Unlike a great many of the Gold Cup games, I genuinely enjoyed the soccer on display during Thursday's semifinal between the States and Honduras. The Hondurans play with such passion -- and dirtiness -- that they have skipped the stairs and taken the escalator to 1a to Mexico's 1 on the list of CONCACAF teams I despise.
While the first half was almost entirely the teams feeling each other out -- odd for squads that have met several times in recent months -- it ended with a spectacular corner kick goal that set the tone for a dynamic second half.
Clarence Goodson headed home a picture-perfect corner service from Stuart Holden in the 45th minute to give the US its first of two goals on the night, but the second 45-plus minutes were a sales pitch for soccer in America.
Holden was phenomenal for this cliched rag-tag group of misfits (and by "misfits," I mean "mostly second-choice players" in the nicest of fashions). His speed was fantasic, his creativity necessary and his services were first-class. With apologies to goalkeeper Troy Perkins, Holden was unquestionably the man of the match. He played a game very similar to that of Robbie Rogers during his brilliant group play, only -- maybe -- more disciplined.
Kenny Cooper's goal was another piece of great football. Brian Ching continues to impress, holding up his man and touching the ball to Holden who found the barely onside Cooper for his second goal in two matches. It looked a little funny from the camera angle, but Cooper's finish was very nice, perhaps even understated.
There was great pace and guts to the second half, with both teams providing a great contest. It's an absolute shame the Mexico/Costa Rica semifinal isn't be aired on FSC. The venue will be Giants Stadium on Sunday for the 2009 Gold Cup Final, and I've got absolutely zero love for it being scheduled on my first anniversary. I'll wait to see how the other semi plays out before I go predicting "Dos a Cero, v5.0"
Also important to point out that Bob Bradley has been pretty solid with his line-ups and substitues. Kudos.
By the way, Freddy Adu "tweets" that there are some interesting developments going on... full-time to Monaco? Actual time on Benfica? A transfer elsewhere? Getting back together with JoJo? What an American moment for soccer this music video was...
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