US Soccer! Gold Cup Tonight

[erickb]

Who is going to the game tonight? I did not go to the US game in Seattle because of cost was wondering what people in Big D thought about cost and is anyone going?! USAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSAUSA

 

[jterrell]

wish i was going but i am not. team in from paris for work so tied up til late in the evenings.

 

[Phoenix]

Looks like it is sold out. According to my Ticketmaster search just now...not that I was going from DC or anything...

 

[Phoenix]

Man do I feel sorry for the poor soccer players that have to play on this crap. Wow. Just wow. What a sad day for Cowboys Stadium. VERY embarrassing for us.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/so...adium-field/index.html?sct=hp_t2_a9&eref=sihp

A world-class football venue, Cowboys Stadium is apparently not the best place to play soccer.



Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news/20130723/gold-cup-cowboys-stadium-field/#ixzz2ZzM1Trgq



ARLINGTON, Texas -- The first hint that something might be amiss with the temporary grass field for Wednesday's Gold Cup semifinals came when I saw the pile of green sand at Cowboys Stadium. It's for filling the gaps in the seams of the field, which are just one of the reasons CONCACAF should be embarrassed over the playing surface.

Pile of green sand to fill in grass gaps in Dallas pic.twitter.com/jDQfpwz58f

— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) July 23, 2013
Up close, the field is atrocious. It looks a bit like what might happen if you asked a friend with no prior knowledge to perform hair-transplant surgery on you.

Terrible field in Dallas for Gold Cup pic.twitter.com/Qwk5WfH3Rd

— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) July 23, 2013
But it's not just about the visuals. It's also about the feel. Unlike most temporary grass surfaces, which are usually laid over an artificial-turf base, the one at Cowboys Stadium is laid directly over concrete. "It seems like concrete on top," U.S. goalkeepers coach Kasey Keller told me as he checked out the surface. "Hard. Real hard."

​

 

[erickb]

that is awful, turf would have been better (I like playing soccer on Turff though!)

 

[CATCH17]

If Donovan tears his knee I will leg drop Jerry.

 

[RastaRocket]

Lets go USA!

I am very disappointed with the way Dallas has handled the pitch.

 

[jterrell]

learning experience for the grass to be sure....

the hard surface was a big us benefit as honduras had no help with containing johnson and donovan's pace.

US is a top 20 team right now. hoping they can get to top 8 in Brazil.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

You guys should beat Panama.

 

[Ren]

It's kinda funny that Mexico that some around here said was a safe bet to go to at least the semi finals in the world cup next year can't even make the finals in one of the weakest regional cups FIFA has to offer

 

[CATCH17]

You guys know MExico and US are playing backups mostly, right?

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

You guys know MExico and US are playing backups mostly, right?

yeah they just came from Confederations Cup

 

[jterrell]

It's kinda funny that Mexico that some around here said was a safe bet to go to at least the semi finals in the world cup next year can't even make the finals in one of the weakest regional cups FIFA has to offer

Mexico went from an incredible hot streak to playing like crap over the past 6 months . But it is clear they have world class talent. Just ask the EPL and the people paying their salaries.

This is a second string tourney and the US is dominating largely because Donovan was played to work his way back into shape. Mexico finishing without making the Finals may spell the end for their coach but says little about the talent they'll field at the ACTUAL world Cup.

When the Euro kids get to Brazil they'll face stiff comp from teams much closer to home as happens in basically every South American World Cup of the modern era.

If you look at actual European qualifying it is a joke. Many of those countries are flat terrible. So while we bag on Gold Cup competition lets not forget the made up Euro countries who've fielded a team out of a country with 50 people.
If Mexico continues to play this poorly they'll struggle to qualify but if they turn it around they are quite capable of making the elimination round and being a hard out for anyone in Brazil.

 

[RastaRocket]

Mexico went from an incredible hot streak to playing like crap over the past 6 months . But it is clear they have world class talent. Just ask the EPL and the people paying their salaries.

What? Mexico does not have many Premier League players. Chicharito is the ONLY Mexican player in the Premier League at the moment.

US currently has Howard, Dempsey, Altidore, Shea, Friedel, Guzan, Cameron, and Edu in the Premier League.

This is a second string tourney and the US is dominating largely because Donovan was played to work his way back into shape. Mexico finishing without making the Finals may spell the end for their coach but says little about the talent they'll field at the ACTUAL world Cup.

When the Euro kids get to Brazil they'll face stiff comp from teams much closer to home as happens in basically every South American World Cup of the modern era.

If you look at actual European qualifying it is a joke. Many of those countries are flat terrible. So while we bag on Gold Cup competition lets not forget the made up Euro countries who've fielded a team out of a country with 50 people.
If Mexico continues to play this poorly they'll struggle to qualify but if they turn it around they are quite capable of making the elimination round and being a hard out for anyone in Brazil.

