no appearances), Michael Parkhurst, among others.

And the list goes on in terms of Gold Cup bashing. Prominent commentators like Andres Cantor and his Futbol de Primera crew have publicly voiced their concerns for this tournament seemingly meaningless nature. The quality of the competition is simply not present. Shouldn't we limit this tournament to a 4-year interval like the Euros and Copa Americas? Shouldn't it be a top flight competition with Donovan, Guardado and other stars as prominent participants? Shouldn't the host nation be rotated the way it is everywhere else?

In the meantime, it seems that all is definitely not well with Mexico, even in a medium-grade dress rehearsal like Gold Cup 2009. Now Javier Aguirre is showing his discontent with the mess that is the Mexican national team. The footage below shows a sore point in Mexican soccer: a tie with lowly Panama and a foul (a foul?) by the coach Aguirre. The man will serve a 3 match suspension.