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CONCACAF Gold Cup starts tonight for the USMNT

TarHeelNation11

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The USMNT (U.S. Men's National Team) takes on Honduras tonight at 9:30 in the first game of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The U.S. is in a group with Honduras, Panama, and Haiti. While no team in this region is Germany or Brazil by any means, it certainly isn't the easiest group the U.S. could've drawn. Honduras made the World Cup last cycle and Panama always plays the USMNT extremely tough. To spare you the TL;DR, I've laid out the following:

Background: What's CONCACAF?
International soccer is broken up into regions which are mostly (but not entirely) based on continent. European countries and territories play in UEFA, for example. CONCACAF is the region the U.S. is in. It stands for something like the Confederation of North, Central, and Caribbean Football -- so it's all countries in North and Central America and the Caribbean Islands. South America has its own region -- CONMEBOL -- and thus is separate from CONCACAF.

Why is this tournament important?

Two main reasons and an added benefit:
1). The winner of this year's Gold Cup qualifies as CONCACAF's representative in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. As such, all participants will 'take it seriously' and deploy their best possible team of players in this tournament.
2). If the USMNT wants to be one of the best international sides in the world, it needs to consistently show it's the best in its region.
Added benefit: This is the first competitive tournament since the World Cup, so it gives Jurgen Klinsmann and his staff the opportunity to see old and new players in a competitive environment, which will help them decide which players should be called up to the team when the USMNT starts 2018 World Cup qualification in 2016. Plus, this tournament simply gives all players more experience on the national team.

What is the format?
There's (3) groups of (4) teams. Like the World Cup, you play each of the three teams in your group one time. In this round, you get 3 pts for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss. After these three games, the top two teams in each group advance to the knockout (single-elimination) round. Additionally, the two best third-place teams advance as well -- so eight teams advance to the next round. From there, it becomes a simple 8-team bracket like the Elite 8; win and advance.

Who are the scariest teams to watch out for?
Mexico (everyone knows they're, at worst, equal to the USMNT), Costa Rica, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama

What is the Confederations Cup and why is it important we qualify for it?
The Confederations Cup is always played the summer before the World Cup, so it will be summer 2017 this cycle. It's an 8-team tournament that features the best team (which is decided through intra-regional tournaments like the Gold Cup) from each of the 6 world regions: CONCACAF, CONMEBOL (South America), CAF (Africa), UEFA (Europe), AFC (Asia), OFC (Oceanic countries in the Pacific) + the reigning World Cup winner (Germany) and the host country of the upcoming World Cup (Russia).

So, with such a talented field, it greatly benefits the USMNT to take part in the tournament. Getting to play legitimate European and South American countries in an actual competitive setting outside the World Cup is very rare, so it's a great opportunity for us. The USMNT played in the 2009 Confederations Cup but did NOT qualify for the 2013 edition (Mexico did).
 
Thanks for the write up THN. One thing though, while I agree Mexico is the scariest team for us in this field, I disagree that they are equal to us anymore. It is true they still get some results in tourneys that we have not fared as well in, but we absolutely own them head-to-head since the turn of the century. Dos A Cero baby!
 
Personally, I'm way more worried about Costa Rica. Mexico hasn't won a game in nearly 10 matches

& Chicharito is injured
 
Personally, I'm way more worried about Costa Rica. Mexico hasn't won a game in nearly 10 matches

& Chicharito is injured
That's a good point. Costa Rica always seems to play us well too.
 
@UNC '92 @uncboy10

Yes, we've beaten Mexico head to head the last few times. But they are still dangerous as ever. They've got players up and down their roster with European experience, and in general, they do just as well as we do in tournaments. At least the final is in Philly and not California AKA Mexico 2.0.

Totally agree about Costa Rica being dangerous. They have talent as well.

As for the USMNT, I'm interested to see if we come out flat tonight or come out charging.
 
Hopefully their still fired up after the friendly wins against the Dutch and Germany
 
Hopefully their still fired up after the friendly wins against the Dutch and Germany
You'd hope so but you never know. I don't know if you watched the friendly vs Guatemala last Friday but 4-0 doesn't accurately depict it. We played lousy in that first half -- unfocused and not sharp. We kinda play to the level of our competition, which is great when we play European teams, but not so great when we face most CONCACAF sides.