European qualifying is the hardest region to qualify for a world cup in the entire world. Most football fans will tell you that the Euro competition has deeper talent than the World Cup. Brazil and Argentina will make their runs at the World Cup but I have an extremely hard time believing Mexico will. For one, Mexico isn't South America and currently they do not stack up to the talent level of South America very well at all. Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador, and Chile are all better than Mexico at the moment.

Mexico should be dominating the Gold Cup with their B team but they are not. Currently USA has a more talented A and B squad than Mexico.

 

[RastaRocket]

You guys know MExico and US are playing backups mostly, right?

Yes but it's no different than being interested in the depth of the Cowboys. Some of these guys are playing for World Cup spots. I just enjoy watching the US team whenever possible regardless of who suits up.

 

[RastaRocket]

Adding onto the fact that European qualifying is a joke (lol)... 12 of the top 20 teams on the current FIFA rankings table come from UEFA. That is not including teams like France, Sweden, or the Czech Republic.

I mean your talking about qualifying with Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Portugal, Belgium, France, Sweden, and the list goes on... You look at any of the top club teams in the world and they are filled with players from these nations; and they are STAR players. Easily the hardest region to qualify in for the World Cup. It's not even close to the joke of competition everybody else qualifies in. South America is probably #2 but even that is child's play compared to UEFA.

 

[Ren]

Mexico went from an incredible hot streak to playing like crap over the past 6 months . But it is clear they have world class talent. Just ask the EPL and the people paying their salaries.

This is a second string tourney and the US is dominating largely because Donovan was played to work his way back into shape. Mexico finishing without making the Finals may spell the end for their coach but says little about the talent they'll field at the ACTUAL world Cup.

When the Euro kids get to Brazil they'll face stiff comp from teams much closer to home as happens in basically every South American World Cup of the modern era.

If you look at actual European qualifying it is a joke. Many of those countries are flat terrible. So while we bag on Gold Cup competition lets not forget the made up Euro countries who've fielded a team out of a country with 50 people.
If Mexico continues to play this poorly they'll struggle to qualify but if they turn it around they are quite capable of making the elimination round and being a hard out for anyone in Brazil.

I'm not denying Mexico has some talent to chose from it's just that there's a lot more then 4 countries in the world that has considerably more talent to chose from so saying that Mexico is a lock for the semi finals is a bit of a reach. If they don't start getting some results soon they're at risk of not even making it. Age specific results doesn't automatically translate into success on the top levels.

People here love to say European qualifying is a joke, but get some perspective, seriously. A joke compared to what exactly? South American which is 1 big group where half the teams qualify?, over half this time since Brazil are hosts, North and central American? Africa? Asian? pacific?

Europe is by far the hardest and it's not even close there are some jokes of teams but they are always the lowest seeded teams in a group of 6, the top 2 are usually really good and the next 2 can usually compete with them the bottom 2 are just there cause they have to be somewhere. 53 teams 8 groups 13 spots compare that to south America where there's usually 10 teams competing for 5 spots

 

[RastaRocket]

Mexico isn't even sniffing the semis, and whoever predicted them to reach the semis even at peak performance was most likely a homer. I wish the US could make the Semis but that is a major long shot as well. There are too many insanely talented teams in the world right now. The whole "Europe never wins in South America!" example is bogus. There have been a total of 4 finals in South America in the history of the World Cup (excluding Mexico); in the last two of those a European team has made the final (others being 1930 and 1950 LOL). If you add Mexico to that group a European time has made the final in both of those World Cups. Overall, a UEFA team has made every single World Cup final in history except two finals! Those being 1930 and 1950.

 

[RastaRocket]

Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia are really the only logical teams from South or North America that will give the top flight European squads any trouble. Of course there will be some unpredictable upsets and all of that good stuff but one of these top European teams will more than likely be in the final and many of them could flood the Semis. You have to worry about Africa as well, as they have been progressing and have a couple of squads I would take over a team like Mexico.

 

[Ren]

Mexico isn't even sniffing the semis, and whoever predicted them to reach the semis even at peak performance was most likely a homer. I wish the US could make the Semis but that is a major long shot as well. There are too many insanely talented teams in the world right now. The whole "Europe never wins in South America!" example is bogus. There have been a total of 4 finals in South America in the history of the World Cup (excluding Mexico); in the last two of those a European team has made the final (others being 1930 and 1950 LOL). If you add Mexico to that group a European time has made the final in both of those World Cups. Overall, a UEFA team has made every single World Cup final in history except two finals! Those being 1930 and 1950.

Depending on how the groups play out this time it wouldn't surprise me to see a Argentina vs Brazil finals that's the only way i see a non Euro team playing in the finals. Germany and Spain are very capable of winning but i would be shocked if Brazil didn't take it in Brazil, they're peaking just at the right time.