U.S. advance to semifinals of Gold Cup

The U.S. defeated Panama 2-1 in a contest that showed just how well and just how awful the Nats can play. The U.S. got another PK goal from Landon Donovan and a header by Carlos Bocanegra. DaMarcus Beasley, who found Bocanegra with a beautifully struck free kick from the right flank, had another superb game on the heels of his brace against El Salvador on Tuesday. Beasley, along with Clint Dempsey and Donovan showed some flair on the ball, demonstrating excellent ball movement at times in the match, but the backline, well, they demonstrated excellent bowel movement, as Oneywu and Bornstein were often caught shitting themselves against a surprisingly quick Panama attack.

The piss-poor refereeing that has been the staple of all CONCACAF competitions continued, but poor officiating could not account for the number of times Gooch was caught out of position. In fact, the ref thankfully missed two infractions by the big man in the box, a handball and an arm bar takedown. TYH is a Gooch fan but his stock continues to plummit due to his poor showing in this tournament. Maybe it's Euro jetlag. But today it wasn't just Gooch, it was the entire backline that looked poor. On Panama's goal, Gooch, Frankie Hejduk and sub Steve Ralston looked like a pee-wee team chasing the ball.

To end with a positive, even with the late scare the U.S. was obviously the superior team on the day and deserved to win. Dempsey played well, often making the Panamanian defense look stupid with crossovers, spins and step-overs. If not for several poor finishing touches (including a gimmie that Dempsey could have scored in his sleep if he hadn't decided, inexplicably to cut back), the U.S. could have won easily. Dammit, I wanted to end positive. Oh well, we won, that's positive.

The U.S. will face our neighbor to the north Canada in the semifinals on June 21.

Goals
USA – Donovan (penalty kick) 59.
USA – Bocanegra (Beasley) 63.

USA
1-Howard; 2-Hejduk, 22-Onyewu, 3-Bocanegra, 13-Bornstein; 6-Bradley, 4-Mastroeni, 7-Beasley, 8-Dempsey (Ching, 84); 10-Donovan (Clark, 89), 20-Twellman (Ralston, 71)

Misconduct Summary:
USA – Hejduk (caution) 29
USA – Onyewu (caution) 35
USA - Beasley (caution) 87
USA - Howard (caution) 90

TYH's "Patriot of the Pitch" DaMarcus Beasley

ussoccer.com's Match Report