by Rod Hughes
The United States won its fourth Gold Cup soccer tourney yesterday in a bangup game of suspense and movement, defeating Mexico 2-1.
The organizers, CONCACAF, got what they wanted (some would say engineered) in Chicago—a packed stadium of rabid fans cheering two popular teams. The spectators got a fine game of thrills and—wonder of wonders—competent officiating.
Mexico had an edge in ball play the first half, including a superb goal by Mexico’s Andres Guardado at minute 44 to go into the second half leading. Indeed, it appeared the second half might be a duplicate of the first, but the U.S. side got back into their stride of earlier in the tournament.
The ever-cool, confident U.S. striker Landon Donovan blasted in a penalty kick at minute 61 for the tying goal. At least he appeared cool and confident when he hunkered down to study the goal before his kick, as if preparing a long putt in a championship golf tourney. But afterward, during the manditory celebration, he ostentatiously mopped his brow!
But the real shocker was when the U.S. was repulsed at the goal and had to retreat at minute 73. U.S. midfielder Benny Feilhaber took the ball kicked back to him—and fed it on a blast into the goal mouth from away from the goalmouth. Way away, if you’ll pardon the redundancy.
But the description of the goals hardly can do justice to this game. How about Donovan’s long drive, dribbling alone nearly the whole length of the pitch, only to hit the righthand upright of the goal. If his toe had touched the ball a little more to the right, they’s still be replaying it on TV.
Then, there was the near-tying shot by Mexico’s Adolfo Batutista with a minute left. He found the ball loose at the goalmouth but goalie Tim Howard’s feline reactions saved the U.S. win.
The Mexican side was also hampered by losing Jared Borgetti at minute 40 due to injury. And we must not end this without mentioning the fine, steady play throughout the tourney from Mexico’s Alberto Medina and Pavel Pardo.
The fine sports spectacle was directed by two coaches making their first debuts in international play: Bob Bradley for the U.S. and Hugo Sanchez for Mexico. Despite early criticism by the voracious Mexican press, both coaches should be proud of their teams’ performances.