I'm hoping Altidore shows up this tournament. I like him and really want him to do well, but I'm getting tired of his so-so U.S. performances. He doesn't get enough service which is partly not his fault, but he doesn't help himself either with the weird runs he makes. When we have the ball in the attacking third, he spends as much time on the wing as he does through the middle. You're a striker, bud. Get central and call for the damn ball.
 
You'd hope so but you never know. I don't know if you watched the friendly vs Guatemala last Friday but 4-0 doesn't accurately depict it. We played lousy in that first half -- unfocused and not sharp. We kinda play to the level of our competition, which is great when we play European teams, but not so great when we face most CONCACAF sides.

I'm hoping Altidore shows up this tournament. I like him and really want him to do well, but I'm getting tired of his so-so U.S. performances. He doesn't get enough service which is partly not his fault, but he doesn't help himself either with the weird runs he makes. When we have the ball in the attacking third, he spends as much time on the wing as he does through the middle. You're a striker, bud. Get central and call for the damn ball.
The Guatemala game was horrid. We eventually just outclassed them, but it was not pretty. I liked the way Yedlin and Chandler got after it. Zardes too when he got in.
 
The Guatemala game was horrid. We eventually just outclassed them, but it was not pretty. I liked the way Yedlin and Chandler got after it. Zardes too when he got in.
I like Zardes' potential a lot. Him and Yedlin could end up being some lethal wingers for this team.
 
What channel? I'm in the Carribean with Dish TV and can't find it on guide.
 
Fox Sports 1. Not sure they'll have it down there

I found it.

You know, I watched every second of the Women's WC and I have this observation:

On the one hand, the men are much more skilled. On the other, they flop if someone farts in the stands. I think I like the women better.
 
I found it.

You know, I watched every second of the Women's WC and I have this observation:

On the one hand, the men are much more skilled. On the other, they flop if someone farts in the stands. I think I like the women better.
CONCACAF is the worst about it. Central Americans do it so much. South Americans too but especially Central Americans. To the U.S.'s credit, they rarely if ever flop.
 
CONCACAF is the worst about it. Central Americans do it so much. South Americans too but especially Central Americans. To the U.S.'s credit, they rarely if ever flop.

I know, but none of the women's teams seem to do it other than Brazil. It just really takes away from the game.

Nice Dempsey goal there off the short corner. That might be the first time I have ever seen the short corner work.
 
I don't disagree that the women abstain from diving. I despise flopping and diving. It needs to be stamped out.

As for this game, we look susceptible down our left (their right) side on counter attacks. Our center backs are bruisers but aren't effective sliding out to defend wide. Fabian Johnson needs to get back when we lose possession.
 
Defense has been very spotty. Too many makeable shots for Honduras and too much room to run.

On the flip side, we have worked our way into good opportunities with regularity.
 
I'd be a lot more comfortable if we could get another goal. Honduras looks good for one

Yedlin needs to keep doing work up the wing
 
Very average performance by us so far. Honduras ain't even doing anything great. We just keep springing them for counter attacks with our inaccurate passing and dumb turnovers
 
Fortunately our back line is pretty freakin' quick

Bad missed pass there, Altidore was wide open
 
Ugh I hate Chris Wondolowski. I'll never forgive him for shanking that 1v1 in the last minute against Belgium
 
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Ugh I hate Chris Wondolowski. I'll never forgive him for shanking that 1v1 in the last minute against Belgium
I hated him way before that. He's always screamed "small time" to me. But yeah his Belgium miss was inexcusable. Literally the ONLY reason he was on the team was to be a poacher and when the chance presented itself, he choked.
 
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Well, I'll take it. Winning on a bad night is a good sign
 
Well, I'll take it. Winning on a bad night is a good sign
I agree. Bad night for us. Honduras didn't play "well" but they played scrappy and disrupted our rhythm. With the other result in mind, we are in firk control. Would like to see us put up a 3-0 or 4-1 in our match against Panama
 
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We better get serious in this group stage and clean up the stupid turnovers and dumb passes. Or we will get bounced and be playing in a playoff for the confed against the winner of this one. Altidore needs to improve his passing. His touch was brutally bad last night. Sending everything out of bounds with his hammer foot and playing out of position on just about every run.
 
I like women better, too.*

[*Satisfies my mandatory smartass comment in a soccer thread.]
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I don't know what was worse in that first half. Our performance or the ref's. Both were terrible. Literally everyone on the team besides Guzan had a bad half. Well except maybe Bradley and Aron Johansson. Jozy was awful. I'm about tired of defending him -- his lack of effort annoys me. He gives up on plays.
 
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