Gold Cup is hot ticket
Soccer twin bill: Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez leads Mexico while U.S. seeksredemption
For local soccer fans, the good news is that the U.S. and Mexico are playing here in the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup on Wednesday night.
The kind of bad news is that they’re not playing each other.
That probable rematch will have to wait until Saturday, in the Gold Cup Finals to be held in (the other) Pasadena.
Still, Wednesday night’s double-header at Reliant Stadium looks to be the hottest soccer ticket of the year. Mexico, lead by rising superstar Javier Hernandez — Manchester United’s “Chicharito” — faces Honduras, while the U.S. gets a revenge match against Panama, who beat our guys 1-0 in group play.
U.S.-Panama starts at 6 p.m.; Mexico-Honduras starts at 6 p.m..
This team is shaping up as one of Mexico’s best national sides in some time, and Chicharito as the brightest Mexican international star in decades.
Mexico is the surest bet of the four to reach the finals. Led by Chicharito, who’s scored six goals in four matches, El Tri has only trailed once—in the quarter-finals match against Guatemala in which Chicharito—who else?—broke a 1-1 tie in the 86th minute. This team is shaping up as one of Mexico’s best national sides in some time, and Chicharito as the brightest Mexican international star in decades.
The U.S., on the other hand, has looked so bad lately that coach Bob Bradley’s seat got a little toasty. First of all, Spain kicked sand in their faces in a friendly game just before the Gold Cup began. Once the tournament started, the U.S. limped through victories against Canada and miserable Guadeloupe, and suffered an embarrassing loss against Panama. The players seemed to want to be elsewhere.
Then came last Sunday’s knockout game against lively Jamaica. The way the U.S. had been playing, no one would’ve been shocked to see them lose to the Reggae Boys. Happily, though, they regained their form and won easily, even impressively, 2-0, as Texan Clint Dempsey finally found the net after missing a series of relatively easy chances in the previous games.
With Landon Donovan by Dempsey’s side, and Tim Howard manning the goal, they’ll be favored against a Panama team that has in fact played them tough over the years. If Gold Cup history is a guide this will be a tough game: the U.S. beat Panama on a penalty shootout in 2005, and eked by 2-1 in the knockout stages in both 2007 and 2009.
And if you’re asking, What is this thing called a Gold Cup? Is it not a gentleman’s club out on 290? Hardly. It’s a biannual tournament of national teams from North American, Central America, and the Caribbean.
The winner of this Gold Cup will play in the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil, the warm-up to the Brazil World Cup of 2014. The U.S. made a splash in the 2009 Confederations Cup, beating Spain and reaching the finals. If they don’t make the 2013 tournament, that will be seen as a backwards step, and Bob Bradley might want to be careful where he sits.
